3764 The Zoologist — November, 1873. 



I ripped it up, and discovered what the Swedes would call a 

 'foster.' This was eaten by the men with great relish. The she 

 unicorn had a hoin nine and a half feet long." Our first mate, 

 Mr. James Gumming, of Dundee, was mate of the 'Wildfire' that 

 same year. He recollects the circumstances perfectly, and fully 

 corroborated Capt. Fairweather's statements; so also does Capt. 

 Walker. All applications for further testimony should be addressed 

 to the men who participated in the feast ; if they cannot recollect 

 it, they ought to. 



In the night of 30th May a small patch of seals was descried on 

 an ice-point ahead of us. The battue was postponed until the 

 morning, it being found that seals are less inclined to take to the 

 water in the forenoon than they are at other times of the day. It 

 was nearly eight o'clock when the boats put off from the ship. 

 From the crow's nest the seals could be seen upon a strip of distant 

 ice, a body about two miles long and a {ew hundred yards wide. 

 They were not distributed over all this area evenly, but were in 

 very irregular order, like a flock of sheep grouped loosely along a 

 road beneath the shade of straggling trees. All of them were lifting 

 up their heads at intervals to sniff the air, seal-fashion, and when 

 the boats, mistaking the direction, bore down upon them from the 

 windward, they began to get uneasy. IMost of them, however, 

 satisfied themselves with an occasional glance at the ship, and 

 having reassured themselves that she was still two or three miles 

 off, determined not to budge just yet for anybody. The boats, 

 however, were getting almost within range, and the nearer seals at 

 last began to think that matters were getting serious, so one or two 

 hundred of them shufl3ed off the ice and plunged into the water, 

 like boys foundered iu a sack race. The rest remained upon the 

 ice until the men got within fifty or sixty yards of them, and, taking 

 the groups in detail, shgt one or two out of every patch. At the 

 first shot the nearest uuwouudcd wriggled rapidly off the hummocks 

 into the water, and not unfrequenlly the dead would perversely 

 follow their lead and sink before they could be secured. If they 

 did not, they were flensed at once where they lay, the skins were 

 thrown into the boat, and then the men made for another patch. 

 When the boats returned we stood away to the next point, where 

 we again fell in with the old saddle-backs {Pagophilus grceti' 

 laiidicus), and they were in larger numbers than before. There 

 must have been many thousands of Ihem, for they covered a strip 



