THE EARED SEALS. 



^41 



by their form and their helplessness on land 

 from becoming as attached and obedient 

 domestic animals as dogs. Their movements 

 in the water are very graceful and charmino-. 

 They play with the fish they catch as cats do 

 with mice, make wonderful leaps and long- 

 dives, swim under the water with marvellous 

 rapidity, and in the liquid element show as 

 much suppleness and agility as they display 

 clumsiness and helplessness on land. They 

 are nevertheless very fond of landing on 

 coasts and banks of ice in order to bask in 

 the sun, to rest, to caress each other, and the 

 females to suckle their young. But the eared 

 seals alone, thanks to their more flexible 

 limbs, are able to traverse considerable dis- 

 tances on land, and even to climb pretty 

 steep rocks. The ordinary seals move on 

 land only with difficulty by fixing themselves 

 with their flippers in front, and pulling up 

 their hinder parts, then drawing their bodies 

 up into a curve and throwing their front parts 

 again forwards. They drag their belly along 

 the earth, show little suppleness and soon 

 become tired. This greatly facilitates the 

 pursuit of these animals, which are chiefly 

 hunted in the Arctic seas. 



The Eskimo carry on this pursuit on a 

 small scale in their slim kayaks, throwing a 

 harpoon at a single seal to which is attached 

 by a cord a bladder filled with air to mark the 

 spot where the animal dived after being struck, 

 and other nations carry it on on a large scale 

 in order to appropriate the skins and the fat, 

 with which the body is in a certain measure 

 enveloped. The polar seals always keep in 

 the neio;hbourhood of ice-fields, on the surface 

 of which they are fond of basking in the sun, 

 or assemble on certain coasts, especially rocky 

 coasts. The vessels set sail in the beginning 

 of spring, and on reaching the parts frequented 

 by the seals the crew, armed with iron-pointed 

 staves, land and try to cut off the retreat of 

 the seals to the sea. The animals are stunned 

 by blows on the snout, and afterwards killed 

 by a stab through the heart. As soon as the 



ice melts the seals migrate polewards. I was 

 able to observe these migrations during my 

 visit to Jan Mayen. There about 10,000 

 seals are killed on an average every year, and 

 there always remain many sur\-ivors, since the 

 island is mostly begirt by ice the whole year 

 round. On the occasion of our visit in 

 August, 1 86 1, however, the island was quite 

 free of ice, and with it the seals had vanished. 

 In the course of five days we saw only two 

 specimens of the Greenland seal, which ap- 

 proached our ship with great curiosity, and 

 one of which we succeeded in killing with a 

 bullet through the head. To the Eskimo the 

 seal is the basis of existence. They feed on 

 its black flesh, which is at once tough and 

 dry, because all the fat collects under the 

 skin; they drink the oil obtained from the 

 blubber bv boilincr, and this oil likewise fur- 

 nishes them with the means of securino- lioht 

 and heat. They clothe themselves in its skin, 

 whose rather short but \A-arm fur is imper\'i- 

 ous to water, and the entrails when suitably 

 prepared afford them water-tight co\'erings, 

 skins for sausages, bladders, and even yarn, 

 while the small bones of the limbs and tail 

 serve as playthings for their children. 



In this order, not very varied as regards 

 its forms, but world-wide in its distribution 

 and very rich in individuals, we distinguish 

 three families: the Eared Seals, with visible 

 external ears; the True Seals, without external 

 ears; and the Walruses, with a very peculiar 

 dentition. 



THE EARED SEALS 



^OTARIDA). 



Easily distinguished by the character just mentioned, the 

 visible external ears. 



The external ears have the form of a semi- 

 circular flap, opposite which there often stands 

 a small movable lobe. The head and the 

 neck are long-er than in the true seals, and the 

 limbs being more free from the body can be 

 used in walking. The webs on the feet pro- 



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