232 DESCRIPTION OF BERING ISLAND 



flipper [and none] on the back,!^^ in which it differs from the 

 whales.^" The tail flipper is horizontal^^^ as in the whale and the 

 porpoise. The organ of the male is like that of an ox in [relative] 

 length /53 almost a fathom long and with the sheath fastened 

 under the navel; in shape and nature it is like that of a horse. 

 The female organ is [situated] immediately over or before the 

 anus, nearly elongate quadrangular and at the anterior part 

 provided with a strong, sinewy clitoris an inch and a half long. 

 These animals, like cattle, ^^^ live in herds at sea, males and 

 females going together and driving the young before them about 

 the shore. They are occupied with nothing else but their food. 

 The back and half the body are always seen out of the water. 

 They eat in the same manner as the land animals, with a slow 

 forward movement. They tear the seaweed from the rocks with 

 the feet and chew it without cessation. However, the structure 

 of the stomach taught me that they do not ruminate, as I had at 

 first supposed. During the eating they move the head and neck 

 like an ox, and after the lapse of a few minutes they lift the head 

 out of the water and draw fresh air with a rasping and snorting 

 sound after the manner of horses. When the tide falls they go 

 away from the land to sea but with the rising tide go back 

 again to the shore, often so near that we could strike and reach 

 them with poles from shore. They are not afraid of man in the 

 least, nor do they seem to hear very poorly, as Hernandez 

 asserts^^^ contrary to experience. Signs of a wonderful intel- 

 ligence, whatever Hernandez may say,^^- I could not observe, but 

 indeed an uncommon love for one another, which even ex- 



156 Instead of "on the back" the MS reads "on the back or on the 

 sides." 



157 Instead of "in which it differs from the whales" the MS has "in 

 which it again differs from the whales and other sea animals." 



158 Instead of "horizontal" the MS has "parallel with the sides." 



159 The MS here has in addition "and situation." 



160 The MS reads "hke cattle on land." 



161 Work cited above, p. 228, footnote 143, Mexico, 1615, edition, 

 leaf 184 recto. 



162 iWJ., leaf 183 verso. 



