220 ELEPHANT SEAL. 



lence. And it is not only on shore they present 

 this gentle character ; for the fishers affirm, that 

 when Seals of smaller species come and swim amidst 

 them, they never offer them the least injury. Men 

 may, even without risk, bathe in the midst of 

 a herd of them, and the fishers were in the habit of 

 doing so. They are also capable of forming a real 

 attachment, and of very considerable education. On 

 one occasion, an English sailor selected a young 

 one as a pet, and treated it kindly for a few months. 

 At the end of this period he had so completely 

 tamed it, that it came at his call, allowed him to 

 mount upon its back, and put his hands into its 

 mouth. In a word, this gentle creature did all that 

 was in its power for its protector, and bore every 

 thing from him without offence. It must have been 

 on facts such as these that Penrose expected cre- 

 dence for the statement, " that his crew rode on 

 these animals as they would do on horses, and 

 when they did not swim sufficiently rapidly, forced 

 them to quicken their progress by the spur." 



Though nothing is definitely known as to the 

 natural term of life of these Seals, yet some, who 

 are familiar with them, have estimated it at twenty- 

 five or thirty years. It has been remarked, that 

 when about to die, feeling themselves indisposed, they 

 leave the ocean, and advance further in shore than 

 usual, where they lie down among brushwood, and 

 wait death, as if they wished to resign life in the 

 situation they first received it. Sometimes they 

 meet with fatal accidents. Surprised by tempest^ 



