AMPHIBIAN MILLIONS. 277 



season for arriving, which is by Jnh- 10th or 14th ; then they 

 are able to go about very much as they please, for the bulls have 

 become so greatly enfeebled by this constant fasting, lighting,, and 

 excitement during the past two months, that they are quite content 

 now with onl}'^ one or two partners, even if they should have no more. 



The cows seem to haul up in compact bodies from the 

 water, covering in the whole ground to the rear of the rookeries, 

 never scattering about over the surface of this area ; they have 

 mapped out, from the first, their chosen resting-places, and they will 

 not lie quietly in any position outside of the great mass of their 

 kind. This is due to their intensely gregarious nature, and is espe- 

 cially adapted for their protection. And here I should call attention 

 to the fact that they select this rookery ground with all the skill of 

 civil engineers. It is preferred with special reference to drain- 

 age, for it must slope so that the produce of constantly dissolving 

 fogs and rain-clouds shall not lie upon it, since they have a great ' 

 aversion to, and a firm determination not to rest on water-puddled 

 ground. This is admirably exhibited, and will be understood by a 

 study of my sketch-maps which follow, illustrative of these rook- 

 eries and the area and position of the seals upon them. Every one 

 of those breeding grounds rises up gently from the sea, and on 

 no one of them is there anything like a muddy flat. 



I found it an exceedingly difficult matter to satisfy myself as to 

 a fair general average number of cows to each bull on the rookery, 

 but, after protracted study, I think it will be nearly correct when 

 I assign to each male a specific ratio of from fifteen to twenty 

 females at the stations nearest the water, and for those back, in 

 order, from that line to the rear, from five to twelve ; but there are 

 many exceptional cases, and many instances where forty-five and 

 fifty females are all under the charge of one male : and then, again, 

 where there are only two or three females : hence this c^uestion was 

 and is not entirely satisfactory in its settlement to my mind. 



Near Ketavie Point, and just above it to the north, is an odd 

 wash-out of basalt by the surf, which has chiselled, as it were, 

 from the foundation of the island, a lava table, with a single road- 

 way or land passage to it. Upon the summit of this footstool I 

 counted forty-five cows, all under the charge of one old veteran. 

 He had them penned on this table-rock by taking his stand at 

 the gate, as it were, through which they passed up and passed 

 down — a Turkish brute typified. 



