286 



THE FIN-FOOTED ANIMALS. 



truth. It is therefore necessary to prepare for the 

 fray, especially as the actions of the animals soon 

 convince the observer that it will be impossible to 

 escape them unmolested even with the quickest row- 

 ing by five men. The roaring, spurting and diving 

 herd of Morses is soon but a few paces distant. The 

 first shots are fired, and this volley rouses their 

 wrath. The fight waxes hot, some of the Men wield 

 their axes against the fore-flippers of the terrible 

 sphinxes as they threaten to overturn the boat 

 and dash it to pieces; others of the crew defend 

 themselves with spears or deal blows with their 

 oars upon the gigantic, thick heads, or else send in- 

 digestible leaden pills down the wide open abysses 

 of the incessantly roaring mouths. A wild din fills 

 the air; the boat's defenders fight hard to keep 

 their balance ; the water foams and surges violently ; 

 new monsters suddenly raise their heads out of the 

 the water or swim up to the boat ; others, mortally 

 wounded, go to the bottom, their blood imparting its 



color to the surrounding sea. The impending dan- 

 ger that the boat may be overturned or severely 

 damaged by the tusks of a Walrus, may often be 

 averted only by mortally injuring the leader of these 

 brave and hardy creatures." 



Uses to Which Europeans [and Americans] use the 

 the Walrus hide, blubber and tusks of the Wal- 

 ls Put. rus The hide is tanned, the blubber 



rendered, the tusks are used as ivory. The flesh is 

 coarse-grained and oily and is eaten by Europeans 

 only when necessity impels, though the tongue is 

 said to be very palatable. With the nations of the 

 high northern latitudes matters are different ; they 

 use every part of the Morse. The hide is manufact- 

 ured into thongs, ropes and fishing nets, or even 

 summer habitations may be covered with it; a variet)' 

 of tools are made out of the bones; the sinews are 

 twisted into sewing thread; the flesh is a favorite 

 dish and the blubber is used as shortening in their 

 food or is burned to furnish light. 



Zbe Eavefc Seals. 



THIRD FAMILY: Otariid^l. 



The members of the third family of the Fin- 

 Footed Animals, the Eared Seals ( Otariida ) differ 

 from their other relatives in the following features. 

 The external ear has a well developed, though small, 

 conch. The limbs protrude from the body and are 

 clearly distinguishable; the flippers are large, elong- 

 ated beyond the toes in a rag-like manner, and the 

 soles are bare; the hind toes are of fairly uniform 

 length, while the fore toes decrease in length toward 

 the outer side. The sexes differ strikingly in size, 

 the males attaining, as a rule, at least double the 

 length and three or four times the weight of the 

 females. 

 General Traits of All known varieties of this family 



the Eared resemble each other to such an ex- 

 Seals. tent that they must necessarily be 



classed in one species; all lead the same mode of 

 life as regards essentials. Mainly inhabiting the 

 Pacific Ocean, they exist as well off the ice-bound 

 coasts of Behring Straits as on the continent sur- 

 rounding the Antarctic Pole and its islands, in 

 the temperate zones as well as beneath the hori- 

 zontal rays of the sun in the equatorial regions. 

 They either undertake journeys of varying extent, 

 or they may remain in the same locality for years. 

 They are incessantly and ruthlessly pursued in most 

 of the regions they inhabit, and in some sections 

 have already been exterminated by the greed of 

 Man, who for centuries has waged war on them and 

 slaughtered and destroyed them by the thousand on 

 account of their skin, flesh and fat. 



Structure and The species of Eared Seal, which 

 Characteristics of nearly every visitor to San Francisco 



Sea Lions. mentions, is the Sea Lion of the sail- 

 ors ( Otaria stclleri ) , a variety well known to us since 

 Steller's times. A male Sea Lion may attain a 

 length of more than twelve feet and a girth of about 

 nine feet. The females are much slighter, their 

 length not exceeding nine feet, and their average 

 weight not being more than four hundred pounds. 



In its structure this animal differs less from the 

 Ordinary Seals than other groups of this family, but 

 can as little be mistaken for one of the earless Seals 

 as the others; not only because its legs and feet 

 show a different construction, but it may be distin- 

 guished at a glance by its elongated head and neck 

 and its proud, domineering attitude when excited. 

 The coloring of an old male is subject to many varia- 

 tions, as one may find, lying on the same rock, black, 

 mottled, or reddish-brown, sombre or light gray 

 specimens. A mature female is usually of a light 

 brown hue; the fur of the cubs is of a slate-gray or 

 grayish-black tint. 



The Sea Lion exists in the northern part of the 

 Pacific Ocean, ranging south about as far as the 

 Galapagos Islands. 



The Herd of Finsch writes about the well known 

 Sea Lions at San herd of Sea Lions at San Francisco 

 Francisco. as follows: An extremely wide and 

 no less dusty road leads through deserted downs, 

 grown with scant vegetation, where the sand is in 

 constant motion and from time to time fills the air 

 with a kind of fog; after a walk of three-quarters 

 of an hour one reaches the Cliff House, a hotel situ- 

 ated close to the rocky beach of the Pacific, and 

 representing a favorite picnic site of the inhabitants 

 of San Francisco. Even at a distance the noise of 

 the powerful surf greets the ear of the visitor ap- 

 proaching the Cliff House, but simultaneously he 

 hears a peculiar bark, which gains in volume and 

 Variety as he comes nearer. Guided by this bark 

 one perceives a lively activity going on upon three 

 high conical cliffs, situated at about one hundred 

 and fifty paces from the coast, the lower part of 

 which projects horizontally from the ocean in places, 

 against which the waves dash with deafening noise. 

 About sixty huge Sea Lions lie on the larger steep 

 rocks of the cliff, in groups of as many as fifteen or 

 singly, comfortably stretched out in crevices or on 

 the narrow ledges, ruled over as it were by a power- 



