AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 269 



fearful even upon land, except on those shores 

 which are thickly inhabited, and from whence 

 they have been frequently pursued. Along the 

 desert coasts where they are seldom interrupted 

 by man, they seem to be very bold and coura- 

 geous : if attacked with stones, like dogs, they 

 bite such as are thrown against them ; if encoun- 

 tered more closely, they make a desperate resist- 

 ance, and, while they have any life, attempt to 

 annoy their enemy. Some have been known, 

 even while they were skinning; to turn round 

 and seize their botchers ; but they are generally 

 dispatched by a stunning blow on the nose. They 

 usually sleep soundly when not frequently dis- 

 turbed, and that is the time when the hunters 

 surprise them. The Europeans who go into the 

 Greenland seas upon the whale-fishery,, surround 

 them with nets, and knock them on the head ; 

 but the Greenlanders, who are unprovided with 

 so expensive an apparatus, destroy them in a 

 different manner. One of these little men pad- 

 dles away in his boat, and when he sees a seal 

 asleep on the side of a rock, darts his lance, and 

 that with such unerring aim, that it never fails to 

 bury its point in the animal's side. The seal 

 feeling itself wounded, instantly plunges from 

 the top of the rock, lance and all, into the sea, 

 and dives to the bottom ; but the lance has a 

 bladder tied to one end, which keeps buoyant, 

 and resists the animal's descent; so that every 

 time the seal rises to the top of the water, the 

 Greenlander strikes it with his oar, until he at 

 last dispatches it. But in our climate the seals 



