THE ST. LAWRENCE ISLANDS. 1G9 



the size of an ox, the females are a Uttle smaller. 

 The lions were engaged in a continual warfare 

 about their mates, as they always try to appro- 

 priate several, which they can only conquer from 

 their neighbours by their valour. The heroes are 

 known by the number of their females : they often 

 lie from eight to ten close to each other, that their 

 defender may the more easily protect them, and 

 he always goes raging and roaring around them, 

 ready at every instant, in case of an attack, as the 

 number of lions seems to exceed that of the lion- 

 esses. They combat so furiously, that blood is 

 seen gushing out; pieces of flesh fly about, and, not 

 seldom, one of them falls down dead ; in which 

 case, the victor immediately enters on the rights 

 of the vanquished, and possesses himself of the 

 widowed seraglio. Tiie combat, however, lasts 

 longer, when several attack one hero; for, as soon 

 as he is vanquished, the allies begin to quarrel 

 among themselves, and do not cease till the most 

 valiant has gained the victory. The roaring of these 

 animals is beyond description ; it is lieard at sea, dur- 

 ing a calm, and w^hen the wind blows from the shore, 

 at the distance of six miles. Their smell cannot be 

 long endured. One is always obliged to keep at some 

 distance from the lions, who, though they can w^alk 

 but slowly on land, on account of their webbed fore- 

 feet, sometimes succeed in a leap of ten paces ; 

 and what they seize upon is inevitably lost. One 

 of the Aleutians, who ventured too near the lions. 



