COMMON SEAL. 205 



length of time I chose, I could fix them to the spot \ 

 and when I moved along the water-edge, they woulij 

 follow me with eagerness, like the Dolphins who, i{ 

 is said, attended Arion, as if anxious to prolong 

 the enjoyment. I have frequently witnessed the 

 same effect when out on a boat excursion. The 

 sound of the flute, or of a common fife, blown by 

 one of the boatmen, was no sooner heard, than half 

 a dozen would start up within a few yards, wheeling 

 round us as long as the music played, and disap- 

 pearing, one after another, when it ceased. 



*' Other occasions occurred during my residence in 

 those islands of witnessing the habits of these crea- 

 tures. While my pupils and I were bathing, which 

 we often did, in the bosom of a beautiful bay in the 

 island, named, from the circumstance of its being a 

 favourite haunt of the animal, Seal Bay, numbers 

 of them invariably made their appearance, especially 

 if the weather was calm and sunny, and the sea 

 smooth, crowding around us at the distance of a 

 few yards, and looking as if they had some kind 

 of notion that we were of the same species, or at 

 least genus, with themselves. The gambols in the 

 water of my playful companions, and their noise 

 and merriment, seemed, to our imagination, to ex- 

 cite them, and to make them course round us witlr 

 greater rapidity and animation. At the same time, 

 the slightest attempt on our part to act on the 

 offensive, by throwing at them a stone or shell, was 

 the signal for their instantaneous disappearance, 

 each, as it vanished, leaving the surface of the 



