110 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



pected that this genus, extensive as it appears to 

 be, should be comparatively little known to natural- 

 ists. Until very recently the recorded species pre- 

 sented an inextricable knot of confusion, which has 

 now, however, been in some measure unravelled. It 

 would ill comport with the design of this work, to fol- 

 low the details of minute arrangement : we shall con- 

 tent ourselves with noticing the more prominent cha- 

 racters of the race as a whole. Though little known 

 to science, the Seals have been long known to com- 

 merce ; and the pursuit of the animals for their oil 

 and skins forms no inconsiderable source of national 

 wealth. Fleets of vessels of various sizes, manned by 

 expert and hardy seamen, annually leave the shores 

 of Europe and America, bound either for the Arctic 

 Regions, the Coast of Newfoundland, or the desolate 

 shores of extreme South America, whence they 

 return, after long voyages attended with incredible 

 hardships, loaded with the valuable products of the 

 Seal. The sealing trade of the South Sea is con- 

 fined to the ships of England and the United States. 

 A few notes of the Newfoundland " Seal-fishery," 

 derived from personal inquiry and observation, 

 during a residence of many years in that Island, 

 may not be unacceptable. In the month of Febru- 

 ary, the sealing craft, usually schooners and brigs 

 from sixty to one hundred and fifty tons, which 

 had been laid up and partly dismantled all the 

 winter, are prepared for the voyage, and by the 

 first of March they are fitted out. The crew, ac- 

 cording to the size of the vessel, varies from sixteen 



