430 THE REGION OF THE UNKNOWN. 



Here, with the narwhal and the polar bear, the arctic fox 

 and legions of ocean-birds, it breeds its young, and fulfils 

 its part in the great economy of creation. Civilized man 

 is yearly tempted to cross the inhospitable borders of this 

 sombre region by greed of gain, or desire of knowledge, or 

 love of adventure ; yet, however well he may be assisted 

 by the discoveries of science, he is forced to confess him- 

 self an intruder. He has done much, but much remains 

 to be done. Leagues of sea remain unploughed by ad- 

 venturous keel ; leagues of frozen land have never been 

 trodden by human foot. Thinking of those remote Polar 

 solitudes, we are tempted to believe that Nature has there 

 established her laboratory, and that to guard its secrets 

 from the insatiable curiosity of science, she has thrown 

 up around it an impenetrable barrier, made terrible by 

 the hoarse roar of winds and waters, by the lurid glow of 

 magnetic splendours, and the sound 



" Of thunder heard remote ! " 



The seal, as we have said, lives chiefly on fish, but does 

 not disdain crustaceans and molluscs. It is exceedingly 

 fond of basking in the sun on the summit of weedy rocks 

 or the surface of the icy plains, though it experiences 

 some difficulty in climbing the slippery slopes. When 

 thus enjoying its ease, the inexperienced voyager might 

 suppose that it would fall an easy prey ; but it is always 

 on the alert, and at the slightest sign of danger throws 

 itself into the sea, or glides through the hole which it has 

 taken care to excavate in the ice. The Eskimos, in hunt- 

 ing them, use a canvas frame or screen, which they 

 cautiously propel in advance of their persons, arid, by a 

 patient process of stalking, contrive to approach within 



