Quadrupeds: or, outlines of a popular history of the class mammalia; with a particular notice of those mentioned in Scripture.

  • Religious Tract Society
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Quadrupeds: or, outlines of a popular history of the class mammalia; with a particular notice of those mentioned in Scripture. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    77/176 (page 63)
    CARNIVORA.] THE COMMON SEAT it can remain a long time without inj ury. Dur¬ ing this period of submersion the blood cannot pass through the heart, or, in other words, freely circulate, and so accumulates in the larger veins ; and to relieve these of an undue pressure this loose tissue appears to be designed, as it is found in all animals whose habits are similar or ap¬ proach those of the Seal, differing only in a more or less degree of development, according as the necessity for it may be. The blood itself is abundant, and, by its dark appearance, would seem to indicate a less perfect state of oxygena¬ tion than is necessary for animals of habits en¬ tirely terrestrial. Cuvier has divided the true Seals into various suhgenera, depending upon minor points of dis¬ tinction. Overlooking these, we shah, present, as an exemplar of the group, the Common Seal, {Phoca vituUna.) This animal is common upon the rocky coasts of Scotland and Ireland, abund¬ ant along the northern shores of Europe and America; and either the same or an allied species is found in the Caspian Sea, and the fresh water lakes of Russia and Siberia. Its average length is about five feet; its colour is yellowish grey, clouded or dappled with brown and yellow ; the lips are furnished with long stiff whiskers, the external ears wanting. The Seal is gregarious in its habits, frequent¬ ing the deep recesses and caverns of our northern shores, to which it resorts for a breeding-place : here, during winter, the female produces her young, generally two at a birth, suckling them for a few weeks on the spot, till they are strong enough to be taken into the water; where they are conveyed by the parent, who displays great solicitude for their safety: she teaches them to swim and pursue their finny prey, and when fatigued carries them on her back. The Seal is often surprised basking on the shore, when its first effort is to make for the sea, in which it feels at home; on land it is, in fact, defenceless, its whole energies being required in order to scuttle along, which it does with a sort of awkward celerity, sometimes managing to upset an inexperienced antagonist. From the nature of its food the Seal has a fishy smell; and it is said that when collected in numbers on the shore, the odour can be per¬ ceived at some distance. The voice of this ani¬ mal when old is a hoarse gruff bark; when young a peculiarly plaintive whine. To the Esquimaux and Greenlanders the Seal is of the utmost importance; in fact, their main subsistence may be said to depend upon their success in capturing this animal; and its pursuit becomes a serious occupation. In his boat, or kajak, which consists of the skin of the Seal over a slight frame-work of wood, and dressed in the same, the Greenlander braves the violence of a northern sea, and every peril, in the ardour of the chase. “ There, tumbling in their seal-skin boat, Fearless, the hungry fishers float. And from teeming seas supply The food their niggard plains deny.” “ The Seal’s flesh,” says Crantz, “ supplies the natives with their mo.st palatable and substantial food. The fat furnishes them with oil for SEAL CATCHING. 51 lamp-light, chamber and kitchen fire; and who¬ ever sees their habitations presently finds that if they even had a superfluity of wood it would not be of use; they can use nothing but train (oil) in them. They also mollify their dry food, mostly fish, in the train; and, finally, they barter it for all kinds of necessaries with the factor. They can sew better with fibres of the Seal’s sinews than with thread or silk. Of the skins of the entrails they make their windows, cur¬ tains for their tents, shirts ; and part of the blad¬ ders they use at their harpoons ; and they make train-bottles of the maw (stomach) .... Nei¬ ther is the blood wasted, but boiled with other ingredients, and eaten as soup. Of the skin of the Seal they stand in the greatest need, because they must cover with Seal skins both their large and small boats, in which they travel and seel-^ their provision. They must also cut their thongs or straps out of them, and cover their tents with them, without which they could not subsist in summer. Therefore, no man can pass for a right Greenlander who cannot catch Seals. This is the ultimate end they aspire at in all their device and labour from their childhood up.” To make himself a useful or good member of so¬ ciety on that dreary shore, this art, dangerous and difficult as it is, must be perfectly learned by every native. Though not so important to us as to the poor Greenlanders, still the Seal is much sought after for the sake of its skin, which is an article of commerce, as well as for the oil which it yields in considerable abundance. They are therefore hunted in the months of October and November, at night by torch-light. The hunters in boats proceed up the caverns and deep recesses where these animals are known to associate in large herds after the breeding season, and being pro¬ perly stationed and armed with clubs, alarm the Seals by shouts and noises; the poor animals, terrified by the uproar, and confused by the light, hurry from the ledges of the rocks and places where they are resting, and endeavour tumultuously to escape; the work of slaughter then commences, the hunters knocking them on the head with their clubs, so as to stun or kill them outright. The Seal, though the ears are cropped close to the head, has a most delicate sense of hearing, and delights in musical sounds: this fact was not unknown to the ancients. Laing, in his ac¬ count of a voyage to Spitzbergen, states that a numerous auditory of Seals would surround the vessel, and follow it for miles when the violin (as was often the case) was played on deck. And the late Sir Walter Scott, in allusion to this sin¬ gular trait in the nature of the animal, says, “ Rude Heiskar’s seals, through surges dark, Will long pursue the minstrel’s bark.” Among many instances of the domestication of the Seal, and its use in fishing, we select the fol¬ lowing anecdote, with which we close our ac¬ count, “ In January 1819, a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Burntisland, county of Fife, Scotland, completely succeeded in taming a Seal. Its singularities attracted the curiosity of stran¬ gers daily. It appeared to possess all the saga¬ city of a dog, lived in its master’s house, and ate