THE SEA-BEAR. 127 
numerous females begin to make their appearance, and Otarian 
life takes full possession of the strand. The full-grown sea- 
bear is from eight to nine feet long, measures five in girth, 
and acquires a weight of from eight to nine hundred pounds. 
He owes his name to his shaggy blackish fur, and not to his 
disposition, which is far from being cruel or savage. He in- 
dulges in polygamy like a Turk or a Mormon, and has often 
as many as fifty wives. The young are generally lively, fond of 
play and fight. When one of them has thrown another down, 
the father approaches with a growl, caresses the victor, tries to 
overturn him, and shows increasing fondness the better he de- 
fends himself. Lazy and listless youngsters are objects of his 
dislike, and these hang generally about their mother. The 
male is very much attached to his wives, but treats them with 
all the severity of an oriental despot. When a mother neglects 
to carry away her young, and allows it to be taken, she is made 
to feel his anger. He seizes her with his teeth, and strikes her 
several times, not over gently, against a cliff. As soon as she 
recovers from the stunning effects of these blows, she approaches 
her lord in the most humble attitudes, crawls to his feet, 
caresses him, and even sheds tears, as Steller, the companion of 
Behring’s second voyage, informs us. Meanwhile the male 
crawls about to and fro, gnashes his teeth, rolls his eyes, and 
throws hishead from side to side. But when he sees that his young 
is irrevocably lost, he then, like the mother, begins to cry so 
bitterly, that the tears trickle down upon his breast. In his 
old age the ursine seal is abandoned by his wives, and spends 
the remainder of his life in solitude, fasting, and sleeping; an 
indolence from which he can only be roused by the intrusion of 
another animal, when a tremendous battle is the consequence. 
Though extremely irascible, the sea-bears are lovers of fair 
play, so that when two are fighting, the others form a ring, and 
remain spectators until the contest is decided. Then, however, 
they take the part of the weaker, which so enrages the victor 
that he immediately attacks the peace-makers. These in turn 
fall out, the dreadful roaring attracts new witnesses, and the 
whole ends, like an Irish wedding, with a general fight. 
Ursine seals are also found in the southern hemisphere, on 
desert coasts analogous to their residences in the north. Com- 
mon seals and sea-otters stand in great awe of these animals, 
