SEA-LI ox S AND FUR-SEALS, 337 



fur-seal — wliicli shows no fear of man — and "hurries into the water 

 at the first alarm, and there sits, with his head and neck raised 

 above the waves, roaring as loudly as possible, till the intruder 

 is out of sight. Its roar is described as deep and grand, like the 

 howling of a gale through the branches of a forest or rigging of 

 a ship." The species is found on both coasts of the Northern Pa- 

 cific Ocean, and is the animal which inhabits the " Seal Rocks " of 

 the harbor of San Francisco, and, protected by the law, forms one 

 of the attractions of the city. Its under-fur is so scanty, short, 

 and fine as to be of no use for clothing ; but the skin makes an 

 excellent leather, the intestines are used to make water -proof 

 frocks, the whiskers are sold to the Chinese for ornaments, and 

 the flesh, the blubber, the lining of the throat, the skin of the 

 flippers, the stomach, and some of the internal organs, are put to 

 valuable uses. 



The southern, or Cook's sea-lion {Otaria jiihata , Fig. 6), is found 

 around the coasts of South America from Peru to the Rio de la 

 Plata. Its specific name is 

 derived from its possession 

 of a mane, or long hair cov- 

 ering its neck and shoulders, 

 which is developed only in 

 the male when he is fully 

 adult. The fur is only 

 sparsely developed in the 

 young, and disappears as 

 the animal grows older. 



The Falkland fur-seal fig. 6.-soittheen sea-lton ( wa«a >6a/a). 



( Otaria falklandica), a small 



species of not more than four feet in length, inhabits the same local- 

 ities as the jubata. Its habits are identical with those of the north- 

 ern fur-seal, and its skins, with their thick and soft under-fur, are 

 considered more valuable than those coming from any other region. 

 A similar if not identical species formerly existed in the Austra- 

 lian and New Zealand waters, but it has been exterminated by 

 wasteful hunting, and a correspondent wrote to Mr. Clark a few 

 years ago, " I should as soon expect to meet a sea-lion on London 

 Bridge as on any one of the islands in Bass's Strait." But little 

 is known about the sea-lions of the Cape of Good Hope, which, 

 however, furnish sixty or seventy thousand skins annually to the 

 London market. A reckless system of hunting is tolerated, and 

 the animals are disappearing. 



The capture of the seals on the Pribylov Islands is carefully 

 controlled by wise governmental regulations; consequently the 

 animals thrive and are kept up in numbers, while they are fast 

 disappearing in consequence of indiscriminate slaughter from all 



