Newfoundland in 1897 - Rumbolt

THE GREAT SEAL-HUNT. 179
northerly movement in company with their young, shaping
their coarse for the Greenland seas, where they spend
three months. As the early Arctic winter sets in with
September, they begin their southern migration, keeping
ahead of the ice as it forms, and moving towards the coast
of Labrador, and feeding in its fiords and bays as they
move. Small detachments seem to lead the way, like
pioneers. Behind them moves the great army in one
continuous mass. It occupies days in passing certain
points, and appears to fill the sea as far as the eye can
reach. This great army on its march may well impress
the beholder with the idea of the vast number of seals,
on whose ranks the hunters make their annual onslaughts.
Having reached the Straits of Belle Isle, separating Newfoundland
from Labrador, one division enters the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, the other moving along the eastern
shores of the island, feeding in its bays and inlets, but
both divisions steadily going south. Towards the close
of the year they have reached the Banks, these being
their southern head- quarters, as the Greenland seas are
their northern. The Banks are ever swarming with fish,
and on these the seals feast till the beginning of February ;
then they commence their northern migration to meet
the Arctic ice, on which their young are to be brought
forth and cradled. By the 10th or loth of February
on the Arctic
they have reached the ice-fields, descending
current, and these great floes are the birthplace of their
young. Their annual round is now completed.
The great aim of the hunters is to get among the
"white-coats," as the young harp seals are called, in
their babyhood, when yet fed by their mother's milk,
and while they are powerless to escape. The oil, too,
extracted from the blubber of the young seals is of a
much finer quality than that obtained from the full-
grown seals. The milk on which they are sustained is