ANIMALS. 389 



giencral external cbaracteis already mentioned, niiil internally in 

 two or three more, which are so remarkable as to deserve peculiar 

 attention. 



It has been often remarked, that all animals are sagacions in 

 proportion to the size of their brain. It has, in support of this 

 opinion, been alleged, that man, with respect to his bulk, has, of 



each jaw : the fore-feet are undivided ; the hind-feet are without nails. It 

 inliabits the coast of Dahnatia. The skin of tlie neck folds into the resem. 

 blance of a monk's hood ; the hair is short, dusky, and spotted with ash 

 above the navel is a tawny spot. It is from seven to eight feet iu length. 



The Bottle-Nosed Sen!. The male of this species is extremely lai'ge, some- 

 times measuring from fifteen to tweuty feet iu length ; he is also distinguish, 

 cd from the female by a large snout, projecting fi\p or six inches below the 

 end of the upper jaw. The feet are short, and the hinder ones so webbed as 

 to appear like fins. The general coloiu- of the hair is ferruginous. Tlieir 

 fat is so considerable, as to lie ten or twelve inches deep between the skiu 

 and the flesh. Hence, when they are in motion, they appear almost like 

 immense skins filled with oil, the tremulous motion of the blubber being 

 plainly disiernible beneath the surface. They have also so much blood, that 

 if deeply wounded in a dozen places, it will gush out at every one, and spout 

 to a considerable dist.ance. Their iisual voice is a kind of grimting, or some- 

 times a snorting like that of a horse in full vigour. They are of a b'thargic 

 disposition, and when at rest they are not easily disturbed. Their time 

 seems pretty equally lUvidcd between the land and the sea, as they continue 

 out during tlie summer, and come on shore at the commencement of winter. 

 — They feed on the grass and verdure which grows on the banks of the fresh 

 water streams ; and when not employed iu feeding, they sleep in herds in 

 the most miry places they can find. Each herd seems to be under the direc- 

 tion of a large male, which mariners ludicrously style the bashaw, from his 

 driving off the other males from a number of females which he appropriates 

 to himself. — These bashaws, however, do not arrive at this envied superiori- 

 ty without many fierce and sanguinary conflicts, of which their numerous 

 scars generally bear evidence. Some of Lord Aason's people obser\ed one 

 day on the island of Juan Fernandez, what they at first supposed to be ,ani. 

 mals of a kind difl'erent from any they had previously seen ; but, on a nearer 

 approach, they proved to be two of these seals, which had been goring eai-h 

 other with their teeth, till b(<th were completely covered with blood. It is 

 not difficult to kill them ; for their propensity to sleep, and their sluggish 

 and un\vieldy motions, generally render them an ea^^y prey to their enemies. 

 Sometimes, however, tliey make a vigorous resistance ; and, it is said, that 

 as a sailor was one day employed in skinning one of the young, the female 

 from whom he had taken it, came upon him unperceived, and getting his 

 head into her mouth, lacerated his skull so dreadfully, that he died in a few 

 days afterwards. According to Lord Alison's account, the flesh of thsse 

 quadrupeds is somewhat like beef, and the hearts and tongues are excellent 

 eating. 



These animals are principally fi>imd on the coast of Zealand, on the islana 

 of Juan Fernandez, and the FalkUuid Islands, The fenuOes produce Xv!o 

 yoiuig ones in the winter, which they suckle for some time. These, when 

 fij'st brout(hl forth, are about the size of a full-grown common seal. 



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