234 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



" Neitsik " of the Greenlanders ; " Floe Rat " of the sealers ; and is known as " bodack," or " old man," 

 in the Hebrides. Other popular names are given it in different countries. The callous Eskimo are not 

 insensible to the disgusting odour exhaled from the old males, and hence the name Fcetida. Dr. Rink 

 says that when the large fellows captured in the interior ice-fjords are brought into a hut, and cut up 

 on its floor, a smell is emitted resembling something between that of assafcetida and onions. The flesh 

 of the young, notwithstanding, both he and Dr. R. Brown aver, is sufliciently palatable to an educated 

 taste ; and the latter even states that after a time he and his companions became " quite epicurean 

 connoisseurs in all the qualities, titbits, and dishes of the well-beloved Neitsik. The skin," he goes 

 on to say, " forms the chief material of clothing in North Greenland. All of the ol vo\\oi dress in 

 Neitsik breeches and jumpers; and we sojourners from a far country soon encased ourselves in the 

 somewhat hispid, but most comfortable, Neitsik nether garments. It is only high dignitaries like 

 ' Herr Inspektor ' that can afford such extravagance as a Kassigiak (Ph. vittdina) wardrobe ! The Arctic 

 pelles monopolise them all" The young are of white, though slightly yellowish tint, and the hair is 

 curly. A favourite haunt of the Floe Rat is the great ice-fjord of Jakobshavn. They resort to the 

 ice-floes in retired bays, seldom frequenting the open sea. Dr. Rink calculates that 51,000 are 

 annually captured in Danish Greenland. On an average, he reckons their weight at about 841bs. 

 each. He says this Seal, which is also termed " Utok," is almost exclusively that captured by means 

 of ice-nets. Two nets are used across the track of the Seals near shore, in certain sounds between 

 63 and 66 N. lat. One is lowered to the bottom, and over this the animals pass ; the other intercepts 

 them, and the former is hauled up, and they are then caught in immense numbers between the two, 

 running their heads into the net-meshes. This ruinous slaughter has in many instances driven the 

 " Utok " Seals from their favourite inlets. The Seals form oblique passages through the ice-crust only 

 large enough to allow their getting up and down, and in the sunny days of May are fond of basking 

 on the ice-heaps close by. Towards this hole, usually termed " atluk," equally adapted for rising to 

 breathe or diving again, the Eskimo hunter cautiously approaches, or, covering his face with his 

 Sealskin jacket, imitates the actions and manners of a Seal, and creeps towards his prey. In other 



cases, with a wooden frame, 

 covered by white cotton, 

 he pushes this shooting- 

 sail slowly before him 

 towards the animal. When 

 sufliciently near, he de- 

 spatches the creature with 

 his gun, though it is neces- 

 sary to inflict a severe 

 wound in the skull or neck 

 vertebrse, else the Seal 

 quickly rolls down the hole 

 and is lost. At other times, 

 a couple of hunters will 

 keep watch at the margin 

 of an " atluk," and, while 

 one is on the outlook for 

 the animal's rising to 

 breathe, the other plants 

 his harpoon in the creature, 

 the rope securing the 

 victim. This method of 



hunting requires great patience, caution, and dexterity, for the acute sense of hearing keeps the 

 animal always on the qui vive, and on perceiving the least mischievous stir it instantly escapes. 



The geographical area of this species is round the southern coast of Greenland, Iceland, onwards 

 to Spitzbei-gen, and high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean, towards Nova Zembla and the Russian coasts. 

 It is also asserted that either this animal, or a closely-allied and barely-to-be-distinguished species. 



RINGED SEAL. 



