CARNIVOROUS QUADRUPEDS. 63 
motion, both as a sculling and steering oar. On land or 
ice the movements of the Seal are very awkward, it being 
carried along by the fore paws, while the hinder feet are 
dragged along. Its body is covered with a glossy fur, 
closely set to the skin, so as not to interfere with its 
swimming, which it performs with great celerity. The 
nostrils and the ears have valves, which the animal can 
close when it goes under water, where it can, like the 
Whale, remain for some length of time. 
102. The Seal is very useful to man. The many uses 
to which it is appropriated by the Greenlanders are thus 
spoken of by Crantz, a Danish traveler: “Its flesh sup- 
plies them with their most palatable and substantial 
food; the fat furnishes them with oil for lamplight, 
chamber and kitchen fire; and whoever sees their hab- 
itations presently finds that, even if they had a superflui- 
ty of wood, it would be of no use—they can use noth- 
ing but oil in them. They also mollify their dry food, 
mostly fish, with oil; and, finally, they barter it for all 
kinds of necessaries. with the factors. They can sew bet- 
ter with’ fibres of the Seal’s sinews than with thread or 
silk; of the skins of the entrails they make window-cur- 
tains for their tents, and shirts; part of the bladder they 
use as a float to their harpoons; and they make oil-flasks _ 
of the stomach. Neither is the blood wasted, but is boil- 
ed with other ingredients and eaten as soup. Of the 
skin of the Seal they stand in the greatest need, because 
they must cover with seal-skins both the large and small 
boats in which they travel and seek their provisions. 
They must also cut out of them their thongs and straps, 
and cover their tents with them, without which they 
could not subsist in summer. No man, therefore, can 
pass for a right Greenlander who can not catch Seals. 
This is the ultimate end they aspire at in all their device 
and labor from their childhood up.” 
103. Seals exist in almost every quarter of the globe, 
but they are mostly found in the temperate and frozen 
