©.0 NUM © No SBA Ls. 
leagues long, but very narrow. There the Greenlanders cut off their 
retreat, and frighten them under water by fhouting, clapping, and 
throwing ftones ; but, &s they muft come up again continually to 
draw breath, then they perfecute them again till they are tired, 
and at laft are obliged to ftay fo long above water, that they fur- 
round them, and kill them with the fourth kind of dart, defcribed 
in the 6th Section. During this hunt we have a fine opportunity 
to fee the agility of the Greenlanders, or, if I may call it fo, their 
huffar-like manoeuvres. When the Seal rifes out of the water, 
they all fly upon it, as if they had wings, with a defperate noife ; 
the poor creature is forced to dive again dire€tly, and the moment 
he does, they difperfe again as faft as they came, and every one 
gives heed to his poft, to fee where it will ftart up again; which 
is an uncertain thing, and is commonly three quarters of a mile 
from the former fpot. If aSeal has a good broad water, three 
or four leagues each way, it can keep the fportfmen in play for a 
couple of hours, before ’tis fo fpent that they can furround and 
kill it. If the Seal, in its fright, betakes itfelf to the land for a 
retreat, "tis welcomed with fticks and ftones by the women and 
children, and prefently pierced by the men in the rear. This is 
avery lively and a very profitable diverfion for the Greenlanders, 
for many times one man -will have eight or ten Seals for his 
fhare. 
«« The third method of killing Seals upon the ice, is moftly prac- 
tifed in .Di/ko, where the bays are frozen over in the winter, There 
are feveral ways of proceeding. The Seals themfelves make 
fometimes holes in the ice, where they come and draw breath; 
near fuch a hole a Greenlander feats himfelf on a ftool, putting 
his feet on a lower one to keep them from the cold. Now when 
the Seal comes and puts its nofe to the hole, he pierces it in- 
ftantly with his harpoon ; then breaks the hole larger, and draws 
it out and kills it quite. Or a Greenlander lays himfelf upon his 
belly, on a kind of a fledge, near other holes, where the Seals 
xX 2 come 
455 
