112 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



channel; and when all the labours are completed, 

 and the vessels, to the number of a hundred or 

 more, are arranged in single file, and, with all canvass 

 set, and flags flying at every mast and peak, are 

 rapidly sailing down the channel before a steady 

 breeze in the presence of all the assembled in- 

 habitants, the sight is most exhilarating. One by 

 one issues from the narrow gorge into the open 

 water, and soon all are seen scattered in the distance, 

 and speckling the offing with their white sails, till 

 they are gradually lost below the horizon. Each 

 pursues its own course, according to the judgment 

 of the master as to the position of the ice of which 

 they are in search ; those immense fields which, 

 dislodged from the Arctic Regions in the preceding 

 summer, have been through the winter pursuing a 

 southerly direction. In some seascns these fields 

 keep close to the land, blockading the whole coast 

 as they proceed, while in others they form a loose 

 and unconnected belt, running down at the distance 

 of two or three hundred miles from land. We will 

 suppose, however, that a day or two's run has 

 brought the vessel to the edge of the field, on which 

 myriads of Seals are discovered with their new-born 

 young. The great majority are of one species, 

 the Harp Seal (P. Groenlandica), whose young, for 

 the first two or three weeks, are covered with a 

 dense coat of white wool, which drops off at the 

 end of that period, and discovers the true fur, 

 which is of a drab hue, variously spotted with black. 

 The young in this earliest stage, when they are 



