514 WILD ANIMALS. 



it was the first of its kind that was brought alive to England, and 

 materially helped to awake public curiosity in these interesting 

 creatures, and to draw the attention of naturalists to the dearth of 

 accurate information that existed regarding them. Visitors to the 

 gardens when the first specimen of the sea-lion was on exhibi- 

 tion were surprised to find that the animal so often referred to by 

 the early explorers in the history of their voyages, and that had 

 been the occasion er of many thrilling adventures, was possessed 

 of a highly intelligent organization, hardly inferior to that of any 

 quadruped. 



Lecompte, who was this animal's keeper and original owner, 

 was quite a noted character in his way. The late Prank Buck- 

 land, who knew him well, for he made his first acquaintance with 

 him in 1866, when he was engaged exhibiting his pet at Cremorne 

 Gardens, gives his history and the account of the first sea-lion's 

 capture in one of his articles.-' " In 1862," he writes, " some 

 French sailors wandering about the desolate and bleak shores near 

 Cape Horn, came across this Sea-bear " (Sea-lion, for it was of 

 the species Otaria jubata). "After a great deal of manoeuvring, 

 one of the men, named Lecompte, managed to get behind the seal 

 and catch hold of its hind flippers. The beast, of course, tried to 

 turn and bite ; but Lecompte, by turning to the right or to the 

 left, kept out of the way of his teeth. 



" When the animal was a bit tired, the other sailors managed to 

 get a stick into his mouth, and to tie it tight behind his head, so 

 as to gag him. They then bound him up tightly with ropes, and 

 slinging him between two oars, Lecompte and the sailors carried 

 him to their ship, and then to Buenos Ayres. Lecompte conceived 

 the idea of taming his captive, and for two whole years devoted 

 himself entirely to this object, in which he at last perfectly 

 succeeded, not, however, without great difficulty, for he bore to 

 his grave marks of the seal's teeth on almost every limb, and his 

 right hand was quite crippled by a bite, in which the seal almost 

 severed the muscles of the fore-arm ; in fact the wound was so 

 severe that the South American doctors wanted to amputate his 

 hand altogether. 



' " Notes and Jottings of Animal Life." 



