Ringed Seals

The seals which they take during the winter are of two kinds, the Neitiek, or small seal (phoca hispida), and the Oguke, or large seal (phoca barbata). These and the Ei-u-ek, or walrus, constitute their means of subsistence at this season; but, on this particular part of the coast , the latter are not very abundant, and they chiefly catch the neitiek. The animal we had now seen dissected was of that kind, and with young at the time. A small one taken out of it had a beautiful skin, which, both in softness and colour, very much resembled raw silk; …

Place: Winter Island
Date: February 23, 1822
Source: Parry WE. 1823. Journals of the first second and third voyage for the discovery of the North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in 1819–20–21–22–23–24–25, in his Majesty’s ships Hecla, Griper and Fury, under the orders of Capt. W. E. Parry, R.N.F.R.S. and commander of the expedition, vol. 3. London: John Murray, Albermarle Street.