450 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



SEAL-HOLE AND IGLOO. 



skill and perseverance. She, for some- 

 how the male seal seems now not to be 



noticed, has a breathing-hole through 



the ice, to which she must come now 



and then for air. Upon the surface of 



the solid ice, which is covered with 



snow, the prospective mother constructs 



an igloo for her progeny. She scrapes 



off the snow until she has formed a 



dome, carrying away the snow down 



through the hole in the ice. Upon the 



shelf of ice surrounding the hole the 



young one is born, and there it is regu- 

 larly visited by the mother. None but 



very keen-scented animals, such as the 



bear, fox, and dog, can discover such 



an igloo. The dog sometimes captures 



a seal. Hall describes such an event: 



" Ebierbing had one day been out with 



dogs and sledge where the ice was still 



firm, when suddenly a seal was noticed 



ahead. In an instant the dogs were off towards the prey, drawing the sledge 



after them at a marvellous rate. The seal for a moment acted as if frightened, 



and kept on the ice a second or two too long, for just as he plunged, Smile, 



the best seal and bear doo- T ever saw, caught him by the tail and flippers. The 



seal struggled violently, and so did 

 Smile ; but in a moment more the oth- 

 er dogs laid hold, and aided in dragging 

 the seal out of his hole, when Smile 

 took it in charge. The prize was se- 

 cured wholly by the dogs." » 

 Dogs seem to hunt the seal only 

 upon their master's account ; but the 

 fox and the bear capture him for them- 

 selves. How the fox contrives to get 

 into a seal igloo we are not told; but 

 i> they manage to break open the best 

 packed provision-cases, we may assume 

 that they know how to commit bur- 

 glary upon the igloo of a poor seal. If 

 the Innuits are to be believed, the way 

 the bear goes to work is this : When 

 he has scented out the precise position 

 of an igloo he goes back a Httle dis- 

 tance, so as to get a good run ; and 

 WAITING FOK A BLOW. then, glvlug a high leap, comes down 





