AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 



395 



but by darting into the shallows. The seal 

 has been seen to pursue a mullet, which is a 

 swift swimmer, and to turn it to and fro, in 

 deep water, as a hound does a hare on land. 

 The mullet has been seen trying every art 

 of evasion; and at last swimming into shal- 

 low water, in hopes of escaping. There, how- 

 ever, the seal followed ; so that the little ani- 

 mal had no other way left to escape, but to 

 throw itself on one side, by which means it 

 darted into shoaler water than it could have 

 swam in with the belly undermost; and thus 

 at last it got free. 



As they are thus the tyrants of the element 

 in which they chiefly reside, so they are not 

 very fearful even upon land, except on those 

 shores which are thickly inhabited, and from 

 whence they have been frequently pursued. 

 Along the desert coasts, where they are sel- 

 dom interrupted by man, they seem to be 

 very bold and courageous ; if attacked with 

 stones, like dogs, tfu y bite such as are thrown 

 against them; if encountered more closely, 

 they make a desperate resistance, and, while 

 they have any life, attempt to annoy their 

 enemy. Some have been known, even while 

 they were skinning, to turn round and seize 

 their butchers; but they are generally des- 

 patched by a stunning blow on the nose. 

 They usually sleep soundly when not fre- 

 quently disturbed; and that is the time when 

 the hunters surprise them. The Europeans 

 who go into the Greenland seas upon the 

 whale-fishery, surround them with nets, and 

 knock them on the head ; but the Green- 

 landers, who are unprovided with so expen- 

 sive an apparatus, destroy them in a different 

 manner. One of these little men paddles 

 away in his boat, and when he sees a seal 

 asleep on the side of a rock, darts his lance, 

 and that with such unerring aim, that it never 

 fails to bury its point in the animal's side. 

 The seal, feeling itself wounded, instantly 

 plunges from the top of the rock, lance and 

 all, into the sea, and dives to the bottom ; but 

 the lance has a bladder tied to one end, 

 which keeps buoyant, and resists the animal's 

 descent; so that every time the seal rises to 

 the top of the water the Greenlander strikes 

 it with his oar, until he at last despatches it. 

 But in our climate, the seals are much more 

 wary, and seldom suffer the hunters to come 



NO. 33 & 34. 



near them. They are often seen upon the 

 rocks of the Cornish coast, basking in the 

 sun, or upon the inaccessible cliffs, left dry 

 by the tide. There they continue, extremely 

 watchful, and nev ersleep long without moving; 

 seldom longer than a minute ; for then they 

 raise their heads, and if they see no danger, 

 they lie down again, raising and reclining 

 their heads alternately, at intervals of about 

 a minute each. The only method, therefore, 

 that can be taken, is to shoot them : if they 

 chance to escape, they hasten towards the 

 deep, flinging stones and dirt behind them as 

 they scramble along, and at the same time 

 expressing their pain, or their fears, by 

 the most distressful cry; if they happen to 

 be overtaken, they make a vigorous resist- 

 ance w ith their feet and teeth, till they are 

 killed. 



The seal is taken for the sake of its skin, 

 and for the oil its fat yields. The former 

 sells for about four shillings ; and, when dres- 

 sed, is very useful in covering trunks, making 

 waistcoats, shot-pouches, and several other 

 conveniences. The flesh of this animal for- 

 merly found place at the tables of the great. 

 At a feast provided by Archbishop Neville, 

 for Edward the Fourth, there were twelve 

 seals and porpoises provided, among other 

 extraordinary rarities. 



As a variety of this animal, we may men- 

 tion the SEA-LION, described in Anson's Voy- 

 ages. This is much larger than any of the 

 former ; being from eleven to eighteen feet 

 long. It is so fat that, when the skin is taken 

 oft , the blubber lies a foot thick all round the 

 body. It seems to differ from the ordinary 

 seal, not only in its size, but also in its food ; 

 for it is often seen to graze along the shore, 

 and to feed upon the long grass that grows 

 up along the edges of brooks. Its cry is 

 very various, sometimes resembling the neigh- 

 ing of a horse, and sometimes the grunting of 

 a hog. It may be regarded as the largest 

 of the seal family. 



THE MORSE 



THE Morse is an animal of the seal kind; 

 but differing from the rest, in a very particular 

 formation of the teeth, having two large tusks 

 30 



