20 
THE SEAL. 
we use it in many ways, and now that we do not 
care so much for the oil, the poor Seal gets shot for 
the sake of its skin. It has its home on some rock 
in the sea, and it will have many more of its 
own kind on the same rock with it, so that they 
may form a herd. When five or six of them get 
on the same rock, they will all lie side by side, and 
bask in the sun. They seem to like to be in the 
sun very much, but they also like to dive into the 
sea, and they do not mind ice and snow, but will 
even lie on an ice berg, or rock of ice. They live 
on fish, and dive a long way down to take it. They 
are so very fat that they can not very well sink in 
the sea — for it is not easy for fat to sink — and it is 
this fat that is used for oil. The Seal can not walk, 
for, as I told you, it has no feet ; but it can move 
very fast for all that, for it can use its fins much in 
the same way that feet are used ; but it is most at 
home when it is in the sea, when it will dive, swim, 
and flap up and down for an hour or two at a time. 
The Seal can be made very tame. 
