1868.] MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 415 



the months of June and July, between N. lat. 76° and IT, in pos- 

 session of a large floe, part of which was formed of bay ice, where 

 they had their " blow-holes " (the atluk of the Danes) ; his ship 

 lay ice-bound for nearly three weeks, at about three miles from this 

 large floe, and hence he had considerable opportunity of observing 

 them. They passed the greater portion of their time apparently 

 asleep beside their holes ; and he never saw them all at one time off 

 the ice, unless alarmed by parties from the ship or by the Polar 

 Bear. When the ice slackened away and the sheets of open water 

 formed around the ships, the Seals used to swim near them ; and 

 occasionally at these times a few were killed. In the water they 

 are very cautious, swimming near the hunter, gazing on him as if 

 with feelings of curiosity and wonder ; but on the ice beside their 

 blow-hole it is almost impossible for the hunter to approach them, 

 so much are they on the alert and so easily alarmed. In Davis's 

 Strait it especially feeds about the base of icebergs and up the ice- 

 fjords. The great ice-fjord at Jakobshavn is a favourite haunt of 

 theirs; the reason for this predilection is apparently that their 

 food is found in such localities in greater abundance. The bergs, 

 even when aground, have a slight motion, stirring up from the 

 bottom the Crustacea and other animals on which the Seals feed* ; 

 the native, knowing this, frequently endangers his life by venturing 

 too near the icebergs, which not unfrequently topple over upon the 

 eager Seal-hunter. 



The old males have a most disgusting smell, which has suggested 



the nameybe^iWat- 



Geographical Distribution ^c. — In the Spitzbergen sea they 

 appear to be confined to high latitudes, and especially to the parallels 

 of 76° and 77° N. ; and it is in these latitudes that the whalers chiefly 

 find them. In Davis's Strait it is to be found all the year round, 

 but particularly up the ice-fjords. Its capture constitutes the most 

 important feature of the Seal-hunt in North Greenland ; but many 

 are also killed in South Greenland, the Neitsik figuring largely in 

 the trade-returns of that Inspectorate. In Jakobshavn bay, I am 

 told, they are quite numerous about the middle of August. 



Economic value. — They are extensively captured for food and cloth- 

 ing. Notwithstanding the nauseous smell of the old ones, the flesh 

 of all of them (but especially the younger individuals) is sufficiently 

 palatable to an educated taste. During the latter end of summer 

 and autumn it forms the principal article of food in the Danish 

 settlements, and on it the writer of these notes and his companions 

 dined many a time and oft ; we even learned to like it and to 

 become quite epicurean connoisseurs in all the qualities, titbits, and 

 dishes of the well-beloved Neitsik ! The skin forms the chief 



* Hr. Distrikts-lacge Pfaff, who has resided at Jakobshavn for many years as 

 district Medical Officer of North Greenland, suggests this to me ; and the idea re- 

 commends itself as being that of a very intelligent naturalist. 



t Homer refers to this in another species (probably Monachus albiventer) : 

 " Web-footed Seals forsake the stormy swell, 

 And sleep in herds exhaling nauseous smell." 



