281 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



all about Lis chest and neck are layers of oily fat or 

 blubber, which make a life raft of him, Avhile his thick, 

 tough hide, scarred with wounds from rocks, harpoons, 

 Bears' claws, and the tusks of rivals, keeps him from 

 growing water soaked and chilly. He is warm blooded, 

 and yet able to stay under water half an liour at a time 

 witliout coming up to breathe. 



^^ How does he feed this great body of his, and lay 

 up the layers of fat that draw his hide in creases like 

 seams in rocks ? By digging clams and water roots, 

 scraping mussels and other shell-fish from the kelp beds 

 with his tusks, and he also uses these tusks as hooks to 

 help in pulling himself over the rocks and shoals of the 

 summer breeding-grounds." 



" AVHiy doesn't he eat seaweed ? " said Dodo. " I 

 should think it w^ould be a great deal of trouble to 

 open clams enough to feed such a 'mense thing I " 



"All of this tribe of Pinnipeda^ as the Wise Men call 

 them, live chiefiy on animal food," said the Doctor, 

 " tlieir teeth showinof them to be flesh eatino- or ear-niv- 

 0-rous, but Olaf will tell you that they do not stop to 

 open the clams — they are not so dainty in their fish- 

 ing as the (Jrows I " 



"No, they swallow them by the bushel, shells and 

 all," continued Olaf. " If it hurts them or not, who 

 can say, for they tell no one their secrets, but it may 

 be that they are complaining when they cr}^ and roar, 

 as they do at all times of tlie year, with a growling 

 honk that might be the call of a Avild goose goblin. 

 Sometimes in the spring and early summer, the season 

 of cool fog on the northwest breeding islands, I have 

 stood on a cliff and could not tell by siglit alone if it 



