438 MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. [JunC 25, 



of Europe and America ; and rare stragglers now and then land on 

 the shores of Britain, though it is by no means a member of our 

 fauna proper. This Seal is not common anywhere. On the shores 

 of Greenland it is chiefly found beside large fields of ice, and comes 

 to the coast, as was remarked by Fabricius long ago, at certain 

 times of the year. They are chiefly found in South Greenland, 

 though it is erroneous to say that they are exclusively confined to 

 that section. I have seen them not uncommonly about Disco Bay, 

 and have killed them in Melville Bay, in the most northerly portion 

 of Baffin's Bay. They are principally killed in the district of 

 Julianshaab, and then almost solely in the most southern part, on 

 the outermost islands from about the 20th of May to the last of 

 June ; but in this short time they supply a great portion of the food 

 of the natives, and form a third of the colony's yearly production. 

 In the beginning of July the Klapmyds leaves, but returns in August, 

 when it is much emaciated. Then begins what the Danes in Green- 

 land call the " magre klapmydsefangst,'''' or the lean-Klapmyds 

 catching, which lasts from three to four weeks. Very seldom is a 

 Klapmyds to be got at other places, and especially at other times. 

 The natives call a Klapmyds found single up a fjord by the name of 

 " Neriniartout," the meaning of which is "gone after food." They 

 regularly frequent some small islands not far from Julianshaab, 

 where a good number are caught. After this, they go further north, 

 but are lost sight of, and it is not known where they go to (Rink, 

 I. c). Those seen in North Greenland are mere stragglers wan- 

 dering from the herd, and are not a continuation of the migrating 

 flocks. Johannes (a very knowing man of Jakobshavn) informed 

 me that generally about the r2th of July a few are killed in Jakobs- 

 havn Bay (lat. 69° 13' N.). 



Economic value andhunt. — The Klapmyds yields, on the average, 

 half a cask of blubber, and the dried meat of every Seal weighs about 

 24 Danish lbs. ; but this is not the whole Seal, which weighs about 

 200 lbs. The yearly catch in Greenland (Danish) is about 2000 or 

 3000*. 



5. Commercial Importance of the "Seal Fisheries.'^ 



The Greenland (i. e. Spitsbergen) sealing fleet from the British 

 ports meet about the end of February in Bressa Sound, off Lerwick, 

 in Zetland ; it leaves for the north about the first week in March, 

 and generally arrives at the ice in the early part of that month. The 

 vessels then begin to make observations for the purpose of finding 

 the locus of the Seals ; and this they do by crawling along the edge of 

 the ice, and occasionally penetrating as far as possible between 70° and 

 73° N. lat., then continue sailing about until they find them, which 

 they generally do about the first week of April. If they do not get 

 access to them, they remain until early in May, when, if they intend 

 to pursue the whaling in the Spitzbergen sea that summer, they go 

 north to about 74°. N. lat. to the " old sealing," or, further still (even 

 to 81° N.), to the whaling. Most of them, however, if not successful 



* Rink, /. c. 



