64 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



aslater on I learned from repeated experience that whenever these 

 animalsweretobeseenunusuallyoftenin a very quiet sea, a storm 

 followed soon after; and that the oftener they came up and the 

 more active they were, the more furious was the subsequent gale. 

 On August 10 we saw a very unusual and unknown sea animal, 

 of which I am going to give a brief account since I observed it 

 for two whole hours. — It was about two Russian ells in length; 

 the head was like a dog's, with pointed, erect ears. From the 

 upf)er and the lower lips on both sides whiskers hung down.^^^ 

 The eyes were large; the body was long, rather thick and round,^^^ 

 tapering gradually towards the tail. The skin seemed thickly 

 covered with hair, of a gray color on the back, but reddish white 

 on the belly; in the water, however, the whole animal appeared 

 red, like a cow.^'^ The tail was divided into two fins, of which the 

 upper, as in the case of roosters, ^^^^ was twice as large as the lower. 

 Nothing struck me as more surprising than the fact that neither 

 forefeet^^^ nor, in their stead, fins were to be seen. In default of 

 a more detailed description one can do no better than compare 

 the shape of this animal with the picture which Gesner received 

 from a friend and which he has published under the name of 

 Simla marina danica in his book on animals. At any rate, our sea 

 animal deserved this name because of its resemblance to Gesner's 



Schweine, Phocaenen." " Seeschwein " or "Meerschwein" is the ordinary 

 German equivalent for Phocaena, the porpoise. The Russian equivalent 

 according to Pallas (Zoogr. rosso-asiat.. Vol. i, 1811, p. 284) is, changed 

 to English transliteration, rnorskaya svinya. "Sturmfisch" is evidently 

 meant for the same, for in another place (passage at footnote 253) we 

 find "Swinki oder Sturmfische." Steller consequently only meant 

 porpoises and not also other species of dolphins. (S) 



"6 The MS has besides: "which made it look almost like a Chinaman." 



137 Instead of "long, rather thick and round" the MS reads "longish 

 round and thick." 



138 Instead of "red, like a cow" the MS reads "entirely reddish and 

 cow-colored." 



138a The MS reads "wie bey den gallis" which Pallas literally turns into 

 "wie bei Hahnen," as in roosters. "Gallis" is probably a copyist's 

 error for galeis, sharks (see, below, p. 117 at note 265). (S) 



133 The MS has in addition: "as in the marine amphibians." 



