AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 



are shy animals, and avoid places which are 

 much haunted by mankind. If wounded in the 

 water, they attempt to sink the boat, either by 

 rising under it, or by striking their great teeth 

 into its sides : they roar very loud, and will fol- 

 low the boat till it gets out of sight. Numbers 

 of them are often seen sleeping on an island of 

 ice, some being always upon the watch : if awak- 

 ed, they fling themselves with great impetuosity 

 into the sea; at which time it is dangerous to 

 approach the ice, lest they should tumble into 

 the boat and overset it. At particular times 

 they land in amazing numbers : the moment the 

 first gets on shore, so as to lie dry, it will not stir 

 till another comes and forces it forward by beat- 

 ing it with its great teeth ; this is served in the 

 same manner by the next, and so in succession 

 till the whole is landed, continuing tumbling 

 over one another, and forcing the foremost, for 

 the sake of quiet, to remove farther up. 



In Cook's Voyages we have the following af- 

 fecting account of their parental attachment to 

 their young. " On the approach of the boats 

 towards the ice, they took their young ones under 

 their fins, and attempted to escape with them, 

 into the sea. Some, whose cubs were killed or 

 wounded, and left floating upon the surface of 

 the water, rose again, and carried them down, 

 sometimes just as our men were on the point of 

 taking them into the boat^ and could be traced 

 bearing them to a considerable distance through 

 the water, which was stained with their blood. 

 They were afterwards observed bringing them, 



VOL. in. s 



