168 THE PROBOSCIS- SKA I., OR SEA-ELEPHANT. 



tered, and the sound of the bells enables them to rejoin each 

 other. The bells however, should the weather be very thick 

 and stormy, can only be heard a short distance off; and it is 

 then by the sagacity of the deer alone that the difficulty is 

 surmounted/ ' 



THE PROBOSCIS-SEAL, OR SKA-ELEPHANT, (PIlOCCl proboscidecty 



Peron.) 



[Concluded from page 152.] 



"The greater part of the known species of Seal prefer rocky 

 places for their habitation 5 but the Proboscis Seal, on the 

 contrary, is found exclusively on sandy shores ; it seeks the 

 neighbourhood of fresh water ; — not that this is essential to its 

 existence, but because the animals of this species delight to 

 plunge into it, and suck it up with pleasure. They sleep 

 equally well stretched at length upon the sand, or floating in 

 the sea. When they are congregated in large herds to sleep 

 on shore, one or more individuals are constantly on the watch, 

 On the approach of danger these centinels give the alarm to 

 the rest of the band, when the whole scuffle together to re- 

 gain the sea, and throw themselves into the midst of the pro- 

 tecting waves. 



" Nothing is more singular than the gait of these animals ; 

 it is a sort of crawling, performed entirely by the anterior 

 extremities ; and the body at every motion appears to tremble 

 like an immense bag of jelly, so thick is the layer of blubber 

 which envelopes them. Not only is their gait slow and pain- 

 ful, but they are compelled besides to rest every fifteen or 

 twenty paces, panting with fatigue, and succumbing beneath 

 their own weight. If, during their flight, any one places him- 

 self in front of one of them, it instantly makes a stop ; and 

 if, by repeated blows, it is compelled to move on, it seems to 

 suffer greatly : the most remarkable thing that is observable 

 in this case is, that the pupil of the eye, which in the ordi- 

 nary condition is of a light blueish green, becomes then of a 

 very deep red colour. Notwithstanding this slowness and 

 difficulty of their progressive motion, the seals contrive to 

 climb over sandy downs from fifteen to twenty feet in height, 

 beyond which they find the little pools of fresh water ; their 

 patience and perseverance compensating for their want of 

 agility and address. 



" The cry of the females and of the young males has a near 

 resemblance to the bellowing of a strong ox ; but in the adult 

 males, the tubular prolongation of the nostrils has such an 

 effect- on their voice, that the noise they make has some re- 



