SEA-BEAR OF STELLER. 257 



the length of the whole body, and the stomach was 

 uniformly found empty." 



These animals are found in amazing numbers in 

 the islands off the North- West point of America, 

 and so crowd the shore, that they oblige the traveller 

 to quit it, and scale the neighbouring rocks. They 

 do not land much on the Asiatic coast. They are as 

 regularly migratory as birds of passage. They first 

 appear off Kamskatka and the Kuriles in early 

 spring, and are then very fat, and the females all 

 pregnant. They continue on shore for two months, 

 during which the young are produced. Except 

 their employment in suckling their young, they pass 

 their time in total inactivity, the males sink into the 

 most Drofound indolence and into deep sleep ; nor 

 are they ever roused except by some great provoca- 

 tion. They live in families ; every male being sur- 

 rounded by a seraglio of from eight to fifty females, 

 which he guards with the jealousy of an Eastern 

 monarch. Each family keeps separate from the 

 others, notwithstanding they lie in thousands along 

 the shore, every family, including the young, 

 amounting to about 100 or 120i even at sea the 

 distinctness of the families may be perceived. 



The males show great affection for their young, 

 and are sometimes tyrannical towards their females. 

 They are fierce in protecting their offspring, and 

 should any one attempt to take their cub, they stand 

 on the defensive, and the mother carries it off in 

 hrr mouth. Should she happen to drop it, the male 



