THE COMMON SEAL* i^'j 



skins they form clothing, coverings for their beds, 

 liouses, and boats, and thongs and straps of 

 every description. — To be able to take Seals, is the 

 height of the Greenlanders' desires and pride ; and 

 to this labour, which is in truth an arduous one, 

 they are trained from their childhood. By this they 

 support themselves ; by this they render themselves 

 agreeable to each other, and become beneficial 

 members of the community*. 



The huntins; of this animal also sets the couran-e 

 and enterprize of the Finlander in the strongest 

 possible light. The season for this chace be<^ins 

 when the sea breaks up, and the ice floats in shoals 

 upon the surface. Four or five peasants will go out 

 to sea in one small open boat, and often continue 

 more than a month absent from their famihes. Thus 

 do they expose themselves to all the horrors of the 

 Northern seas, having only a small fire which they 

 kindle on a sort of brick earth, and living on the 

 flesh of the Seals which they kill. The fat and 

 skins are what they bring home. The perils with 

 which these voyagers have to struggle, are almost in- 

 credible. They are every instant betwixt masses of 

 ice, which threaten to crash their little bark to 

 atonis. They get upon the floating shoals; and creep- 

 ing along them^ steal cautiously upon the Seal, and 

 kill him as he reposes on the ice. — The following 

 narrative will represent the extreme danger of this 

 employment. — A few years agotwo Finlanders set out 

 in a boat together. Having got sight of some Seals 



* CJar.tz, i. 180. 



