THE SEA-ELEPHANT. I25 



very tenacious of life, and able to survive even when shockingly 

 mangled. According to Dr. Scoresby, the island of Jan Mayen 

 affords excellent seal fishing in March and April. When on 

 detached pieces of drift ice, they are captured by the use of 

 boats, each boat making a descent upon a different herd. When 

 the seals observe the boat, they endeavour to escape before it 

 reaches the ice; the sailors, however, raise a long-continued 

 shout, which frequently causes the amazed animals to delay 

 their retreat until arrested by blows. When seals are abundant, 

 the boat immediately pushes off after the slaughter is finished, 

 and proceeds to another piece of ice for the increase of its 

 harvest, leaving one man to flay off the skins and fat. But in 

 situations where boats cannot navigate, the seal fishers have to 

 pursue them over the ice, leaping from piece to piece until the 

 capture is made ; every man then flenses his own, and drags the 

 skins and blubber to his boat or ship. Ships fitted out for 

 seal fishing have occasionally procured cargoes of four or five 

 thousand, yielding nearly a hundred tons of oil ; but such enter- 

 prises are very hazardous, from the exposed nature of that dreary 

 island, and the liability to heavy and sudden storms. 



The Sea-Elephant (Cystophora proboscidea) deserves his 

 name, not only from his immense size, attaining a length of 

 twenty, twenty-five, or even thirty feet, but also from the sin- 

 gular structure of his elongated nostrils, which hang down when 

 he is in a state of repose, but swell out to a foot-long proboscis 

 when he is enraged. Then the beast has a most formidable 

 appearance, which, along with its gaping jaws and dreadful 

 roar, might strike terror into the boldest huntsman. But total 

 helplessness and weakness conceal themselves behind this terrible 

 mask, for a single blow upon the snout with a club suffices to 

 fell the giant. Between 35° and 55° S. lat. is the home 

 of the sea-elephant, where he frequents desert islands and 

 uninhabited coasts. But even here, as I have already mentioned, 

 he could not escape the rapacity pf man, for his tough hide and 

 the thick layer of blubber beneath were too tempting to remain 

 unnoticed. 



The Hooded Seal of the northern seas, (Cystophora borealis,) 

 enjoys the same faculty of inflating a folding, skinny crest ex- 

 tending on each side from the snout to the eyes. But in 

 spite of the menacing appearance of these wind-bags, the seal 



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