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Show 1868.] MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 415 the months of June and July, between N. lat. 76° and 77°, in possession of a large floe, part of which was formed of bay ice, where they had their " blow-holes " (the atluk of the Danes); his ship lay ice-bound for nearly three weeks, at about three miles from this large floe, and hence he had considerable opportunity of observing them. They passed the greater portion of their time apparently asleep beside their holes; and he never saw them all at one time off the ice, unless alarmed by parties from the ship or by the Polar Bear. When the ice slackened away and the sheets of open water formed around the ships, the Seals' used to swim near them; and occasionally at these times a few were killed. In the water they are very cautious, swimming near the hunter, gazing on him as if with feelings of curiosity and wonder; but on the ice beside their blow-hole it is almost impossible for the hunter to approach them, so much are they on the alert and so easily alarmed. In Davis's Strait it especially feeds about the base of icebergs and up the ice-fjords. The great ice-fjord at Jakobshavn is a favourite haunt of theirs; the reason for this predilection is apparently that their food is found in such localities in greater abundance. The bergs, even when aground, have a slight motion, stirring up from the bottom the Crustacea and other animals on which the Seals feed *; the native, knowing this, frequently endangers his life by venturing too near the icebergs, which not unfrequently topple over upon the eager Seal-hunter. The old males have a most disgusting smell, which has suggested the name feet ida j-. Geographical Distribution (fc.-In the Spitzbergen sea they appear to be confined to high latitudes, and especially to the parallels of 76° and 77° N.; and it is in these latitudes that the whalers chiefly find them. In Davis's Strait it is to be found all the year round, but particularly up the ice-fjords. Its capture constitutes the most important feature of the Seal-hunt in North Greenland; but many are also killed in South Greenland, the Neitsik figuring largely in the trade-returns of that Inspectorate. In Jakobshavn bay, I am told, they are quite numerous about the middle of August. Economic value.-They are extensively captured for food and clothing. Notwithstanding the nauseous smell of the old ones, the flesh. of all of them (but especially the younger individuals) is sufficiently palatable to an educated taste. During the latter end of summer and autumn it forms the principal article of food in the Danish settlements, and on it the writer of these notes and his companions dined many a time and oft; we even learned to like it and to become quite epicurean connoisseurs in all the qualities, titbits, and dishes of the well-beloved Neitsik! The skin forms the chief * Hr. Distrikts-laege Pfaff, who has resided at Jakobshavn for many years as district Medical Officer of North Greenland, suggests this to m e ; and the idea recommends itself as being that of a very intelligent naturalist. •j- Homer refers to this in another species (probably Monachus albiventer): " Web-footed Seals forsake the stormy swell, And sleep in herds exhaling nauseous smell." |
