]/2 TH|G PROBOSCIS-SEAL, OR SEA-ELEPHANT. 



of Cumberland, occasioned by the stranding of an enormous 

 whale, over the bones of which they slew each other. 



" The sea-elephants, guided by a prudent instinct, had hi- 

 therto succeeded in escaping the fury of the human race. 

 Withdrawing to wild and solitary islands, far from the places 

 inhabited by man, these huge seals were enabled, without ene- 

 mies and without alarm, to multiply and increase. But cir- 

 cumstances are completely altered now ; even if it were pos- 

 sible for them to find a retreat against the voracity of the 

 natives of these climates, they could not escape an insatiable 

 mercantile avidity, which seems to have sworn the annihila- 

 tion of their race. In short, the English have invaded these 

 retreats, so long their places of safety ; they have everywhere 

 organized such massacres, as must inevitably in a little while 

 occasion a marked and irreparable diminution of these ani- 

 mals. 



" The English fishermen use for the purpose of killing them 

 a lance of from twelve to fifteen feet in length, the iron head 

 of which is extremely sharp, and from twenty- four to thirty 

 inches in length. They seize with adroitness the moment 

 when the animal, in order to move forward, lifts up its left 

 fore-fin, beneath which they plunge the lance so as to pierce 

 the heart, which they rarely fail to hit. The unhappy amphi- 

 bian quickly falls, pouring out oceans of blood. 



" However mild and peaceable these animals habitually are, 

 it is always necessary to view their motions with the greatest 

 attention when about to strike them ; for, as if aware of the 

 fate with which they are threatened, they summon all their 

 vigour to fall upon their murderers. Lord Anson lost one 

 of his sailors, who died a few days after having his skull frac- 

 tured by an infuriated seal. But, in general, the defence 

 which these creatures offer is very feeble ; their enormous bulk 

 serves only to embarrass them, and their teeth have little that 

 is formidable but their appearance. In vain they open widely, 

 as if by instinct, their monstrous mouth, bristled with threat- 

 ening tusks. These weapons, so terrible in themselves, are 

 put in motion by levers so cumbrous and unwieldy, that the 

 animal can rarely draw from them any other advantage than 

 the dread which the first sight of them inspires. 



"The female seals rarely oppose violence to their assailants; 

 they have received, indeed, other means of defence, but more 

 powerless than those of the males. No sooner do they find 

 themselves attacked, than they endeavour to escape by flight ; 

 but if their retreat be cut off, they shake themselves with vio- 

 lence, their countenance bears the expression of despair, and 

 they burst into tears. I have myself seen one of these young 

 females shed tears abundantly, whilst one of our sailors, a 



