29 



This enormous creature, commonly twenty feet in length, is not only 

 by far the largest among the seal-tribe, but the aged male, acquiring a 

 length of thirty feet and a girth of twenty, will double the dimensions 

 of the great elephant itself. This huge mass, tremulous with fat, and 

 the peculiar prolongation of the nostrils when the animal is excited, to 

 a foot beyond the lips, are of themselves sufficiently characteristic ; but 

 to complete the description it may be added, that in colour the 

 males are usually greyish, or bluish grey, rarely blackish-brown, and 

 that the females are olive brown above, passing into yellowish -bay 

 beneath, and very much smaller in size in every admeasurement of the 

 body. 



In disposition these seals are mild, fearless, and apathetic, avoiding 

 intercourse with man by tenanting the most desolate shores, and when 

 intruded upon by him, showing no resentment, so that he may walk 

 amongst them without fear, and even bathe in their midst without risk 

 of injury, so long as they are left in peace to indulge in a slothful exis- 

 tence, spent principally in wallowing in the mud or reposing among 

 the long grass, which luxuries they enjoy in social herds of thousands, 

 until the general harmony is temporarily disturbed by the advent of the 

 season of courtship, when, madly roused, the males are urged into 

 desperate conflicts with each other. 



" These seals," observes Captain Carmichael, in his description of 

 the island of Tristan d'Acunha, " pass the greater part of their time on 

 shore ; they may be seen in hundreds lying asleep along the sandy 

 beach, or among the long grass which borders the sea-shore. 



" These huge animals are so little apprehensive of danger that they 

 must be kicked or pelted with stones before they make any effort to 

 move out of one's way. When roused from their slumber, they raise 

 the fore part of their body, open wide their mouth, and display a for- 

 midable set of tusks, but never attempt to bite. Should this, however, 

 fail to intimidate their disturbers, they set themselves at length in 

 motion, and make for the water, but with such deliberation, that on an 

 excursion we once made to the opposite side of the island, two of our 

 party were tempted to ride upon the back of one of them and rode him 

 iairly into the water." 



It is said by another authority, that when the females produce their 

 young, the males form a line between them and the sea to prevent the 

 desertion of their charge, even for the shortest space of time. This 

 period of nursing and imprisonment lasts for seven or eight weeks, 

 during which time the females are debarred from food, and become 

 extremely emaciated. 



When taken young, they are easily tamed and become very affec- 

 tionate : one petted by an English sailor became so attached to his 

 master, from kind treatment for a few months, that it would come at his 

 call, allow him to mount upon his back and put his hands into its 

 mouth. 



