DWELLERS IN THE DEEP 



221 



proves an apt pupil and when, after several 

 months, he leaves the rookery on the seal island 

 where he was born, he sets out for the open 

 sea quite alone and quite undismayed. There 

 he cruises, hunts, plays, eats, sleeps — a true 

 ocean wanderer. His fur and his fat keep him 

 from any chill, and his tremendous agility and 

 swiftness keep him supplied with squid and 

 fish. His appetite is something phenomenal — 

 in captivity fifty or more pounds of fish being 

 required daily by a single seal. After gorg- 

 ing himself he goes to sleep floating on his 

 back with flippers folded, his head bobbing up 

 and down upon the waves, as peacefully as upon 

 a bed of roses. There occasional!}^ a shark finds 

 him and bites him through and through or a 

 killer whale swallows him whole; but usually 

 he is safe in the sea. It is only when he returns 

 to the islands to breed that his great enemy — 

 man — makes havoc among his numbers. Not 

 his flesh but his coat is wanted. With the ex- 

 ception of the pearl oyster he is about the only 

 dweller in the ocean that is killed for his 

 beauty. 



All the life of the sea, beautiful or otherwise, 

 destroys and is destroyed. Again comes up that 

 seeming contradiction of purpose, that seeming 

 paradox of life and death both being necessary 



Birth and 

 growth of 

 the fur seal. 



Killed for 

 his coat. 



