186s.] MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 41A 



skjuta och fiinga Skalar &c. (Stockholm, 1828)* (hunt &c.); Ball, 

 Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xviii., and Sketches of 

 British Seals ; Gaimard, Voyage en Islande &c. 



Procreation and Young. — On the coast of Greenland it is said to 

 produce its young in the month of June ; but the time seems to vary 

 according to season and place. On our coast its young is dark-co- 

 loured ; but on the Arctic coasts it is born white, with curly hair, 

 like the young of Pagomysfatidus. 



Geographical Distribution. — This is a Seal peculiar to the coasts 

 of the regions which it affects, but has also a wide range, being found 

 over nearly all the northern coasts of Europe and the colder portions 

 of America. It is even said to be found in the Caspian Sea and Lake 

 Baikal. It does not seem, from its littoral habits, to be found in the 

 Spitzbergen sea, or form a portion of the commerce of the sealer ; 

 it is, however, found on the coasts of Spitzbergen, tolerably abundant 

 on the eastern shores of Greenland, and in Davis's Strait. It is to be 

 found all the year round all along the coast of Greenland up inletsf, 

 but not to any such extent as Pagomys fcetidus and Pagophi/us grcen- 

 landicus. In Scandinavia it is sometimes called the Fjardskal on 

 account of its frequenting inlets or fjords. 



Economic value and hunting. — We have no data to decide as to 

 what extent it is killed in Danish Greenland, its record being united 

 with that of Pagomys fcetidns. The skins are highly valued as 

 articles of dress, more especially as material for the women's breeches ; 

 and no more acceptable present can be given to a Greenland damsel 

 than a skin of the Kassigiak. While a European Pyramis presents 

 jewels and bijouterie to his fair Thisbe, the not less gallant Pingatok 

 in Greenland presents to his squat innamorata the fruits of his hunt 

 up the ice-choked fjord, in the form of a Seal of this species ! In 

 the Danish settlements they are valued at from three to four rigs- 

 daler. The principal reason which induced the late Admiral Graah's 

 boatwomen to accompany him on his memorable voyage along the 

 east coast of Greenland was the hope of obtaining some Kassigiak 

 skins from that region, the natives of which value them at even less 

 than the more serviceable hides of the other species, which are sold 

 by the west-coast natives for a mere trifle. According to Hr. Cneiff 

 (/. c.) a C vitulinus will yield about 6|^ Swedish lispunds of blubber, 

 and, according to Holmers, even 8 lispunds. Professor Nilsson says 

 that a Seal of this species killed on the coast between Malm 6 and 

 Skanor in Sweden yielded over 90 Swedish "potts" of oil, each 

 "pott" being worth 36 skillings,=:67 rigsdaler 24 skillings Rigs- 

 mont (Swedish) for the oil of one C. vitulinus. In August, when the 

 Seals are poorer, another yielded 75 potts, equal in value to 56 rigs- 

 daler 12 skillings (Swedish). In some of the northern and western 

 islands of Scotland, and at the estuary of the Tay, &c., they are still 

 occasionally hunted for their skins and oil. The skin makes excellent 

 leather, and waiscoats made of it are much valued by fishermen. 



* Fide Nilss. 



+ The "Coloiiie" of Christiausliaah in Disco Bay is called Kassigiamvitchz, 

 or the place of the Kassigiak. 



