The Sea-Lion's Den 293 



what appeared to be other rooms, echoing and rever- 

 berating from passage to passage, until lost in the 

 distance, suggesting that the cave had endless ramifica- 

 tions. The roar from sea-lions came from all about 

 us, and from seemingly distant caves, producing a series 

 of sounds that one might believe issued from the bot- 

 tomless pit. Cries of fear, rage, pain, horror, and 

 despair were easily imagined. I can give no better 

 illustration of the effect those cries had upon the human 

 ear than to say that my companion and host, the owner 

 of our yacht, failed completely in trying to induce some 

 of his crew to enter the cave ; they refused point blank, 

 and could not be ordered in ; so we rowed ourselves 

 and the men remained aboard. 



I felt around the edge of this cave, and found a sort 

 of shelf on which the sea-lions evidently rested. I 

 could hear them plunge over as we approached, and 

 could see the flash of phosphorescence as they dashed 

 through the water adding to the uncanny nature of the 

 situation. 



Some of the cries or barking of the sea-lions seemed 

 to come from a long distance under the mountain, 

 and, while it was mere conjecture, I should say four or 

 five hundred or more feet, seemingly carrying out the 

 idea of the men who believed that the cave ran com- 

 pletely under the mountain and was a den of not only 

 sea-lions, but other creatures of the sea. All the sea- 

 lions dashed for one starlike spot in the cave, the open- 

 ing through which we came ; and as we passed out I saw 



