240 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Manners of the parent seals with their .young. 



vessel, which was a whale-fisher. A boat was 

 put out to assist them, and by this providential 

 circumstance they were happily snatched from 

 impending destruction." 



The female seal produces two or more young 

 ones at a birth : these she deposits in the cavities 

 of the ice ; and the male makes a hole through 

 the ice near them, for a speedy communication 

 with the water: for they invariably plunge into 

 that element the moment they observe a hunter 

 approach ; and at other times they descend into 

 it spontaneously in quest of food. When the 

 females come out of the sea, they bleat like sheep 

 for their young; and though they often pass 

 through hundreds of other young ones before 

 they come to their own, yet they will never suf- 

 fer any of the strangers to suck. About a fort- 

 night after their birth, the young are taken out 

 to sea, and instructed in swimming and seeking 

 their food ; and when fatigued, the parent is said 

 to place them on her back. Their growth is so 

 rapid, that in about fifty hours after their birth, 

 they become as active as their parents ; and a 

 seal six weeks old, will sometimes yield about 

 eight gallons of oil. 



The flesh of the seal was formerly admitted to 

 the tables of the great; as appears from the bill 

 of fare of a sumptuous entertainment given by 

 Archbishop Neville, in the reign of Edward the 

 Fourth. The skins also are very valuable, and 

 make a beautiful kind of leather. 



