THE OCEAN MAMMALS 369 
face, before I could draw a bead on him. Then for a short 
time he floats at this time of the year, and you must rush off 
your boat, or throw your many-hooked jigger over him, and 
haul him quickly up on to the ice, if you are strong enough 
to do so. 
If the seals are basking on the ice as the boat approaches, 
the men shout and wave, and even fire under the seal, which 
seems to so frighten him that he remains staring into space, 
till they land and club him with the rifle. As the slain 
animal does not move, the others think there can be no 
danger, and will at times allow a man to land and shoot 
or club them every one. 
Our next most important seal is the bay seal. He isa 
small seal, weighing only about one hundred pounds and 
looking rather dingy in a drab coat with faded black mark- 
ings. Nor are they very numerous, never being seen in 
herds. Yet they will probably-outlast all the others, being 
the most adaptable to their varied environment. They are 
found in the Pacific and Atlantic, in Europe, Asia, and 
America, and in the south seas. They can bear heat or 
cold. I have shot them when driving my komatik over 
a frozen arm of the sea, tolling them into range by lying 
flat down and waving my feet to represent a seal; I have 
also secured them in the hot summer when the mosquitoes 
and the heat have made the period of waiting almost un- 
bearable. Bay seals are equally at home in salt water or 
fresh. Some of our rivers are almost ruined for ordinary 
fishing by the number of bay seals that infest their pools. 
This “robber of the river,’ to use the name of the 
salmon fisherman, is there shown no mercy by the fisher- 
men, and cannot possibly escape. The seals will watch 
2B 
