SEALS. 61 



this covering is two-fold. Next the skin comes a 

 coat of thick, soft, downy fur, which in some species is 

 so fine, glossy, and warm, that it is of great value in 

 the fur trade. The seal-skin jackets, mantles, and 

 muffs, which are so favoured by ladies, are formed of 

 this inner coating. 



Next comes an outer coating of long and rather 

 coarse hairs, which project through the down and are 

 laid as closely together as the thatch of a house, and are 

 quite as impervious to water. They are all set with a 

 decided slope backward, so as to offer scarcely any 

 resistance to the water when the Seal is swimming. 

 These hairs are-too thick and coarse for civilized wear, 

 though the Greenlanders and Esquimaux are only too 

 glad to make use of a double protection against the 

 cold. In order, therefore, to suit the present taste, 

 the coarse hairs must be plucked out by hand, and this 

 process adds in no small degree to the cost of the 

 fur. 



It is remarkable, by the way, that the extinct 

 Siberian elephant, popularly known as the Mammoth, 

 had just such an arrangement of fur and hair. Next 

 the skin was a thick coat of fur, the hairs of which were 

 about an inch and a half in length, and over them came 

 a thatch, so to speak, of very coarse hairs, varying 

 greatly in length, but evidently intended to shield the 

 animal from wet as well as to retain the bodily heat. 

 The colour of both kinds of hair is reddish brown, the 

 fur being of a warmer hue than the coarse hairs. 

 Beside these, there was a further protection afforded 

 by a number of very thick hairs, or rather bristles, 

 fully eighteen inches in length. I believe that these 



