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birds of passage. When they go upon this expedition, they are seen in great droves, for many days together, making towards the north, taking that part of the sea most free from ice, and going still forward into those seas where man cannot follow. In what manner they return, or by what passage, is utterly unknown; it is only observed, that when they leave the coasts to go out upon this expedition, they are all extremely fat, but on their return they come home excessively lean.

The females in our climate bring forth in winter, and rear their young upon some sand-bank, rock, or desolate island, at some distance from the continent. When they suckle their young, they sit up on their hinder legs, while these, which are at first white with woolly hair, cling to the teats, of which there are four in number, near the navel.(g) In this manner the young continue in the place where they are brought forth, for twelve or fifteen days; after which the dam brings them down to the water, and accustoms them to swim and get their food by their own industry. As each litter never exceeds above three or four, so the animal's cares are not much divided, and the education of her little ones is soon completed. In fact, the young are particularly docile; they understand the mother's voice among the numerous bleatings of the rest of the old ones; they mutually assist each other in danger, and are perfectly obedient to her call. Thus early accustomed to subjection, they continue to live in society, hunt and herd together, and have a variety of tones, by which they encourage to pursue, or warn each other of danger. Some compare their voices to the bleating of a flock of sheep, interrupted now and then by the barking of angry dogs, and sometimes the shriller notes of a cat.(g) All along the shore, each has its own peculiar rock, of which it takes possession, and where it sleeps when fatigued with fishing, uninterrupted by any of the rest. The only season when their social spirit seems to forsake them, is that when they feel the influences of natural desire. They then fight most desperately; and the male that is victorious, keeps all the females to himself. Their combats on these occasions are managed with great obstinacy, and yet great justice: two are never seen to fall upon one together; but each has its antagonist, and all fight an equal battle, till one alone becomes victorious.

We are not certainly informed how long the females continue pregnant; but if we may judge from the time which intervenes between their departure from

* DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS.--It appears that what we call the domestication of animais, consists in our becoming members of the society which these animals form among themselves. Man becomes the chief of its herd; from the moment that an animal admits man as a member of its society, it is domesticated," as a mau could not enter into such society without becoming the chief of it." Applying these principles to wild animals, the apes and monkeys, notwithstanding their social instinct and intellect, are yet so violent and irritable, as to be incapable of all useful subjection. Among carnivorous animals, the seals, together with the various species of the dog tribe, would be the best adapted to attach themselves to us, and serve us. M. Cuvier suggests, that the seal might be trained for fishing, as the dog is for hunting. Several animals peculiar to South America, having but very feeble means of defence, will, as that country is peopled, gradually disappear from the face of the

earth. After other illustrations, the writer
concludes, that all domestication is founded
on the propensity which animals have to live
together in herds, and to attach themselves
to one another. "We obtain it only by en-
ticement, and principally by augmenting
their wants, and satisfying them. But we
could only produce domestic individuals, and
not races, without the concurrence of one of
the most general laws of life, the transmis-
sion of the organic or intellectual modifica-
tions by generation. Here one of the most
astonishing phenomena of nature manifests
itself to us, the transformation of a fortuitous
modification into a desirable form; of a fugi-
tive want into a fundamental propensity; of
an incident habit into an instinct. This
subject is assuredly worthy of exciting the
attention of the most accurate observers, and
of occupying the meditations of the most
profound thinkers.-ARCANA OF SCIENCE,
1829.

(g) Coeunt in littore resupinata femina.-LIN. SYST.

(g) Linnæi Syst.

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the Greenland coasts and their return, they cannot go above seven or eight months at the farthest.*

The seal is taken for the sake of its skin, and for the oil its fat yields. The former sells for about four shillings; and, when dressed, is very useful in covering trunks, making waistcoats, shot-pouches, and several other conve

PROBOSCIS SEAL.-Numerous herds of these seals inhabit the land of Kerguelen, the Island of Georgia, and the land of the States, where the English habitually maintain their fishery of these animals. They exist in great numbers on the Island of Juan Fernandez. It is probable that the small fresh-water lakes in which these seals delight to bathe, may induce their preference for particular spots; but from all the observations that have hitherto been made, these powerful animals are confined between the 35th and 55th degrees of south latitude, inhabiting the Atlantic and the great Southern Ocean.

Besides choosing some islands by preference, these seals also change their residence at particular seasons; they are in fact migratory animals. Equally obnoxious to extreme heat as to severe cold, they advance with the winter season from the south to the north, and return with summer in the contrary direction. It is in the middle of June that they perform their first migration, covering, in countless multitudes, the shores of King's Island, which sometimes, the English sailors say, are blackened by them. The same migratory movements have been remarked by Rogers and Steller in other species of seals, which they have compared, in that respect, to swans, wild geese, &c.

A month after their arrival, the females bring forth; at this period they are surrounded by the males, which prevent their return to the sea, and even compel them to remain on shore, until the period of suckling their young is ended. Nay, it is asserted that when the mothers, wearied of this confinement, endeavour to drive away their off spring, the males bite the young ones, and compel them to return. The female has but one young, which measures, when born, from four to five feet in length, and weighs about seventy pounds; the males are already larger than the females.

The mother turns on her side to give suck to the young. Lactation lasts seven or eight weeks, during which period the females, guarded as above mentioned, neither eat nor come down to the sea. This strange abstinence did not escape the observation of the unfortunate Alexander Selkirk, who informed Captain Rogers, that towards the end of the month of June these animals visited his solitary abode, bringing forth their young about a musket-shot from the sea, and staying to the end of September, without shifting their place, or taking any kind of nourishment during all that time. Forster relates the

same circumstance, and adds, that towards the latter end of their fast, when they have become extremely emaciated, they swallow a considerable quantity of stones, to keep their stomachs distended. The growth of the young is extremely rapid; at the end of eight days it weighs 100lbs. So considerable an increase can only take place at the expense of the parent, for she does not repair by any kind of food the loss of the nutritious substance which she has supplied. Hence she visibly grows lean; some have even been observed to perish during this painful lactation: but it is, of course, uncertain whether an internal malady might not have been the cause.

At the end of fifteen days the milk teeth appear, and are completed in four months. The stages of growth follow so rapidly, that in three years the young animals have acquired a length of from eighteen to five and twenty feet, which is the ordinary limit of their growth in this direction; they afterwards increase only in breadth. At this period the young males first acquire the proboscis.

At the age of six or seven weeks the young ones are conducted to the water; the shores are then abandoned for some time, the whole herd row together, if we may so express ourselves. The manner of swimming of these mammalia is rather slow; they are forced, at very short intervals, to come to the surface of the water to breathe the air, which is essential to their existence. It is observed that when any of the young seals separate from the herd, they are immediately pursued by some of the old ones, who compel them, by biting, to return to the family group.

After having remained three weeks or a month at sea, both to familiarize the young ones with that element, and to repair the powers that have been exhausted by a long abstinence, the sea-elephants return a second time to the shore, and the work of reproduction recommences.

At this period the males have furious and bloody combats, but always individual against individual. Their manner of fighting is remarkable. The two colossal rivals drag themselves heavily along; they meet, muzzle to muzzle; they raise the whole of the fore part of the body on their flippers; they open wide their enormous mouth; their eyes are inflamed with fury: thus prepared, they drive themselves furiously against each other, and falling together with the shock, teeth to teeth, and jaw to jaw, they reciprocally inflict severe lacerations; sometimes the eyes are torn ou!

niencies. The flesh of this animal formerly found place at the tables of the great. At a feast provided by Archbishop Nevill, for Edward the Fourth, there were twelve seals and porpoises provided, among other extraordinary rarities.*

of their sockets in this conflict; still more frequently they loose their tusks; blood flows abundantly; but the obstinate combatants, without appearing to feel their wounds, continue the fight until their powers are completely exhausted. It is rare to see one left dead on the field of battle, for their wounds are observed to heal with inconceivable promptitude. The English sailors attribute this to some peculiar qualities of the blubber, the natural salve; but it probably results from the obvious influence this substance must have in excluding the air from the wounds, and in arresting the bleeding.

During these murderous conflicts, the females remain indifferent spectators to the rage they have excited, and submit to the conqueror, who assumes the mastership of the herd. The sailors call him the Bashaw, comparing him to the jealous and despotic master of a Turkish harem.

The sun now approaching the antarctic hemisphere, the heat increases, and the whole herd resumes the route to the southward, there to remain till the return of frost compels them again to resort to the more temperate coasts of the Isle of King. Some individuals, however, are observed to stay there throughout the summer; but whether detained by infirmity, or loss of strength necessary for an extensive navigation, or by some other disposition which renders a greater degree of heat essential to them, is uncertain. The great migrations of the sea-elephant, however remarkable they may be, are not peculiar to this species; the habit probably obtains with every tribe of seals. Influenced by the same wants, these voyages take place in both hemispheres at analogous periods, and in this respect the conformity of habits is so great between the seals of the north observed by Steller, and those we have been describing, as to render it probable that these migrations are the same in all the amphibious mammalia.-PERON ET LE SUEUR.

* HABITS AND USES OF SEALS.-The brain of this animal, observes Dr. Harwood, (at a recent meeting of the Royal Institution,) is, I think, doubtless, of greater proportionate magnitude than any other quadruped, and, not only does it exhibit in its countenance, the appearance of sagacity, but its intelligence is in reality far greater than in most land quadrupeds: hence its domestication is rendered much easier than that of other animals, and it is susceptible of more powerful attachment. The large seal, which was exhibited some time ago at Exeter 'Change, appeared to me to understand the language

of its keeper as perfectly as the most faithful dog. When he entered at one end of its long apartment, it raised its body from the water. in which it was injudiciously too constantly kept, supporting itself erect against the bar of its inclosure, and wherever he moved, keeping its large dark eyes steadfastly fixed upon him. When desired to make obeisance to visiters, it quickly threw itself on one side. and struck the opposite one several times in quick succession with its fore foot, producing a loud noise. The young seal, again, which was kept on board the Alexander, in one of the northern expeditions, became so much attached to its new mode of life, that after being thrown into the sea, and it had become tired of swimming at liberty, it regularly returned to the side of the boat, to be retaken on board. Such examples might be greatly multiplied; and I cannot help stating, that aware of this disposition to become familiar, and this participation in the good qualities of the dog, it is astonishing that mankind have not chosen this intellectual and finely organized quadruped for aquatic services scarcely less important than some of those in which the dog is employed on the surface of the land.

The benefits which the inhabitants of frigid regions derive from seals are far too numerous and diversified to be particularized, as they supply them with almost all the conveniences of life. We, on the contrary, so persecute this animal, as to destroy hundreds of thousands annually, for the sake of the pure and transparent oil with which the seal abounds: 2ndly, for its tanned skin. which is appropriated to various purposes by different modes of preparation; and 3rdly, we pursue it for its close and dense attire. In the common seal, the hair of the adult is of one uniform kind, so thickly arranged and imbued with oil, as to effectually resist the action of water; while, on the contrary, in the antarctic seals it is of two kinds: the longest, like that of the northern seals; the other, a delicate, soft fur, growing between the roots of the former, close to the surface of the skin, and not seen externally; and this beautiful fur constitutes an article of very increasing importance in commerce; but not only does the clothing of the seal vary materally in colour, fineness, and commercial situation, in the different species, but not less so in the age of the animal. The young of most kinds are usually of a very light co lour, or entirely white, and are altogether destitute of true hair, having this substituted by a long and particularly soft fur.-ARCANA or Science, 1828.

As a variety of this animal, we may mention the Sea Lion, described in Anson's Voyages. This is much larger than any of the former; being from eleven to eighteen feet long. It is so fat that, when the skin is taken off, the blubber lies a foot thick all round the body. It seems to differ from the ordinary seal, not only in its size, but also in its food; for it is often seen to graze along the shore, and to feed upon the long grass that grows up along the edges of brooks. Its cry is very various, sometimes resembling the neighing of a horse, and sometimes the grunting of the hog. It may be regarded as the largest of the seal family.*

them. He rises on his fins, shows his tusks, and makes a horrible noise, but all in vain; his weight renders his strength useless, and the fishermen pierce him with their spears in the breast. If at first he does not fall, finding himself wounded, he covers the wound with a fin, going backwards till he dies. The females crowd together, and as they offer no resistance, the business of death is soon over with the whole group. The fat is found between the skin and the flesh, and is sometimes six inches thick; and the blubber is extracted by frying the fat. The skin is of no use whatever. Some elephants have yielded as much as two pipes of blubber.

The sea-lion, or pelucon, is from four to five varas in length, with a head more bulky, in proportion, than the elephant. The males have a mane; and as they are infinitely more nimble than the elephants, and it is dangerous to attack them with spears, they are generally killed with fire-arms. In their manner of living they resemble the elephants last mentioned; only with this difference, that they go more frequently into the sea. As the sea-lions have but very little fat, and their skin is of inconsiderable value, they are not persecuted, and are, therefore, very numerous. Some of them go from the sea to the smooth headlands on the banks of the North; but their principal rendezvous is on the shores of the South, in the vicinity of San Antonio and San José.

* NOSE OF THE SEAL.-The nose of the seal is considered by physiologists to be the most perfect nose belonging to the class of quadrupeds. Sir B. Harwood has computed that the smelling surface in the nose of a single seal amounts to the enormous quantity of 240 square inches.--ARCANA OF SCIENCE, 1830. SEA ELEPHANTS AND SEA LIONS.-The amphibious animals of South America have been hitherto the only production which foreigners have turned to advantage. Among these the sea-elephant ought to have the first place. The male of that species, when it has attained its full bulk, is from seven to seven and a half varas in length, and from five to five and a half in circumference. The females never exceed four varas in length, with proportionate thickness. Its formation is like that of the rest of the phoca genus, differing only in the head, which is smaller in proportion. The large males go out on the beach in August, September, and October, sooner or later, according as the spring has been more or less cold. At their cry the females assemble in a gang around the strongest male; and, if any rival comes, they fight terribly, until the one overcome again betakes himself to the sea. The females produce on land, during these months, one, but rarely two young, which at first are black, and retain that colour three weeks or a month, during which time they suck. Afterwards they change their hair to a dark grey; they are then abandoned by their mothers, who rut, The sea-wolf, with two kinds of hair, is a become with cub again, and betake them- vara and a half in length; and has a dark selves to the sea, as well as the large males. grey fur, long and coarse, which covers anThe young ones go in gangs of from fifty to other that is very fine; and it is this that sixty, and always remain two months on the makes it valuable. Their manner of living shore. The males and females of a year old is the same as that of the lions. They are quit the sea in November and December, killed with sticks; but, having been very change their hair, and remain a month, or a much persecuted, they have become extremely month and a half on shore. During the rest fierce; and on the least alarm they plunge of the year, some of them quit the sea, but into the sea, not rising again for the distance in small numbers, and in general lean. It of more than half a league. At present there is worthy of remark, that while these animals are some of them in the bay of Buenos remain out of the sea, which sometimes is Cables, to the North of the river Negro, and for the space of from two months and a half in some places between San Antonio and to three, they eat nothing. San José.

The killing of these animals commences with the first, which leave the sea in September. The fishermen, armed with spears, approach a gang. The females, which are sometimes at a distance from the males, draw near to him, in order that he may defend

The sea-wolf, with one kind of hair, is somewhat larger than the former: it has only one sort of fur, very ordinary and dark grey. As they are of no value, they are left unmolested, and are therefore not so fierce as the others. - ACCOUNT OF RIO DE LA PLATA.

THE MORSE.-The Morse is an animal of the seal kind; but differing

(The Morse.)

from the rest in a very particular formation of the teeth, having two large tusks growing from the upper jaw, shaped like those of an elephant, but directed downwards; whereas, in the elephant, they grow upright, like horns; it also wants the cutting teeth, both above and below: as to the rest, it pretty much resembles a seal, except that it is much larger, being from twelve to sixteen feet long. The morses are also generally seen to frequent the same places that seals are known to reside in; they have the same habitudes, the same advan.. tages, and the same imperfections. There are, however, fewer varieties of the morse than the seal; and they are rarely found, except in the frozen regions near the pole. They were formerly more numerous than at present; and the savage natives of the coast of Greenland destroyed them in much greater quantities before those seas were visited by European ships upon the whalefishery, than now. Whether these animals have been since actually thinned by the fishers, or have removed to some more distant and unfrequented shores, is not known; but certain it is, that the Greenlanders, who once had plenty, are now obliged to toil more assiduously for subsistence; and as the quantity of their provisions decrease, for they live mostly upon seals, the numbers of that poor people are every day diminishing. As to the teeth, they are generally from two to three feet long; and the ivory is much more esteemed than that of the elephant, being whiter and harder. The fishers have been known formerly to kill three or four hundred at once; and along those shores where they chiefly frequented, their bones are still seen lying in prodigious quantities. In this manner a supply of provisions, which would have supported the Greenland nation for ages, has been, in a few years, sacrificed to those who did not use them, but who sought them for the purposes of avarice and luxury.*

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SEA-HORSE. In the end of December 1817, a large unknown marine animal was seen near the mouth of Loch Seaforth, an arm of the sea which separates the islands of Lewis and Harris. A few days afterwards, it was discovered by some of the inhabitants, lying upon a small rock at the Sound of Stockness, on the east coast of Harris. One of them, an expert marksman, prevailed upon the rest to venture out with a boat, in order to attack it. He landed upon another small rock, near that on which the animal was reposing, and taking a deliberate aim, discharged his musket at it. The animal immediately plunged into the sea, to appearance unhurt; but keeping its head and part of its body above the water, presented an opportunity of lodging two other shots, the last of which, passing through the chest, proved fatal. It was then secured, by fixing a rope to its tusks, and dragged ashore. It proved to be the Sea-Horse or Morse. It was upwards of ten feet in length; and two barrels of blubber were obtained from it. The tusks were about nine inches in length.

The

inhabitants considered it as a supernatural being, adapting it to the ideas which they usually associate with the Each Uisg (Water Horse), an imaginary entity, and the Seilch Uisg, an animal supposed, and asserted by people in other matters not unworthy of credit, to have been seen on several lakes in Harris and Lewis. The largest and most perfect specimen of the sea-horse in any collection in Europe, is that in the College Museum, in Edinburgh, which was presented by Captain Scoresby.-ED.

THE MORSE.-The seals and morses come during the summer heat into the seas near the Bay of Horisont and that of Kloek, in troops of eighty, a hundred, and even two hundred, especially the morses, which remain there many days, until hunger forces them back into the main ocean. Many morses are seen towards Spitzberg. On land they are killed with lances. They are hunted for their tusks and fat. The oil is nearly as much esteemed as that of the whale. Their tusks are also very valuable. The interior of these teeth is considered more valuable than ivory.

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