Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1886-03-26
A CHAPTER ON SEALS.

ing ahead of the ice as it forms, and
moving toward the coast of Labrador,
feeding in its fiords and bays as they
move. Small detachments lead the
way, like pioneers, and behind them
moves the great army in one continu-
Gus mass. 1t occupies days in passing
certain points, and appears to fill the
seas as far as the eye can reach, impress
sing the beholder with an idea Of the
vast number of seals on whose ranks
the hunters have for more than eighty
years been making systematic on
slaughts, without apparent reduction of
the supply. Onward the great army
marches, driven from behind by the fast
forming ice, past the straits of Belle
Isle, past Newfoundland, to the Grand
Banks, their Southern headquarters,
lust as the Greenland seas are their sum-
mer homes. Here they feast upon
swarms of fish till the beginning of
February, when they begin their retreat
northward to the very ice they have just
escaped, and there, upon the great ar
gosies descending upon the Arctic cur
rents, they bring forth their young in
February.
a Newfoundland law forbids sailing
vessels to depart for the seal hunt be-
fore the 1st of March, and the steamers
are not allowed before the 10th of that
month.
The vessels arrive when the baby
seals, or "white coats" are three or
four weeSs old, still dependent upon
their mother for subsistence, and unable
to escape from the hunters. Their
bodies are covered with very thick
layer of fat, and they are far preferable
for this reason to the older seals. When
the baby is six weeks old it drops its
yellowish white coat and become a
"ragged coat" and at this stage they
begin to "dip," or take to the water. 1t
is very amusing to watch the mother
seal trying to teach a young one to swim
properly. Just as the eagle stirs up her
young and encourages them to use their
wings, so the mother seals tumble the
babies into the water and give them
swimming lessons.
The old seal pushes the little one
along toward the ice, the baby all the
while whimpering and sobbing and
vainly trying to resist the steady pres
sure from behind. When at last it
drops into the water it sobs so piteously
that even the mother is ashamed of her
self and helps her dear offspring back
upon the ice. Every few hours this is
repeated, and soon the young can swim
and dive, and then the vast nursery dis
appears. When they are in danger from
rafting ice or fragments Of foes dashed
about by the wind and likely to crush
them, the sclf-sacrificing affection of
the mothers leads them to brave all
dangers, and they are seen helping
their young TO places of safety in the
unbroken ice, sometimes clasping them
in their fore tlippers and swimming
with them, or pushing them forward
with their noses.
The maternal instinct appears to be
peculiarly strong in the female seal, and
the tenderness with which the mothers
watch their offspring is most touching.
When the young seals are cradled on
the ice the mothers remain in tie neigh
borhood, going off each morning to fish
and returning at intervals to give them
suck. It is an extraordinary fact that
old seals manage 70 keep holes in the
ice open and prevent them freezing
over. On returning from a fishing ex-
cursion extending over fifty or hun
dred miles, each mother seal manages
to nd the hole by which she took her
departure, and to discover her own
snow-white cub, which she proceeds TO
fondle and sucklc. This is certainly
one of the most remarkable achievements
of animal instinct. The young "white-
coats" are scattered in myriads over the
ice field. During the absence of the
mother the ice field has shifted in posi-
tiou, perhaps many miles, being borne
on the current. Yet each mother seal
is able to pick out her own cub from the
immense herd with unerring accuracy.
1t is quite touching to witness their
signs of distress and grief when they
return to ind only pool of blood and
a skinless carcass instead of their whim-
pering little ones.
In the seas around Newfoundland and
Labrador there are four species of seals
the bay seal, the harp, the hood, and
the square fiipper. The first and the
last are comparatively rare, aud when
taken are of little commercial import
ance. The harp seal-the seal OF CON-
merce--is so called from having Droau,
curved line of connected dark spots pro-
ceeding from each shoulder, and meet
ing on the back above the tail and form
ing a figure like an ancient harp. The
old harp seals alone have this figuring,
and not until their second year.
The hood seal is much larger and
more ferocious than the harp. The male.
called by the hunters "the dog-hood, "
is distinguished from the female by a
singular hood or bag of fesh'on his
nose. When attacked or alarmed he in
flates his hood so as to cover his face
and eyes, and it is strong enough to re-
sist seal shot. 1t is impossible to kill
one OF these creatures when his sensitive
nose la thus protected. unless he is shot