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Show 186S.] MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 413 skjuta och fanga Skalar &c. (Stockholm, 1828)* (hunt etc.); Ball, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xviii., and Sketches of British Seals; Gaimard, Voyage en Islande &c. Procreation and Young.-On the coast of Greenland it is said to produce its young in the month of June ; but the time seems to vary according to season and place. On our coast its young is dark-coloured ; but on the Arctic coasts it is born white, with curly hair, like the young of Pagomys fcetidus. Geographical Distribution.-This is a Seal peculiar to the coasts of the regions which it affects, but has also a wide range, being found over nearly all the northern coasts of Europe and the colder portions of America. It is even said to be found in the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal. It does not seem, from its littoral habits, to be found in the Spitzbergen sea, or form a portion of the commerce of the sealer; it is, however, found on the coasts of Spitzbergen, tolerably abundant on the eastern shores of Greenland, and in Davis's Strait. It is to be found all the year round all along the coast of Greenland up inletsf, but not to any such extent as Pagomys fcetidus and Pagophilus grcen-landicus. In Scandinavia it is sometimes called the Fjardskal on account of its frequenting inlets or fjords. Economic value and hunting.-We have no data to decide as to what extent it is killed in Danish Greenland, its record being united with that of Pagomys fcetidus. The skins are highly valued as articles of dress, more especially as material for the women's breeches ; and no more acceptable present can be given to a Greenland damsel than a skin of the Kassigiak. While a European Pyramis presents jewels and bijouterie to his fair Thisbe, the not less gallant Pingatok in Greenland presents to his squat innamorata the fruits of his hunt up the ice-choked fjord, in the form of a Seal of this species ! In the Danish settlements they are valued at from three to four rigsdaler. The principal reason which induced the late Admiral Graah's boatwomen to accompany him on his memorable voyage along the east coast of Greenland was the hope of obtaining some Kassigiak skins from that region, the natives of which value them at even less than the more serviceable hides of the other species, which are sold by the west-coast natives for a mere trifle. According to Hr. Cneiff (I. ci) a C. vitulinus will yield about 6f Swedish lispunds of blubber, and, according to Holmers, even 8 lispunds. Professor Nilsson says that a Seal of this species killed on the coast between Malmo and Skandr in Sweden yielded over 90 Swedish "potts" of oil, each "pott" being worth 36 skillings, = 67 rigsdaler 24 skillings Rigs-mont (Swedish) for the oil of one C. vitulinus. In August, when the Seals are poorer, another yielded 75 potts, equal in value to 56 rigsdaler 12 skillings (Swedish). In some of the northern and western islands of Scotland, and at the estuary of the Tay, & c , they are still occasionally hunted for their skins and oil. The skin makes excellent leather, and waiscoats made of it are much valued by fishermen. * Fide Nilss. t The " Colonie " of Christianshaab in Disco Bay is called Kassigianwitchz, or the place of the Kassiyiak. |