COMMON SEAL 
HIS’. BUA, ewes: SEI 
Br. Zool. i. N°71.—~Hift. Quad. N° 375.—Smellie, 
Kafligiak, Faun. Greenl. N° 6.—Lerv. Mus. 
€NEAL. With a flat head and nofe: large black eyes: large 
whifkers : {ix cutting teeth in the upper jaw ; four in the lower: 
two canine teeth in each jaw: no external ears: hair on all parts 
fhort and thick: five toes on each foot, furnifhed with ftrong fharp 
-Olaws, and ftrongly webbed : tail fhort and flat. 
Ufual length of this fpecies, from five to fix feet. Their color 
‘differs ; dufky, brinded, or fpotted with white and yellow. 
Inhabits all the European feas, even to the extreme north; and is 
found far within the 4réic circle, in both European and Afiatic feas. 
It is continued to thofe of Kamtfchatka*. 
Thefe animals may be called the flocks of the Greenlanders, and 
many other of the Arctic people. I cannot defcribe the ufes of them 
to the former more expreffively than in the very words of Mr. Crantz, 
a gentleman very long refident in their chilly country. 
«* Seals are more needful to them than Sheep are to us, though they 
«© furnifh us with food and raiment; ‘or than the cocoa-tree is to the 
© Indians, although that prefents them not only with meat to eat, and 
* covering fer their bodies, but alfo houfes to dwell in, and boats to 
«« fail in, fo that in cafe of neceffity they could live folely from it. The 
‘ Seals flefh (together with the Rein-deer, which is already grown 
‘ pretty fcarce) fupplies the natives with their moft palatable and fub- 
‘ ftantial food. Their fat furnifhes them with oil for lamp-light, cham- 
* ber and kitchen fire; and whoever fees their habitations, prefently 
-~ 
Lal 
cal 
a 
* Steller, in Nov. Com. Petrop. ii, 2905 
7 finds, 
Si 
SEAL. 
72. COMMON? 
THEIR GREAT 
USE TO THE 
GREENLANDERS, 
