HOW I LEARNED TO HUNT SEALS 281 



are shot through the body, many of them will sink — any- 

 thing from one out of four to one out of two. 



There are two kinds of seals that we hunt north of 

 Canada and north of Alaska; the ordinary seal (phoca 

 hispida) and the bearded seal (erignathus barbatus). 

 Even the largest of the common seals do not go much 

 over two hundred pounds, but the bearded seals may run 

 up to eight hundred pounds. Both are valuable for food, 

 but most people prefer the bearded seals. The great 

 difficulty about them, however, is that when killed in the 

 water they usually sink, and when harpooned through a 

 hole in the ice, they are so strong that they may pull 

 the harpoon line from the hands of the hunter and swim 

 off with it. There are Eskimos whose hands have been 

 cut to the bone by the rope slipping through them as the 

 seal was getting away. 



