96 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



little ones under their flippers and swim hurriedly away with them. 

 These little seals spend the first few weeks of their lives upon dry 

 land, upon which their parents live for some little time before the 

 young are born. 



Graceful as a seal is in the water, it is very clumsy and awk- 

 ward upon the shore, and crawls along in a most ungainly manner, 

 by the help of its flippers. Those who have seen a herd of seals 

 in their native homes say that when they are upon land they look 

 very much like a number of enormous caterpillars. 



Clumsy though it is, however, the seal can travel over the 

 ground, if necessary, with some rapidity. Sailors have often 

 declared that, when it is chased, it hurls a shower of stones at its 

 pursuers. But this, of course, is quite involuntary, the stones being 

 those kicked up by the hind flippers as the animal shuffles hastily 

 along. 



There are many difi"erent kinds of seals, one of the largest of 

 which is the walrus. This gigantic creature often measures sixteen 

 or eighteen feet in length, and has two great tusks projecting from 

 the upper jaw. These tusks are really the canine or '' eye" teeth, 

 and the ivory of which they are composed is of so fine a quality 

 that it is highly valued by the manufacturers of fancy goods. 



To the Esquimaux the walrus is indeed a necessity of life. 

 There is no part of its body which he does not utilize for some 

 purpose. Of its hide, for example, he makes the "kajak", or light 

 boat in which he paddles himself about when the sea is not frozen 

 over. Of the sinews and muscles, after drying and splitting them, 

 he constructs nets and fishing-lines. 



Fish-hooks, arrow-heads, and harpoon-heads he cuts out of the 

 tusks. The oil which he presses from the blubber supplies his 

 lamps, upon which he is obliged entirely to depend for light 

 during the six months in which the sun never appears above 

 the horizon. The fur serves him for clothing; while the flippers 

 can be made into warm and comfortable boots, and the membrane 

 which lines the body into an excellent waterproof cloak. 



The animals from which seal-skin cloaks and jackets are 

 obtained are called Fur Seals. About five different kinds of 

 these valuable creatures are known, the most important being the 



