AMONG THE ICE. 445 



they approach the vast ice-field which, every spring, the 

 southerly current brings down from the coast of Labra- 

 dor. This ice-field swarms with the seal-hunter s victims ; 

 but he does not capture them without difficulty. It is 

 no child's play in which he is engaged. Frequently the 

 ice is hard and compact, and presents a barrier which 

 the inexperienced voyager would pronounce insuperable. 

 Then the ice-saws are got out, and a canal wide enough 

 to admit the labouring ship is cut through the field, and 

 she forces a passage under press of canvas, or with her 

 engines working at their highest power, grinding the ice 

 beneath her stem into so much diamond-dust, or heaved 

 on her side by the pressure of the floating masses ; and 

 all this amidst a driving storm of sleet and snow that 

 blinds and bewilders the toiling sealers, and cruelly nips 

 any exposed part of their bodies. Occasionally the wind 

 blows so heavily that they are glad to bring their vessel 

 up under an iceberg; careful, however, to moor her 

 " stern on," that, in case of any mishap, she may be able 

 to sail off without a moment's delay. For an iceberg, 

 though apparently a friend in need, may prove an enemy 

 in disguise. 



Only four kinds of seals visit the Newfoundland waters ; 

 the harp, the hood, the " square fipper " (a rare visitant), 

 and the dotard or ranger (a summer tourist). The harp 

 seal whelps about the first week in March, and the hood 

 seal about the second. Each gives birth to a single 

 " calf," and breeds but once in a year. The seal-hunter 

 greatly prizes the young harp or " whitecoat," its oil 

 being the finest. It grows, as do all young seals, with 

 astonishing rapidity ; so that in a fortnight it attains its 



