138 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



the sea lion and the fur seal up here is striking, the former being 

 twice the size of its cousin. 



The size and strength of the northern sea lion, Eumeiopias sfelleri, 

 and its perfect adaptation to its physical surroundings unites with a 

 singular climatic elasticity of organization. It seems to be equally as 

 well satisfied witli trhe ice floes of the Kamchatka Sea to the northward 

 or the polished bowlders and the hot sands of the coast of California.^ 

 It is an animal, as it appeared upon its accustomed breeding grounds at 

 Northeast Point, where I saw it, that commanded mj^ admiration by 

 its imjDosing presence and sonorous voice, rearing itself before me 

 with head, neck, and chest upon its powerful forearms, over 6 feet 

 in heiglit, while its heavy bass voice drowned the booming of the 

 surf that thundered on the rocks at its flanks. 



The physical presence of the sea lion. — The size and strength 

 of the adult sea-lion male will be better a]3i3reciatcd when I say tliat 

 it has an average length of 10 and 11 feet osteologically, with an 

 enarmous girth of 8 to 9 feet around the chest and shoulders; but 

 while the anterior parts of the frame are as perfect and powerful on 

 land as in sea, those posterior are ridiculously imj)otent when the 

 huge beast leaves its favorite element. Still, when hauled up bej^ond 

 the reach of the brawling surf, as it rears itself, shaking the spray 

 from its tawny chest and short grizzly mane, it has that leonine 

 appearance and bearing, greatly enhanced as the season advances 

 by the rich golden rufous color of its coat, the savage gleam of its 

 expression, due probably to the sinister muzzle and cast of its eye. 

 This optical organ is not round and full, soft and limpid, like the fur 

 seal's, but it is an eye like that of a bulldog, small, and clearly show- 

 ing, under its heavy lids, the white or sclerotic coat, with a light 

 brown iris. Its teeth gleam and glisten in pearly whiteness against 

 the dark tongue and the shadowy recesses of its wide, deep mouth; 

 the long, sharp, broad-based canines, when bared by the wrathful 

 snarling of its gristled lips, glittered more Avickedly, to my eye, than 

 the keenest sword ever did in the hand of man.^ 



' The sea lion certainly seems to have a more elastic constitution than is possessed 

 by the fur seal; in other words, the former can live under greater natural extremes 

 of climate than can the latter. A careful test of this question was made by the 

 late R. B. Woodward, in the acqiiaria of his famous gardens at San Francisco. 

 He told me at the Grand Hotel, in 18TS, that he should not attempt to keep another 

 fur seal alive in his tanks: that every one of the half dozen live specimens which 

 he hail placed therein at different intervals during the last three years had died — 

 began to droop and waste away as soon as they were installed in their new quarters; 

 bnt he seldom lost a sea lion, except from clear or natural reasons. Mr. Wood- 

 ward, from his practical experience, was positive in his belief that no living adult 

 fur seal could ever be exhibited in New York: while he thought that the sea lion, 

 both Z(ilop]iiis and Eumeiopias, could be cai'ried alive, and in good condition, all 

 over this coiTutry from New Orleans to Montreal, or San Francisco to Bangor. He 

 said. " Our black sea lion (ZaJoplius) is tougher than the larger kind {Eu snetopias) , 

 and is just the creature fur showmen.'" 



'The teeth of the fur seal are not, as a rule, clean and white, as they are in the 

 mouths of most carnivora: they are badly discolored by black, brown, and yel- 

 lowish coatings, especially so with regard to the males. The pup's milk teeth are 

 complete exponents of the dental formula of adolescence, but are small, brittle, 

 mostly black and brown in color: with their shedding, however, the permanent 

 teeth come out quite clear and glistening white: still, again, in a year or two they 

 rapidly lose their purity of tint, being discolored as above stated. The sea-lion 

 pups, also, are born with dingy, dusky milk teeth. Init I fmind that when their 

 permanent set was grown it usually retained, even into old age. its primitive 

 wliitenoss. This difterence between thes^^ animals is quite marked, which, together 

 with the opposite characters of their blubber, mentioned hereafter, constitute a 



