244 



THE SEALS. 



whole year round, but they assemble, especially 

 at the breeding season, on favourite spots. 

 About 20,000 of them can be counted on 

 St. Paul, and 7000 on St. George. The 

 fisheries are pursued on the former of these 

 islands. The old males, called by the sailors 

 " beach-masters," arrive first, choose out a 

 camping-ground, and await the arrival of the 

 pregnant females, now near the period of 

 delivery. When the females arrive the males 

 go to meet them, seize them by the nape of 

 the neck with their teeth and drag them to 

 the camping-ground which they have con- 

 quered for themselves, and which they often 

 maintain by terrible battles. After the birth 

 of the young copulation takes place, and for 

 a month at least the jealous male takes no 

 food and keeps the six or eight females that 

 he has selected constantly round him. 



These animals are hunted for their fur, 

 which is used to cover light skiffs and furni- 

 ture, and for their fat and their entrails, from 

 which last cords and water-tight blouses are 

 made. About 800 are killed on St. Paul 

 every year. They are very wild and shy, 

 and plunge into the water on the slightest 

 appearance of danger. Their pursuers en- 

 deavour to cut off their retreat by landing on 

 a stormy night when the wind is blowing 

 from the land, and then chase them in troops 

 to the village fifteen miles off. The animals 

 walk clumsily and laboriously with winding 

 movements of the body, first raising the front 

 part of the body, then plunging forward, and 

 in a sense diving in order to advance. If 

 from utter exhaustion they will go no further 

 their pursuers are in the habit of frightening 

 them by the sudden opening out of an um- 

 brella. In this way the journey is accom- 

 plished in five or six days, and the animals 

 are then killed by musket-shots through the 

 neck or by stabs with spears through the heart. 



The Sea-bear {Otaria ursina), fig. 126, is 

 a much more important object of pursuit, for 

 about 90,000 of them are annually killed on 

 the island of St. Paul and 10,000 on St. 



George. This seal is much smaller than the 

 sea-lion. The males attain the length of 

 only 10 feet, and the females half that length. 

 The neck is short, the flippers pretty long, 

 and covered with a short black skin. The 

 fur, of a dark brown colour, soft, very thick, 

 and as glossy as silk, with a few stronger hairs 

 interspersed through it on the breast, is a 

 very valuable article of commerce. Thanks 

 to the length of their flippers, these animals 

 can walk on the ground with regular steps 

 and with the whole of their body raised. 



The first males arrive on St. Paul in the 

 beginning of May. It is not known where 

 they pass the winter; it is very likely that they 

 migrate southwards. These males choose 

 their camping-grounds on well-known breeding 

 places, and defend them obstinately against 

 the swarms that follow after. When all the 

 spots on the edge of the sea are occupied 

 by the "beach-masters," the later arrivals, 

 and among these old males known as "re- 

 serves," must content themselves with camp- 

 ing-grounds further back, and the "bachelors," 

 at most five years old, are compelled to 

 retire to the surrounding islands, whence they 

 look out for a favourable moment to seize 

 upon a place or even a female deserted by 

 a beach-master. But the old males do not 

 stir from the spot except when they go to 

 meet a female, and the attempts at occupation 

 lead to furious encounters. 



At last, about the middle of June, all the 

 males are assembled and encamped awaiting 

 the arrival of the females. The bulls go to 

 meet them, seize them with their teeth, and 

 drag them to their camping-grounds. But 

 other females arrive, and since at least seven 

 or eight are required to make up the harem 

 of an old male, the latter must leave his first 

 conquest to go and make a second. Mean- 

 while a neighbour, a reserve or a bachelor, 

 robs him of his first. Fierce battles ensue, 

 murderous encounters in which blood flows 

 down in streams, and one of the antagonists 

 is often killed. At the end of this period not 



