196 BERING ISLAND. [chap. 



in such a restricted area, and indeed no other instances of a like 

 nature are known in the animal world. Sprawling about in all 

 manner of attitudes, fighting, sleeping, fanning themselves, making- 

 love, and splashing in and out of the water in shoals, these densely- 

 packed creatures exhibited a ceaseless activity of movement wliich 

 reminded me strongly of a mass of maggots in a piece of carrion. 

 The ground upon which they had "hauled up" — for this is the 

 term in use to express the animals' landing — was a long stretch 

 of low -lying black rocks, backed and interspersed with coarse 

 pebbly beach, and upon the summits of the higher eminences some 

 huge old bulls were easily distinguishable. A shore of this nature, 

 we were told, is always much preferred to sand, which adheres to the 

 creature's fur, and, getting into its eyes, is apt to induce inflammation. 

 From the fact that we saw young seals with ophthalmia in this 

 rookery, it would seem, however, that this, although possibly one, 

 is not the only cause of the disease. 



Approaching as near as we dared without disturbing our 

 " sitters," we took photographs of the strange scene before us. It 

 was as noisy as it was restless. The united vocal efforts from the 

 many thousands of throats produced a dull, continuous roar that 

 resembled nothing so much as the sound that greets the ear at 

 " the finish " on a Derby day. This noise is said to be audible at a 

 distance of three miles or more, and is one of the signs by which 

 the proximity of the island is recognised by sailors during a fog. 

 For the most part it is an evenly-blended volmne of sound, but now 

 and again the lamb-like bleat of a pup is audible above the rest, or 

 the deep, hoarse bellow of an old bull. The din is constant, for the 

 animals take their rest in short imeasy dozes at any time in the 

 twenty-four hours, and life on the rookeries by night is as ceaseless 

 in its acti\dty as by day. 



The land life of the fur seal is as peculiar and interesting as 

 the distribution of the species. Morally, I am afraid, it is not 

 instructive, for the animals are all confirmed polygamists, run away 

 with as many of their neighbours' wives as they can, and spend 



