177^* ROUND THE WORLD. 187 



beating off every other male who attempted to come 

 into his flock. Others again had a less number ; some 

 no more than one or two; and here and there we 

 have seen one lying growling in a retired place, alone, 

 and suffering neither males nor females to approach 

 him : we judged these were old and superannuated. 



The sea-bears are not so large, by far, as the lions, 

 but rather larger than a common seal. They have 

 none of that long hair which distinguishes the lion. 

 Theirs is all of an equal length, and finer than that 

 of the lion, something like an otter's ; and the gene- 

 ral colour is that of iron-grey. This is the kind 

 which the French call sea-wolfs, and the English 

 seals ; they are, however, different from the seals 

 we have in Europe and in North America. The 

 lions may too, without any great impropriety, be 

 called overgrown seals ; for they are all of the same 

 species. It was not at all dangerous to go among 

 them ; for they either fled or lay still. The only 

 danger was in going between them and the sea ; for 

 if they took fright at any thing, they would come 

 down in such numbers, that, if you could not get 

 out of their way, you would be run over. Some- 

 times, when we came suddenly upon them, or waked 

 them out of their sleep (for they are a sluggish sleepy 

 animal), they would raise up their heads, snort and 

 snarl, and look as fierce as if they meant to devour 

 us; but as we advanced upon them, they always run 

 away ; so that they are downright bullies. 



The penguin is an amphibious bird, so well known 

 to most people, that I shall only observe, they are 

 here in prodigious numbers ; so that we could knock 

 down as many as we pleased with a stick. I cannot 

 say they are good eating. I have indeed made seve- 

 ral good meals of them ; but it was for want of better 

 victuals. They either do not breed here, or else 

 this was not the season ; for we saw neither eggs nor 

 young ones. 



Shags breed here in vast numbers j and we carried 



