WILD ANIMALS YIELDING LEATHER, HORN, ETC. 313 



and the well-equipped steam-sealers of St. John's begin their 

 annual sealing-trip at the commencement of that month, timing 

 their journey to reach the floes before the " whelps " are old 

 enough to leave the ice. 



Lake Baikal and the Caspian Sea were once connected with 

 the Arctic Ocean, one proof of which is found in the fact that 

 each is inhabited by a special kind of seal {Phoca Sibirica and 

 P. Caspicd), both of which are largely captured by means of 



Fig. 1225. — Harp or Greenland Sea! [Phoca Gnenlandica) 



Strong wide-meshed nets, worked on the same principle as the 

 "drift-nets" used for catching herring and mackerel. The Cas- 

 pian sealers let down their nets from boats, those of Lake Baikal 

 take advantage of the holes in the ice, to which the seals come up 

 in order to breathe. 



The Dugong (Halicore dugong). — This member of the 

 order of Sea- Cows (Sirenia), which ranges from Ceylon to 

 East Australia, is, when adult, about the size of an ox, and is 

 captured for the sake of its flesh, fat, and hide. Its pursuit is 

 one of the Queensland industries, and harpooning is the method 

 adopted. Semon (in In the Australian Bush) says of it: — 



