278 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



had been captured near Cape Horn in 1862, by a French 

 sailor, who had taught it a great variety of tricks, 

 which he made it play before admiring crowds in the 

 London Gardens, where he had the care of it for 

 several years. Tw^o pairs of the Californian variety of 

 sea-lions arrived in England in 1877, and various 

 others have been received here and there on the Conti- 

 nent of Europe. 



The animal which has thus become so familiar to us 

 was, it seems, first made known by Captain William 

 Dampier, who, in 1729, published his narrative of "A 

 New Voyage Round the World," wherein is an account 

 of observations on the sea-lion made by him in 1683. 



The Californian sea-lion is distinguishable from other 

 varieties by the marked angle which the forehead foims 

 with the muzzle. It ranges the coast of California from 

 San Diego and San Nicolas Island, to the Bay of St. 

 Francisco. 



The Northern or Steller's sea-lion, a creature about 

 ten feet in length, inhabits the North Pacific. The 

 Southern or Patagonian sea-lion, comes from the Falkland 

 Islands and Patagonia. A small kind of sea-lion is found 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, while yet another variety, 

 Forster's sea-lion, frequents the coast of Australia and 

 various islands of the Southern Ocean, and has a delicate 

 fur. Another kind, which yields the soft fur known 

 by ladies as " sealskin," is often distinguished as the 

 " sea-bear." It is an inhabitant of those tiny islands, 

 St. George and St. Paul, which are two of the Prybiloft' 

 group of islands, whence its skins are imported in 

 immense numbers. 



These islands are tow^ard the east end of Behring's 

 Sea, but individuals are also to be met with in Beliring's 

 and Copper Islands, at the west end of Behring's Sea. 



