218 ELEPHANT SEAL. 



a few, probably retained by weakness, <*!*. - 

 main in the milder climate. 



Most of the Seals, as we have seen, prefer rocfcs 

 and ice-islands for their supramarine habitation; 

 but the proboscidise, on the contrary, confine them- 

 selves to the sandy flats of the shore ; they seek 

 also for the neighbourhood of fresh water, in which, 

 though it be not altogether essential to them, 

 they delight to plunge, and appear to drink with 

 pleasure. They sleep alike when extended on the 

 sand, and when floating upon the surface of the 

 waves. When assembled in great troops on land, 

 and reposing, one or more of their number is con- 

 stantly on the watch : When danger threatens, 

 they immediately give the alarm, and then all has- 

 ten to the beach, to precipitate themselves into the 

 protecting wave. Nothing is more singular than 

 their gait. It is a kind of crawling, in which their 

 body appears to tremble, like an enormous bladder 

 full of jelly, so very thick is the coat of lard which 

 covers them. And not only is their gait slow, and 

 apparently painful, but every fifteen or twenty paces 

 they are forced to halt, partly from fatigue, over- 

 whelmed with their own weight. If, during their 

 flight, any one gets before them, they instantly stop; 

 and if, by repeated blows, they are forced to move, 

 they appear to suffer mucn. It is remarkable, that 

 in these circumstances their pupil, which usually 

 is of a bluish-green colour, becomes of a deep 

 blood-red hue. Notwithstanding all this difficulty 



