As early as the ninth century, we have accounts of the walrus being extensively fished for on the western coast of Norway. Prior to the institution of the Spitzbergen whale-fishery, the capture of this animal was an object of some commercial importance. It was at first attacked by the English, on Cherie Island, but being driven from thence, if not extirpated in that quarter, by the great slaughter that was carried on, it was then pursued to Spitzbergen. The earliest attacks made on it were very unsuccessful, but experience rendered the assailants more skilful, and, in one voyage, nine hundred or one thousand sea-horses were killed in less than seven hours. The Russians now, rather than the British, are their enemies. With the exception of the head, the general form of the walrus is similar to the next animal which we describe, the phoca, or seal. Several species of seals occur in the Greenland Sea, and resort to the ice in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen, in immense herds; but, as the seal frequents the British coast, and is a well-described and well-known animal, I shall not particularize the well-known species that are met with in the Arctic Seas. Some few general observations only will be necessary. Seals are generally fat in the spring of the year, and afford several gallons of blubber; even small seals will then yield about four or five gallons of oil. The voice of the young seal when in pain or distress is a whining cry, resembling that of a child. They appear to hear well under water; music, or particularly a person whistling, draws them to the surface, and induces them to stretch their necks to the utmost extent, so as to prove a snare by bringing them within reach of the shooter. The most effectual way of shooting them is by the use of small shot, fired into their eyes; when killed with a bullet they generally sink, and are lost. Seals are often seen on their passage from one situation to another in very large shoals. Their general conduct in such cases is such as to amuse spectators, and the sailors call such a shoal a “seal’s wedding.” The feet of seals are better adapted for motion in the water than on land. They feed on birds, crabs, and small fishes, and are very tenacious of life. The uses of the seal are various, and to some nations highly important. It yields train-oil, and its skin is extensively employed in making shoes, and, when dressed with the hair, in covering trunks. To the Esquimaux the seal is everything. Its flesh is food, its fat gives light, and its skin, dressed so as to be waterproof, is used for covering for boats and tents, and for garments.