<66d ulloa's voyage to south America. 



Thefe foreign fliips, which, in order to refrefh their crews after the fatigues of fo long 

 a voyage, and the dangers of weathering Cape Horn, make for the harbour of Juan 

 Fernandes, are very careful to fecure themfelves againfl the above-mentioned dangers, 

 and therefore fail up to the fartheft part of the bay, where they moor with an anchor 

 m the water, and another on the fouth-weft fhore. » But even this" precaution is not 

 fometimes fufficient to fecure them, as appears from the wrecks of three fhips ; two of 

 which have been long there, but the other of a more recent date. 



The ifland De Afuera is every where prodigioufly high land, and the fhores fo fleep 

 and craggy as to afford no convenient landing-place j which, together with its having 

 no harbour, prevents all fhips, whether thofe of the enemy, or the country, from 

 touching at it. 



The fea, all around the ifland De Tierra, may be faid to be filled with fea-wolves, 

 of which there are obferved to be three principal fpecies ; the firfl are fmail, not 

 being above a yard in length, and their hair a dark brown : thofe of the fecond are 

 about a toife and a half in length, and of a greyilh brown colour : and thofe of the 

 third are in general two toifes in length, and the hair of a pale afli -colour. The 

 head of thefe creatures is too fmall in proportion to the reft of their body, and termi- 

 nates in a fnout ; which, bearing a great refemblance to that of a wolf, they have 

 acquired the name. The mouth is proportioned to the head ; but the tongue is very 

 thick, and almoft round. They have a row of large pointed teeth in each jaw, two 

 thirds of which are in alveoli or fockets ; but the others, being the moft hard and folid, 

 are without them. This threatening appearance is heightened by whifl^ers, like thofe 

 of cats, or rather tygers. Their eyes are fmall ; and their ears, from the root to the 

 extremity, not above fix or eight lines in length, and of a proportional breadth. Their 

 noftrils are alfo very fmall, and the only parts deftitute of hair, thefe having a glan- 

 dulous membrane, like the fame part in dogs. This creature has two fins, which ferve 

 them both for fwimming in the water, and for walking on the ground. The tail, which 

 is every where equally cartilaginous, is of a length proportional to the body, but much 

 thicker than thofe of the generality of fifli. They carry it horizontally ; fo that by 

 inverting the laft vertebrae, where the articulations are more flexible than in other 

 parts, they form of it a kind of hind feet ; and at the fame time the fins helping them 

 before, they walk without trailing the body along the ground. A remarkable particular 

 m the formation of this amphibious creature is, that in both the fins and the ex- 

 tremity of the tail there are protuberances refembling fingers ; they are fmall bones or 

 cartilages inclofed within thofe callous membranes which cover the fins and tail. Thefe 

 fingers they can expand fo as to cover the whole breadth of the fin ; and thus form^ 

 as it were, the fole to tread upon. At the end of each is a nail, of about two lines in 

 length, and half a line in breadth. 



Among the feveral articulations in the fins, are two very remarkable, one at the 

 jun6lion of the omoplata, where it forms a kind of flioulder, and the other at the- 

 cxtremity of the fin, where the fingers are connected. The fame economy is obferved 

 in the tail, and thus they are adapted to anvamphibious life : accordingly, though not 

 with a celerity equal to that of quadrupeds, they climb up fteep rocks of a height one 

 would think impracticable to fuch creatures, as they are abfolutely fo to men ; 

 and come down again with the fame eafe, notwithflanding their great bulk and 

 fatnefs, which is fuch in the larger fpeciea, that their diameter at the fins is little fhort 

 of a yard and a half. 



Their organs of generation are placed at the lower extremity of the belly, and at 

 the time of coition the male and female place themfelves on their tails, with their faces 



1 1 inward. 



