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[margin] Thursday
[margin] June 8.
2
Hans brings in two seal - all as yet are
of the ringed or feted species P. hispida.
The flesh of the seal is eaten universally
by the Danes on the coast of Greenland it
forms the summers and to a great extent
the yearly food of the Esquimaux - For
the past three weeks it has been our
exclusive diet.

The flesh is dark and uninviting, un=
cookedit has a flabby grumous look more
like coagulated blood than muscular fibre.
Cooked it is of a dark soot colour - close
grained but soft and tender. A marked
flavor of lamp oil pervades it - although
the blubber which at this season invests it is
when fresh sweet and delicious - This
raw oily half fishy flavor we get used to.
I dignify it by the name of “game taste”
and very haut gout and detestible it
is until you get used to it.

[margin] See Notes on “Seal”

The seal are shot lying by their
Attuk or breathing holes - here they bask in
the sun bringing forth and minding their young.
(See Notes) As the season approaches midsummer
they are more approachable - their eyes
being congested ^ with blood by the glare of the sun ^ and less active. Sometimes they
are nearly blind. Strange to say a few
hours exposure of a recently killed ^ animal ^ to the
sun blisters and destroys the hide - in fact -
cooks it - we have thus lost several skins.
Each seal yields a liberal supply of oil
the average yield thus far being 5 galls
each - The mean length of the females
proves to be 4 [ft]. 5 in. I describe them
minutely in my notes.

[margin] Friday
[margin] June 9

Today for the first time I was able
to walk not upon the floe.
My first destination was the observatory where