OEDEB, OF AMPHIBIA. 107 



tb.ej'- were considered by the ancients as extraordinary beings, 

 whose duty it was to accompany Neptune in procession as he passed 

 through his liquid domain. When they want to land, they choose 

 a place having a gentle slope, and hooking on with hands and 

 teeth to any rough places near them, they advance with diificulty, 

 but more rapidly than the imperfections of their organs of pro- 

 pulsion when applied to locomotion on land would have led us to 

 suppose [principally, indeed, by means of the subcutaneous 

 muscles of the trunk, and making no use of their limbs]. They 

 hoist themselves very cleverly on to floating icebergs, on which 

 they appear to love to drift. 



They are very tenacious of their rights, which they fight for 

 most energetically. From the moment a family has installed 

 itself on a rock or on a block of ice, it will not allow any other 

 individual of the troop to come and interfere with it ; the male 

 takes upon himself to repel every invasion on his domicile. 

 Hence arise furious combats, which only end in the death 

 of the legitimate proprietor or the flight of the aggressor. 

 When there is very little room at their disposal, one sees many 

 families keeping on the same rock or iceberg, and living on it 

 in perfect harmony ; but they always leave between each other 

 a certain space, and rigidly keep to that part which constitutes 

 their lot. 



Like the Morse, Seals place sentinels to watch during their 

 sleep over the safety of the whole troop. As soon as a Man or a 

 baud of White Bears appears, the sentinels give vent to long-pro- 

 tracted bowlings, and the whole company precipitates itself into 

 the sea. [These animals mostly breed in caverns which have a 

 seaward face, and the young are remarkably large at birth, 

 and are then clad with a sort of fleece, which is very soon 

 shed, indeed sometimes even before birth. They follow their 

 dam from the first, and appear to swim and dive Avith equal 

 facilitjr.] 



The most effective way of killing Seals is to strike them on the 

 nose with a club ; if they are attacked with pointed arms they must 

 be speared very deeply to put their lives in danger. When they 

 see themselves surrounded, they defend themselves courageously, 

 but with little success. In their fury, if opportunity offers, they 

 break the arms of their enemies between their powerful jaws. 



