LABRADOR JOURNAL 257 



spriugs may keep open. I should have imagined 

 that they Avould resort greatly to those parts of 

 the tiekles going into Sandwich Bay, which are 

 open all winter, because great mnnbers of winter 

 seals (harps, and their young, called bedlamers) 

 constantly remain there; yet we never saw the 

 track of one in the depth of winlcr. These ani- 

 mals are prodigious travellers, and nnist certainly 

 be able to go a long time without food. AVhen 

 they can get nothing else, they will feed on the 

 long stalks of the sea weed ^ from which kelp is 

 made; so will seals likewise, for I have seen ])oth 

 of them do it. Great numl)ers of them, I believe, 

 are destroyed CA^ery spring, by being carried upon 

 the ice too far from land to be able to regain it, 

 although they will swim to a very great distance. 

 I have heard of their being met with, on loose 

 pans of ice, fifty leagues from the land, by ships 

 which have been coming upon the coast. Tliey 

 bring forth their young about IMarch, and drop 

 them upon the ice, where they lie for some days 

 before thev are able to follow their dams, which 

 leave them there while they go in quest of prey; 

 and when they are fir^t able to travel, frequently 

 ciU'vv them on tlicii- ])acks. Thev most commoulv 

 have but one at a time; sometimes, however, they 

 have two, and T have heard of their having three. 

 They breed but once in two years, and their cubs 

 follow them all that time; l)n1 how long they 

 suckle them, or h<\w lonii' <hey go with young, 1 

 do not know. When llieii- <'iibs are very small, 



' He evidently rcfere to the " devil's-apron," Laminaria. 



