THE SEA ELEPHANT. 119 
smothered by numbers of their kind heaped upon them. The whole flock, when 
attacked, manifested alarm by their peculiar roar, the sound of which, among the 
largest males, is nearly as loud as the lowing of an ox, but more prolonged in one 
strain, accompanied by a rattling noise in the throat. The quantity of blood in 
this species of the seal tribe is supposed to be double that contained in an ox, in 
proportion to its size. 
After the capture, the flaying begins. First, with a large knife, the skin is 
ripped along the upper side of the body its whole length, and then cut down as far 
as practicable, without rolling it over ; then the coating of fat that lies between 
the skin and flesh — which may be from one to seven inches in thickness, accord- 
ing to the size and condition of the animal — is cut into " horse -pieces," about 
eight inches wide, and twelve to fifteen long, and a puncture is made in each piece 
sufficiently large to pass a rope through. After flensing the upper portion of the 
body, it is rolled over, and cut all around, as above described. Then the "horse- 
pieces" are strung on a raft -rope (a rope three fathoms long, with an eye -splice 
in one end), and taken to the edge of the surf; a long line is made fast to it, 
the end of which is thrown to a boat lying just outside of the breakers ; they are 
then hauled through the rollers and towed to the vessel, where the oil is tried 
out by boiling the blubber, or fat, in large pots set in a brick furnace for the 
purpose. The oil produced is superior to whale oil for lubricating purposes. Ow- 
ing to the continual pursuit of the animals, they have become nearly if not quite 
extinct on the California coast, or the few remaining have fled to some unknown 
point for security. 
Thus far, we have been writing of the Sea Elephant and manner of capturing 
it on the islands and coasts of the Californias ; and, although thousands of the 
animals, in past years, gathered upon the shores of the islands contiguous to the 
coast, as well as about the pebbly or sandy beaches of the peninsula, affording full 
cargoes to the oil- ships, yet their numbers were but few, when compared with the 
multitudes which once inhabited the remote, desolate islands, or places on the 
main, within the icy regions of the southern hemisphere ; and even at the expense 
of digression, we have thought it well to give an account of the animal in those 
regions. Several geographical points have already been mentioned, and among these 
Kerguelen Land, or Desolation Island, and Herd's Island, are the great resort- 
ing -places of these animals at the present day. The last-named place is in latitude 
53° 03' south, and longitude 72° 30' to 73° 30' east. Its approximate extent is 
sixty miles. Its shores are somewhat bold, broken, and dangerous to land upon ; 
no harbor being found that is secure for the smallest vessel. In the smoothest 
