. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions [microform] : with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history ; and an account of the whale-fishery. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. ANIMAL LIFE. 83 numbers, continue to seek their prey in the utmost depths of the Polar winter. It seems difficult to dis- cover what food they find at that season; but a re- gular pack attended the English discovery-ships, watch- ing for whatever ofFal might be found exposed, and serenading them with nightly bowlings. As if by a sort of tacit convention, they did not pres
. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions [microform] : with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history ; and an account of the whale-fishery. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. ANIMAL LIFE. 83 numbers, continue to seek their prey in the utmost depths of the Polar winter. It seems difficult to dis- cover what food they find at that season; but a re- gular pack attended the English discovery-ships, watch- ing for whatever ofFal might be found exposed, and serenading them with nightly bowlings. As if by a sort of tacit convention, they did not presume to attack the sailors; but they advanced in the most daring manner to the sides of the vessels, and sometimes even entered the huts of the Esquimaux, whose dogs they esteemed a regular prize, and very speedily devoured them. The natives catch them by traps formed of little slieds of ice, at the entrance of which is a portcullis of the same material, connected in such a manner with the bait within, that when the latter is seized by the animal the suspended portion drops, and the wolf is taken. Their tenacity of life is such, that after ap- parent death they often revive and occasion danger. The Arctic fox, a small beautiful white animal, with woolly hair like a little shock-dog, occurs in still greater numbers. About a hundred were caught in Captain Parry's second voyage, some of which were half tamed and made pets of; while others, by a harder fate, were dressed for table ; and their flesh, somewhat resembling kid, afforded an agreeable relief from the constant use of salted meat. The dog, hov/ever, is the most important quadruped of the Ai'ctic world, and the most valuable possession of its people, who have succeeded in taming and render- ing it equally useful for draught and for hunting. Those of the Greenlander, the Esquimaux, and the Kanitschadale, are large, and of a somewht^t wild aspect. Captain Lyon describes them as resembling in fonu the shepherd's dog, rising to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
