298 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



the weather from day to day. For instance, three or four thick, 

 foggy days seem to call them out from the water by hundreds of 

 thousands upon the different hauling-grounds (which the reader 

 observes recorded on my map). In some cases I have seen them 

 lie there so close together that scarcely a foot of ground, over whole 

 acres, is bare enough to be seen. Then a clear and warmer day 

 follows, and this seal-covered ground, before so thickly packed with 

 animal life, will soon be almost deserted comparatively so, at 

 least to be filled up immediately as before, when favorable weather 

 shall again recur. They must frequently eat when here, because 

 the first yearlings and " holluschickie " that appear in the spring 

 are no fatter, sleeker, or livelier than they are at the close of the 

 season. In other words, their condition, physically, seems to be 

 the same from the beginning to the end of their appearance here 

 during the summer and fall. It is quite different, however, with 

 the " see-catch." We know how and where it spends two to three 

 months, because we find it on the ground at all times, day or 

 night, during that period. 



A small flock of the young seals, one to three years old gener- 

 ally, will often stray from these hauling-ground margins up and 

 beyond over the fresh mosses and grasses, and> there sport and play 

 one with another just as little puppy-dogs do : but, when weary of 

 this gambolling, a general disposition to sleep is suddenly mani- 

 fested, and they stretch themselves out and curl up in all the posi- 

 tions and all the postures that their flexible spines and ball-and- 

 socket joints will permit. They seem to revel in the unwonted 

 vegetation, and to be delighted with their own efforts in rolling 

 down and crushing the tall stalks of grasses and umbelliferous 

 plants. One will lie upon its back, hold up its hind flippers, and 

 lazily wave them about, while it scratches, or rather rubs, its ribs 

 with the fore-hands alternately, the eyes being tightly closed dur- 

 ing the whole performance. The sensation is evidently so luxuri- 

 ous that it does not wish to have any side-issue draw off its blissful 

 self-attention. Another, curled up like a cat on a rug, draws its 

 breath, as indicated by the heaving of its flanks, quickly, but regu- 

 larly, as though in heavy sleep. Another will lie flat upon its 

 stomach, its hind flippers covered and concealed, while it tightly 

 folds its forefeet back against its sides, just as a fish carries its 

 pectoral fins, and so on to no end of variety, according to the ground 

 and the fancy of the animals. 



