270 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



his actions. When within ten or fifteen yards of a seal 

 you must mind your P's and Q's very strictly or he will 

 detect the fraud. 



I am inclined to think that the seal's inability to detect 

 the trick that is being played on him is not due to simple 

 stupidity, but is rather self-deception — auto-suggestion. 

 He has made up his mind that you are a seal; and once 

 made up, a seal's mind stays made up. There is nothing 

 fickle about a seal. 



In the case of my first seal I was 175 yards from him 

 when I got him convinced that I was a seal. When 

 eventually he began to take his regular alternate naps 

 and waking spells, I began a systematic advance, moving 

 ahead while he slept and stopping motionless while he 

 was awake. If at any time he watched me as much as 

 half a minute at a time I played seal some more by lift- 

 ing my head to show I was awake or by bending my 

 legs at the knees to pretend that I was scratching. 



Eskimos sometimes crawl within five yards of a seal 

 before throwing a harpoon and I have known of them 

 crawling so close that they could seize him by a flipper 

 with one hand and stab him with a knife with the other. 

 This is done only to show off their skill as hunters or else 

 in an emergency when the rifle or sealing harpoon has 

 been lost or forgotten at home. I ordinarily crawl within 

 about fifty yards and did so in this case. Then I waited 

 until the seal raised his head, took a careful aim and shot 

 him through the brain. Next I dropped my rifle on the 

 ice and ran at top speed to catch him, for although he 

 was dead there was still a chance of my not getting him. 

 He was lying on a slippery incline of ice so near his hole 

 that the mere shock when the bullet struck might start 

 him sliding. It had started him, and I got there just in 



