126 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Phett h) nrt and S.n] [ Umlng Hill 



GRAY SEAL 



iteals are not so tvell adapted as sea-lions for getting about on the dry land t and, except for 

 their habit of coming ashore to bask in the sun t are thoroughly aquatic 



on ice-floes. It is found in great 

 herds in Davis Straits, on the 

 coasts of Greenland and in the 

 greater part of the frozen Arctic 

 Ocean. It is the animal which 

 the sealing-vessels which hunt 

 seals for oil and " hair " — that is, 

 the leather of the skins, not the 

 fur — seek and destroy. In the old 

 days they could be seen in tens 

 of thousands blackening square 

 miles of ice. They are still so 

 numerous that in Danish Green- 

 land more than 30,000 are taken 

 each year. The Ringed Seal is 

 a small variety, not more than 3 

 or 4 feet in length, found in great 

 numbers in the Far North. Its 

 flesh is the main food of the 

 Eskimo, and its skin the clothing of the Greenlanders. The seals make breathing-holes in the 

 ice. There the Eskimo waits with uplifted spear for hours at a time, until the seal comes up to 

 breathe, when it is harpooned. The Bladder-nosed Seal is a large spotted variety, with a 

 curious bladder-like crest on the head and nose of the male. Unlike all other seals, it some- 

 times resists the hunters and attacks the Eskimo in their kayaks. 



If any evidence were needed of the great destruction which the sealing and whaling 

 industry causes, and has caused, among the large marine animals, the case of the Elephant-seals 

 ought to carry conviction. These are very large seals, the male of which has a projecting nose 

 like a proboscis. They were formerly found both north and south of the Equator, their main 

 haunts being on the coast of California, and on the islands of the South Pacific and Antarctic 

 Ocean. They are gigantic compared with the common seals, some of the males being from 16 

 to 20 feet long. Cuttle-fish and seaweed are the principal food of this seal, which was formerly 

 seen in astonishing numbers. The whaling-ships which hunted both these seals and sperm- 

 whales at the same time almost destroyed those which bred on the more accessible coasts, just as 

 the earlier whalers entirely destroyed Steller's sea-cow, and their modern descendants destroyed 

 the southern right-whales. The elephant-seal is now very scarce, and when one is killed the 

 skin is regarded as something of a curiosity. 



In the records of the voyage of the Challenger it is stated that there were still great 

 numbers of the elephant-seals surviving near Heard Island, and not a few round the shores of 

 Kerguelen Island. Professor Moseley states that on the windward shore of Heard Island " there 

 is an extensive beach, called Long Peach. This was covered with thousands of sea-elephants in 

 the breeding-season ; but it is only accessible by land, and then only by crossing two glaciers. 

 No boat can safely land on this shore; consequently men are stationed on the beach, and 

 live there in huts. Their duty is constantly to drive the sea-elephants from this beach into the 

 sea, which they do with whips made out of the hides of the seals themselves. The beasts thus 

 ousted swim oil", and often ' haul up,' as the term is, upon the accessible beach beyond. In very 

 stormy weather, when they are driven into the sea, they are forced to betake themselves to the 

 sheltered side of the island. Two or three old males, which are called ' beach-masters,' hold a 

 beach for themselves and cover it with cows, but allow no other males to haul up. They fight 

 furiously, and one man told me that he had seen an old male take a young one up in his teeth 

 and throw him over, lifting him in the air. The males show fight when whipped, and arc with 



