ie LABRADOR 
is probably only an ornament like a crest. Some think it 
is specially provided to protect its nose from seal bats or 
clubs, — of course an impossible theory, for sufficient time 
has not yet elapsed for Nature to have evolved armour 
against the sealers in the ice-field, any more than she has 
yet provided for the ideal requirements of twentieth century 
foot-ball man. The hood seal has been so far exterminated 
in its favourite resort between Greenland and Iceland, that 
the fishery has had to be abandoned. 
This seal displays great strength, courage, and affection in 
defending its young, and I have seen a whole family die 
together on a pan of ice not twelve yards square. Four 
men with wooden seal bats did the killing, but not before 
the male had caught one club in his mouth and cleared his 
enemies off the pan by swinging it from side to side. The 
old seal, which must have weighed fully two thousand 
pounds, was hoisted on board whole (or unsculped), so as 
not to delay the steamer. He was apparently quite dead. 
As, however, he came over the rail, the strap broke, and 
he fell back into the sea. The cold water must have re- 
vived him, for I saw him return to the same pan of ice, 
distinguishable by the blood stains left by the recent 
battle, and now some little distance astern. The edge 
of the pan was almost six feet above water, but he leaped 
clear over the edge, and landed almost in the spot where 
his family had met their tragic fate. The men immediately 
ran back and killed him with bullets. He was this time 
sculped, and so brought aboard. 
The strength of the hood seal is also well illustrated by 
the fact that he can descend for food to a depth of sixty 
or even ninety fathoms. This is shown by the fact that a 
