448 SEALS IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



prime, and its skin and fat will weigh from forty to fifty- 

 six pounds. 



The seals are sometimes encountered in small companies, 

 which have apparently separated from the main body ; 

 at other times, they form a dense population, to be 

 numbered by hundreds of thousands. In their early 

 days, and when the ice is close and compact, so as to 

 afford an easy access, they fall before the hunter like 

 grain before the sickle. A blow from his club, or a 

 kick, is sufficient and in a few seconds the skin and fat 

 are stripped off, and slung over the hunter's shoulder. 

 As soon as he has collected "a turn" that is, four or five 

 he returns to the vessel with his booty, deposits it on 

 board, and sallies forth intent iipon another massacre. 

 The work of destruction ends only at nightfall. But 

 when the ice opens up beneath the influence of a genial 

 breeze, and the young seal has grown strong and active, 

 and takes to the water, prizes are not so easily obtained. 

 Then the boats are launched, and pull up the various 

 creeks and inlets in the ice, endeavouring to discover 

 some floating isle on which a goodly number of the young 

 phocse have assembled, and then to surround it with an 

 impassable cordon, and at " one fell swoop " capture the 

 whole herd. 



The young hood is caught in the same manner, but it 

 is fiercer than the young harp, as well as rarer. More- 

 over, it comes into the world later, and after the ice is 

 open, so that its chances of escape are more numerous. 



The old dog hood displays a remarkable amount of 

 courage, and does not hesitate to turn upon and give 

 battle to his pursuers. He is tenacious of life, and Ins 

 hood, which in his anger he inflates and erects on the 



