with Remarks on Dyer's Islands, Sj-c. 289 



animal would seem to derive no great advantage from the 

 sense of smelling. Now, to us, the eye seemed remarkably 

 defective, and it was not till we came in close contact with 

 the seals that they comprehended the danger of their situation. 

 Not that the eye was not fully extended, — but may not that 

 thin transparent veil which covers the pupil, and which pro- 

 tects it when engaged at full stretch in an uncertain element, 

 be the means of weakening the objects of vision when on 

 land?* Again, as to the ear, it has been observed by the 

 same Naturalist, that the nostrils of the seal are habitually 

 closed, and that the opening of them is attended with much 

 effort. This may be correct as far as it regards the animal 

 separated from land. When pursuing its prey in the midst of 

 the waters, it is certain the nostrils, like the ears, must remain 

 closed. When excluded from the external air, there would 

 be no necessity that it should employ the organ of smelling ; 

 at the same time there appears considerable reason, in the 

 adaptation of this discriminating sense, to the objects of terra 

 Jirma. And the practical observations of the experienced 

 sealers sufficiently determine the question. On the occasion 

 under review, the men seemed under no apprehension as to . 

 the eye-sight of the seals. They expressed some considerable 

 anxiety as to the silence which we should preserve; but, as it 

 regards the sense of smelling, they manifested an anxiety of 

 no ordinary kind. Their experience decided that the seal 

 could determine the weakest odours, and they declared that 

 had the wind blown otherwise than directly in our teeth, and 

 consequently producing an oily effluvia from the bodies of the 

 seals along with it, scarcely one of the species would have 

 remained on the island. 



But to the conflict. — A large group of the Phocae had occu- 

 pied the highest position in the island, and were completely 

 surrounded. They were of a large description, and their 

 necks displayed a profusion of shaggy ei-mine. Here we be- 

 held a scene of intense interest. It would seem that we had 

 hemmed in the very heads of government. Much distraction 

 prevailed, and the noises were deafening. A kind of inter* 

 nuncio was seen in various directions. His voice, address, 

 and attitudes were commanding and influential. He preserved 

 order, and procured a solemn silence. That some well ar- 

 ranged plan had been proposed and adopted, was apparent. 

 The idea is not fanciful, nor is it of modern supposition. The 

 high intellectual qualities of the seals were observed and ap- 

 preciated by the ancients. Diodorus, iElian, and Pliny speak 



* Blumenbach states the following- singular fact: — "In 1784, on dissecting 

 the eye of a seal, I found a remarkable deposition through which the animal 

 is enabled to elongate or shorten the axis of the organ at pleasure, and, by 

 that means, to see equally well in two media," 







