NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BELL ROCK. 63 



within his reach was seized and energetically shaken with all 

 the vim of an accomplished ratter. The wooden shaft of a 

 boat-hook was similarly treated, and still bears evidence of his 

 utter ignorance of the dental profession. A rope being 

 procured, a clove hitch was slipped over one of his hind-flippers, 

 the other end made fast to an eye-bolt on the Rock. Thus 

 secured, he was left to his novel reflections for the night. 



As the tide covered the Rock he could be seen in the clear 

 moonlight ploughing along the creamy surface, stretching his 



tether in every direction in futile efforts to escape. At day- 

 light next morning he was found sheltering under a projecting 

 ledge of rock. What a clean, well-groomed fellow he looked, 

 with his sleek, glossy coat glistening in the sunshine, his 

 squat, plump body adapting itself to the inequalities of the 

 surface on which it rested. His coat, by the way, as much 

 fur as that of a horse grey above, mottled with dark spots, 

 while the under surface is of a creamy yellow. His beautiful 

 teeth gleaming white against the scarlet interior of his mouth, 



