342 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



eight to fifteen, and even sometimes fifty females, whom he 

 guards with such jealousy that he does not allow any other to 

 come near his mistresses : and though many thousands of them 

 lie upon the same shore, yet every family keeps apart ; that is, 

 the male with his wives, young ones, and those of a year old, 

 which have not yet attached themselves to any male 5 so that 

 sometimes the family consists of 120. They likewise swim at 

 sea in such droves. Such as are old, or have 110 mistresses, live 

 apart ; and the first that our people found upon Bering's Island 

 were such old ones, and all males, extremely fat and stinking. 

 These sometimes lie asleep a whole month without nourishment, 

 and are the fiercest of all, attacking all that pass them, and their 

 pride or obstinacy is such that they will rather die than quit 

 their place. When they see a man coming near them some of 

 them rush upon him and others lie ready to sustain the battle. 

 They bite the stones that are thrown at them, and rush the 

 most violently upon him who throws them ; so that though you 

 strike out their teeth with stones, or put out their eyes, yet, 

 even blind, they will not quit their place : nay, they dare not 

 leave it, for every step that any one moves off he makes a new 

 enemy, so that though he could save himself from the attacks 

 of men, his own brethren would destroy him ; and if it hap- 

 pens that any one seems to retire the least, then others draw 

 near no [to] prevent his running away ; and if any one seems 

 to suspect the courage of another, or his design to run away, he 

 falls upon him. This suspicion of one another is sometimes car- 

 ried so far, that for a whole verst one sees nothing but these 

 bloody duels ; and at such time one may pass between them 

 without any manner of danger. If two fall upon one, then some 

 others come to support the weakest ; for they do not allow of 

 unequal combat. During these battles the others that are swim- 

 ming in the sea raise their heads, and look at the success of 

 the combatants ; at length becoming likewise fiercer, they come 

 out and increase the number. 



.... "When two of them only fight the battle lasts fre- 

 quently for an hour: sometimes they rest awhile, lying by one 

 another; then both rise at once and renew the engagement. 

 Thfey fight with their heads erect, and turn them aside from 

 one another's stroke. So long as their strength is equal they 

 fight with their fore paws ; but when one of them becomes weak 

 the other seizes him with his teeth, and throws him upon the 

 ground. When the lookers on see this they come to the assist- 



