Littell's Living Age/Volume 126/Issue 1628/Animal Life in the Polar Regions
ANIMAL LIFE IN THE POLAR REGIONS.
The Esquimaux are in the habit of catching sharks both with nets, baited with salt meat, and with a hook and line. They are hunted for the sake of the oil which is expressed from their livers, and for a substance very much like spermaceti, which is obtained under pressure from their flesh. Sir Leopold M'Clintock says the Esquimaux assert that the shark is insensible to pain, and that Petersen, who was his interpreter in the voyage of the "Fox" related how he had plunged a long knife into the head of one which was feeding on a white whale entangled in his net, but that the brute continued its repast notwithstanding. As Sir Leopold remarks, it must be remembered that the brain of a shark is extremely small compared with the size of its huge head, and he says that he himself has seen bullets fired through them with very little apparent effect, but that if these creatures can feel, the devices practised upon them by the Esquimaux must be cruel indeed. The dogs of the hunters are not allowed to eat either the skin or the head, the former being very rough, and the latter producing giddiness and sickness.
As we have mentioned above, the cetaceans are hardly fish, for in many respects they may be classed with land-animals, since they produce their young alive and nourish it by giving it suck; their skin is smooth, and in some cases covered with hair, not scaly like that of fish; their blood too is warm, and their flesh tastes something like beef. Being also provided with a heart, ventricles, and lungs, they cannot, as fish can through their gills, separate the air from the water, and therefore must come to the surface to breathe. Still they can inhale sufficient air to last them for a long time under water, and herein they differ from land animals. They are, too, provided with fins and tails, and though these are not exactly similar to those of fish, still they are used in somewhat the same manner. But they differ from both fish and beast in having a layer of fat called blubber, varying in thickness up to ten inches, which more frequently exudes from them when wounded in the water than blood does. This blubber, under pressure, yields its own bulk of oil, and is used in the latter state by the Esquimaux to light their huts and cook their food. Frozen bits of blubber in thin slices are esteemed a great delicacy among these people, though it takes some time before an English palate becomes used to such a bonne bouche.
The largest of these cetaceans is the whale, of which species the spermaceti whale is the biggest. It is found, indeed, off the coasts of North America, but is more common in the Antarctic than in the Arctic regions. The great Greenland whale is the one most sought for by the whalers of Baffin's Bay, for besides being commoner, it yields a much greater amount of oil, though that of a spermaceti whale, as its name implies, is mixed with the substance called spermaceti, and is therefore the more valuable. Besides this, ambergris is also obtained from the spermaceti whale. The razorback whale is also much larger than the great Greenland whale, and is a very powerful monster, so much so that the Arctic hunters, as a rule, fight shy of it. There are various other kinds of whale of a smaller description, among which we may mention the broad-nosed whale, the beaked whale, and the finner, which are sometimes found off Norway and Shetland, but as they do not yield much oil, they are not thought worth the killing. The white whale is so shy an animal that it can seldom be killed with either a rifle-ball or harpoon, and is therefore generally captured by means of a net. At that part of Baffin's Bay, however, where the Clay River runs in and greatly discolours the water, turning it into a thick, muddy colour, great success is said to attend the white-whale fishing in the autumn when these animals migrate southwards, having been north evidently to breed, as they return accompanied by numbers of young "calves." As whales live on sea-blubber, they are generally found in the green water. In winter they go south, but where is unknown.
Narwhals, or sea-unicorns, so called from the horn which projects from the upper jaw, are seen in great numbers in Baffin's Bay during certain seasons, especially just before they begin to travel northwards in March. Their flesh is considered a great luxury by the Esquimaux, as also is the skin, which acts as an anti-scorbutic. The object of the horn is a disputed point, for while its point is too blunt for offence, it is well polished for about four inches, and the rest usually covered with slime and seaweed, so that it is conjectured that it must be employed either to root up food from the bottom of the sea, or else to drive out small fish from the clefts and fissures of floating ice, where they take refuge when pursued by their enemy the narwhal. As the mode of catching the whale has been so often described, we do not propose now entering upon it, especially as we would rather touch upon the manner of capturing the walruses and seals, which are the two chief objects of pursuit to the natives of Greenland during the winter months. Like the cetaceans, these animals, though able to take in a sufficient quantity of air to last them for a considerable time, still have to come up occasionally to breathe, and it is this circumstance of which the hunter takes advantage. The walrus only rises at the edge of the floe in open water, and is hunted with spears, to which are attached lines carrying inflated sealskins, intended for the double purpose of impeding the animal in diving, and of preventing the loss of the spear.
The Esquimaux are so very venturesome in hunting this animal, that they will even go out on floating pieces of ice after it. The seal, however, when it can find an open piece of water, will burrow up through the ice to get to the air, making a small hole on the surface of much the same size and appearance as a molehill. The manner of taking them requires a considerable amount of patience and endurance, for when a hunter hears a seal at work under the ice, he first builds a snow wall, some four feet high, to protect him from the wind, and then sitting down to leeward of it, proceeds to wait for the seal to reach the surface — a weary watch, which sometimes extends to twelve hours.
When by the seal's blowing the hunter knows that it is close to the surface of the ice, he takes his spear in both hands and drives it down into the animal with all his might, having previously fastened the rope attached to it round his body. He has only then to cut away the thin ice all round to get the carcase out. Another way of killing seals is by approaching them under cover of a small white screen, mounted on a little sledge, which is pushed by the sportsman before him. In this manner they can be approached within easy shot, but of course, as in this case they must be either in the water or upon the surface of the ice, and as during the depth of winter there is little open water likely to be found near the ships — this plan will not be practicable then. In shooting them with a rifle care must be taken to hit them in the head, as otherwise they will escape under the ice if only wounded in the body. The Esquimaux practise numerous devices to attract the seals; such as scraping the ice, so as to produce a similar noise to that made by the seal with his flippers, and placing one end of a pole in the water and putting their mouths close to the other end, and making noises in imitation of those made by seals. When they are in good condition and shot instantaneously, they will float; but this depends upon their feeding-ground.
On one occasion, when some specially fine seals had been shot by Sir Leopold M'Clintock's party, they dredged the bottom, and found shell-fish and star-fish, and on another occasion the bellies of some splendid seals were found full of shrimps. Although the flesh of the female seal is good to eat all the year round, during March that of the male is very fetid, having a disagreeable flavour like garlic, which impregnates the whole body to such an extent that even the Esquimaux, who do not generally appear to be very choice in their food, cannot quite manage to stomach it.