498 
Greenland. viz, shells and small fishes. It sleeps upon the floating 
——~ flat ice, or on the surface of the sea, and when attack- 
Walrts, ed by men, will endeavour to overset the boat, or 
to make holes in it’ with their teeth; but it is v 
clumsy when out of the water upon the ice, where it 
may be killed with little difficulty. When a walrus 
or morse is struck with the harpoon, the Greenlanders 
let it run till it is wearied, and then draw in the line to 
kill it with the lances. The Greenlanders very seldom 
kill them in their small canoes; but if they do, they 
are always in company with three or four men. They 
are no more seen in large flocks on the coast of West 
Greenland as formerly, having been diminished by the 
whale fishers, who killed a great number of them. A 
flat island on the southern coast of Disko island, called 
Saitok, situated in the mouth of Disko firth, consists of 
alluvial land, which is covered with numberless bones 
and skulls of the walrus. The Greenlanders feed 
on their flesh, which is of a dark red colour; they 
use the oil in their houses, cut thongs out. of the skin, 
and employ the tusks for their utensils and instru- 
ments. 
Trichechus manatus, which is called auvekejak by 
the Greenlanders, is very seldom seen on the coast, 
according to their own accounts ; and it appears more 
towards Bhering Straits, and the sea in the vicinity of 
Kamtschatka. 
The seals may be called the flocks of the Greenland- 
ers. They supply them with flesh, the most desirable 
food of this nation. The blubber furnishes them with 
oil for their lamps, and for their chamber and kitchen 
fire ; the fibres of the sinews of the seal furnish thread 
. for their clothes; of the skins of the intestines they make 
their windows, and their curtains for the tents ; the sto- 
mach is used as a train oil vessel, and the bladder is 
employed for the javelins. The blood, mixed with flesh, 
is eaten as soup. But the most valuable thing is the 
skin: it covers their boats and their tents ; it furnishes 
clothes, boots, stockings, gloves, and coverings for their 
bedsteads. 
There are different species of seals, partly migrating, 
partly living on the coast of Greenland. One of the 
most remarkable is, 
The hooded seal, Klappmutze of the Germans, Klap- 
myds of the Danes, Neitsersoak of the Greenlanders, 
Phoca cristata of Gmelin. It is so called from a thick 
folded skin on the forehead of the male, which it can 
draw over the eyes like a cap, to defend them against 
its enemies. Its hair is of a double kind, the longest 
silver white, the shortest black and woolly, which gives 
it a very beautiful appearance. It grows to the length 
of ten and twelve feet. The Greenlanders value the 
skin of the young ones very high. It is uncommonly 
fierce when wounded, and often attacks the canoe. 
These seals fight very stoutly among themselves, from 
jealousy, as the natives suppose. They live in flocks ; 
are found in great numbers round Cape Farewell, 
and go very seldom to the northern parts of the coast. 
It is falsely called Phoca leonina by some zoologists, 
this being a very different animal. 
The common seal, called Spragled Sael by the Danes, 
Kobbe by the Norwegians, ‘Meerkalb by the Germans, 
and Kassigiak by the Greenlanders, (Phoca vitulina of 
Gmelin) is found sometimes in very large flocks on 
the coast of Greenland, It is one of the smaller ani- 
mals of the family, but its skin is the finest of them all, 
and isof great value among the Greenlanders. Itis prin- 
cipally employed for female dresses. The common seal 
48 very cautious, and therefore caught with difficulty, 
The harp seal, or half-moon, ( Phoca groenlandica, ) 
called Svartside by the Danes, Kodde by the Germans, 
Seals, 
Hooded 
seal, 
Common 
seal, 
Hayp seal, 
GREENLAND. 
and Alarsoak by the natives. Itis nine feet long when ¢ 
full grown, and gives the best blubber. Its skin is of 
a yellowish-white and greyish-white colour, with two Harp: 
large black spots on the opposite sides of its’ body, in 
the form of two half-moons, the horns of which are 
turned in an uniform direction towards one another, and 
therefore called Half-moon. It becomes like the black 
ts in its fourth year when full grown. Its skin is 
ae most durable, and therefore used to cover the cas 
noes and the tents. It is incautions, and very 
taken. It never ascends the fixed ice. It is a migra 
ting animal ; comes with its young from Spitz 
to Davis Strait about the end of March, returns in May 
to Spitzbergen, and comes back again in July. Three 
or four of them afford a barrel of blubber. It comes 
in great flocks, and visits the firths of Davis’ Strait. — 
The rough seal, (Phoca hispida and Phoca fetida,) Kou 
called Neitsek by the Greenlanders, is the smallest of 
the generally known species, very seldom ex 
four feet in length. It never frequents the high seas, 
but keeps always in the vicinity of the fixed ice, genes 
rally in high latitudes, andis very seldom seen southward 
from Disco Bay. Many thousand are killed every win- 
ter in Omenak’s firth or Cornelius bay, in the 72° of 
latitude. The male emits an insupportable smell in its 
coupling time, nevertheless it is eaten with great avi- 
= by the northern Greenlanders. , 
he great seal, (Phoca barbata,) called by the Green= Great sea! 
landers Urksuk, is of the largest kind, but is very seldom 
met with on the coast of West Greenland. It measures 
sometimes ten feet in length, has a thick skin, with 
very thin brown hairs; and on its upper lip very long 
white pellucid whiskers, which are curled at their 
points. Its flesh is white and very good. The Green-« 
landers cut out of the skin thongs and lines for their 
seal game, whips, and other domestic articles. - 
The Greenlanders mention some other species of 
seals, which very seldom occur, viz. : 
Siguktok, having a very long snout ; in its body it is 
similar to the Phoca groenlandica, Perhaps it is the 
Phoca ursina, ; 
Imab-ukallia, of a snow-white colour, the eye present« 
ing a fire-red iris, probably the Phoca ina. 
Atarpiak or atarpek, the smallest species of seal, 
not exceeding the size of the hand, of a whitish colour, 
with a black spot of the form of a half-moon on each 
side of the body. 
Kongeseteriak has, according to the description given 
by the natives, some resemblance to the sea-ape, whi 
is described by Mr Heller. : 
The Sea-unicorn or narwhal,(Monodon monoceros,) sea wnicc 
called Kernertak by the Greenlanders, is a migrating ani- or nar 
mal. It is generally from seventeen to twenty feet long, 
has a smooth black skin, and a small mouth in propor- 
tion to its body. It has no teeth, but a horn, wreathed 
or twisted on its surface, and from eight to ten feet long, 
runs from the left point’ or end of the upper jaw. 
It is white, has the solidity of the hardest bone, and far 
surpasses ivory in all its qualities. ‘The animal uses 
the horn to get at its food the sea-grass, and also asa 
weapon against its enemies. It has two nostrils in the 
skull, but they emerge in one sperten through the skin. 
It swims with wonderful velocity, and'can only be 
killed when there is a great number of them together. 
They are always seen in flocks, in the severest winter, 
amidst the fissures of the fixed ice, in the bays from 70° 
of N. Lat. tothe most northern regions. They never oc- 
cur in more southern latitudes. The Greenlanders drive 
with their sledges to the fissures of the ice, where the 
animals generally come up to take air, and. kill them 
there. with their harpoons, or with guns. They eat both 
