HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 509 



The time for taking Seals is in the month of 

 October, or the beginning of November. The 

 hunters, provided with torches and bludgeons, 

 enter the mouths of the caverns about midnight, 

 and row in far as they can : they then land ; and 

 being properly stationed, begin by making a great 

 noise, which alarms the Seals, and brings them 

 down from all parts of the cavern in a confused body, 

 making frightful shrieks and cries. In this hazard- 

 ous employment, great care is necessary on the part 

 of the hunters to avoid the throng, which presses 

 down with great impetuosity, and bears away every 

 thing that opposes its progress ; but when the first 

 crowd has passed, they kill great numbers of young 

 ones, which generally straggle behind, by striking 

 them on the nose. 



A young Seal yields above eight gallons of oil. 

 When full grown, their skins are very valuable, and 

 make a beautiful kind of leather, much used in 

 making shoes, &c. 



The flesh of the Seal is sometimes eaten ; and that 

 it was formerly admitted to the tables of the great, 

 may be seen in the bill of fare of a sumptuous en- 

 tertainment given by Archbishop Nevil in the reign 

 of Edward the Fourth. 



The growth of the Seals is so amazingly rapid, 

 that after nine tides from their birth they are as 

 active as the old ones. 



The female brings forth her young on the land, 

 sits on her hind legs while she suckles them, and 

 as soon as they are able carries them to sea, 

 and teaches them to swim and search for food : 

 when they become fatigued, she places them on her 

 back. The young ones know the voice of their 

 mother, and attend to her call. 



