THE SEA-BEAK. 127 



numerous females begin to make their appearance, and Otarian 

 life takes full possession of the strand. The full-grown sea- 

 bear is from eight to nine feet long, measures five in girth, 

 and acquires a weight of from eight to nine hundred pounds. 

 He owes his name to his shaggy blackish fur, and not to his 

 disposition, which is far from being cruel or savage. He in- 

 dulges in polygamy like a Turk or a Mormon, and has often 

 as many as fifty wives. The young are generally lively, fond ol 

 play and fight. When one of them has thrown another down, 

 the father approaches with a growl, caresses the victor, tries to 

 ■overturn him, and shows increasing fondness the better he de- 

 fends himself. Lazy and listless youngsters are objects of his 

 •dislike, and these hang generally about their mother. The 

 male is very much attached to his wives, but treats them with 

 all the severity of an oriental despot. When a mother neglects 

 to carry away her young, and allows it to be taken, she is made 

 to feel his anger. He seizes her with his teeth, and strikes her 

 several times, not over gently, against a cliff. As soon as she 

 recovers from the stunning effects of these blows, she approaches 

 her lord in the most humble attitudes, crawls to his feet, 

 caresses him, and even sheds tears, as Steller, the companion of 

 Behring's second voyage, informs us. Meanwhile the male 

 ■crawls about to and fro, gnashes his teeth, rolls his eyes, and 

 throws his head from side to side. But when he sees that his young 

 is irrevocably lost, he then, like the mother, begins to cry so 

 bitterly, that the tears trickle down upon his breast. In his 

 old age the ursine seal is abandoned by his wives, and spends 

 the remainder of his life in solitude, fasting, and sleeping ; an 

 indolence from which he can only be roused by the intrusion of 

 another animal, when a tremendous battle is the consequence. 

 Though extremely irascible, the sea-bears are lovers of fair 

 play, so that when two are fighting, the others form a ring, and 

 remain spectators until the contest is decided. Then, however, 

 they take the part of the weaker, which so enrages the victor 

 that he immediately attacks the peace-makers. These in turn 

 fall out, the dreadful roaring attracts new witnesses, and the 

 whole ends, like an Irish wedding, with a general fight. 



Ursine seals are also found in the southern hemisphere, on 

 desert coasts analogous to their residences in the north. Com- 

 mon seals and sea-otters stand in great awe of these animals, 



