248 



THE SEALS. 



of the sea-bears. The creatures are very 

 helpless and clumsy on land, and appear to 

 be in general very indolent and extremely 

 good-natured, so that one could commit the 

 most unreasonable massacres among them 

 with impunity. 



The genus is represented in the Greenland 

 waters by the Bladder-nosed Seal {Cystophora 



cristatd), fig. 128, which attains the length of 

 only 10 feet, and in which the proboscis of 

 the male is replaced by a pretty broad sack 

 divided in the middle, lying on the surface 

 between the brow and the nose, and capable of 

 being blown up in such a manner as to resemble 

 a thick cap sitting on the creature's nose. 

 In the hind-flippers the two outer digits 



are pretty long, and they alone are provided 

 with claws, the inner ones being nailless. 

 The rough, coarse fur has a ground-colour 

 of gray, over which are scattered on the sides 

 a number of broad, almost black indistinct 

 patches. 



This seal inhabits principally the ice-fields, 

 is very passionate and courageous, and attacks 

 the hunter, bellowing like a bull. The 

 Eskimo scarcely venture to pursue it in the 

 water, where it dashes against their kayaks 

 and tries to shatter them with its teeth. On 

 the ice they attack it with spears. 



"With the exception of the bladder-nose, the 

 seals in the Greenland Seas appear to have little 

 or no combativeness in their nature, but are a harm- 

 less, persecuted, sportive race of graceful athletes, 

 making merry the solitary waters of polar lands; 



"On the other hand, the male bladder-nose is, in 



truth, the lion of the sea, dividing the empire of 

 the polar waters with its huge ally the walrus. 

 Instead of flying at the approach of the hunter, he 

 will quite calmly await the approach of danger, pre- 

 paring for defence by betaking himself to the centre 

 of the piece of ice he is on, and blowing up the 

 air-bladder on his forehead while he rears his head 

 and sniffs the air like an enraged bull, and often 

 gives battle successfully, making the clubs fly from 

 the hands of his assailants with his 'flippers, his 

 head being protected as with a helmet by the air- 

 bladder. He will then in turn act on the offensive, 

 and put his opponents to flight, pursuing them 

 with a shuffling serpent-like motion over the ice, 

 the result often proving dangerous to the panic- 

 stricken hunter if the boat has left that piece of 

 ice, as the seal will use his tusks rather ferociously 

 when thus enraged. However, he is not inclined 

 to give battle unless provoked, and looks a dull, 

 stupid-looking sort of epicurean as he lolls on the 

 surface of the ice and gazes about with his large 



