OF NATURAL HISTORY. ^j 



produce fome peculiarities in the manners and difpofitions of am- 

 phibious animals. The feal, accordingly, whofe hiftory is baft 

 known, may be confidered as holding the empire of the filent ocean. 

 To this dignity he is entitled by his voice, his figure, and his intel- 

 ligence, which render hira fo fuperior to the fifhes, that they feem 

 to belong to another order of beings. Though his oeconomy be 

 very different from that of our domeftic animals, he is fufceptible 

 of a fpecies of education. He is reared by putting him frequently 

 in water. He is taught to give a falute with his head and his voice. 

 He approaches when called upon. His fenfes are equally acute as 

 thofe of any quadruped; and, of courfe, his fenfations and intel!e6t 

 are equally adive. Both are exhibited in the gentlenefs of his 

 manners, his focial difpofitlon, his afFedlion for the female, his an- 

 xious attention to his offspring, and the expreffive modulation of 

 his voice. Befides, he enjoys advantages which are peculiar to him. 

 He is neither afraid of cold nor of heat. He lives indifferently on 

 herbs, flefh, or fifh. He inhabits, without inconvenience, water, 

 land, or ice. When affiftance is neceflary, the feals underftand and 

 mutually affift one another. The young diftinguifh their mother 

 in the midft of a numerous troop. They know her voice ; and, 

 when fhe calls, they never fail to obey. 



Before difmifling this branch of the fubjed:, the elephant mud 

 not be paffed over in filence. His ftrudure is uncommon, and fo 

 are his talents. The elephant is the largeft and moft magnificent 

 animal that at prefent treads the earth. Though he daily devours 

 great quantities of herbage, leaves, and branches of trees, he has 

 but one ftomach, and does not ruminate. This want, however, is 

 fupplied by the magnitude and length of his inteftines, and parti- 

 cularly of the colon, which is two or three feet in diameter by fif- 

 teen or twenty in length. In proportion to the fize of the elephant, 

 his eyes are very fmall ; but they are lively, brilliant, and capable 



I 2 of 



