104 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



in swimming and seeking their food ; when they are fatigued, the parent is said to carry them on her 

 back. According to the report of the seal hunters in Caithness, their growth is so rapid, that in nine 

 tides, about fifty- four hours after their birth, they become as active as their parents. 



In their proper depth of water, these animals are very rapid in their motions. They will dive like 

 a shot, and in a few moments afterwards rise at a distance of forty or fifty yards. To the inhabitants 

 of Greenland, the seals are animals of the greatest importance. The sea is to these people what corn- 

 fields are to us, and the seal fishery is their most copious harvest. The flesh supplies them with their 

 principal food, their lamps and fires ; and the fibres of the sinews serve better for sewing with than 

 either thread or silk. Of the skins of the entrails this people make their windows, curtains for their 

 tents, and shirts ; and part of the bladders they use in fishing, as buoys or floats to their harpoons- 

 Of the bones they formerly made all those instruments and working tools that are now supplied to 

 them by the introduction of iron. Even the blood is not lost, for they boil that with other ingredients^ 

 as soup. Of the skins they form clothing, coverings for then- beds, houses, and boots, and thongs and 

 straps of every description. To be able to pursue and kill seals is the height of the Greenlander's 

 desire and pride, and to this labour, which is in truth an arduous one, they are trained from their 

 childhood. The hunting of the seal also sets the courage and enterprise of the Finlander in the 

 strongest possible light. The season for the chace begins when the sea breaks up, and the ice floats in 

 shoals upon the surface. Four or five peasants will go out to sea in one small open boat, and will 

 often continue more than a month absent from their families. Thus do they expose themselves to all 

 the horrors of the northern seas, having only a small fire, which they kindle on a kind of brick hearth, 

 and living on the flesh of the seals which they kill ; the fat and skins they bring home. The perils 

 with which these voyagers have to struggle are almost incredible : they have incessantly to pass betwixt 

 masses of ice, which threaten to crush their bttle bark to atoms : they mount the floating shoals, and, 

 creeping along them, steal cautiously upon the animals, and kill them as they repose on the ice. 



It is said that the seals delight in thunder storms, and that during those periods they will sit on the 

 rocks, and contemplate, with apparent pleasure and gratification, the convulsion of the elements. The 

 Icelanders entertain, respecting these animals, a strange superstition. They believe them to resemble 

 the human species more than any other creature, and that they are the offspring of Pharaoh and his 

 host, who were converted into seals when they were overwhelmed in the Red Sea. 



The voice of a full-grown seal is hoarse, and not unlike the barking of a dog, and that of the young 

 ones resembles in some measure the mewing of a kitten. The flesh of seals formerly found, in our 

 country, a place at the tables of the great, as appears from the bill of fare of a sumptuous feast which 

 Archbishop Nevil gave in the reign of king Edward the Fourth. 



The animal from which our drawing is taken has not yet attained its full growth, nor does it appear 

 to be very reconciled to its new abode. If molested in the water, it manifests its indignation by 

 splashing the water with its fore paws, which generally induces the spectator to retire, and its sagacity 

 has perhaps led it to adopt this mode of defence, as the only one within its power. It however shews 

 some degree of docility to its keepers ; for, when dragged from its wooden reservoir, and told to 

 return to it, it generally obeys the command, and seems to feel itself happy, when it again finds itself 

 in the watery element. 



