THE SEA ELEPHANT. 119 



smothered by numbers of their kind heaped upon them. The whole flock, when 

 attacked, manifested alarm by their peculiar roar, the sound of which, among the 

 largest males, is nearly as loud as the lowing of an ox, but more prolonged in one 

 strain, accompanied by a rattling noise in the throat. The quantit}^ of blood in 

 this species of the seal tribe is supposed to be double that contained in an ox, in 

 proportion to its size. 



After the capture, the flaying begins. First, with a large knife, the skin is 

 ripped along the upper side of the body its whole length, and then cut down as fur 

 as practicable, without rolling it over ; then the coating of fat that lies between 

 the skin and flesh — which may be from one to seven inches in thickness, accord- 

 ing to the size and condition of the animal- — is cut into "horse -pieces," about 

 eight inches wide, and twelve to fifteen long, and a puncture is made in each piece 

 sufficiently large to pass a rope through. After flensing the upper portion of the 

 body, it is rolled over, and cut all around, as above described. Then the "horse- 

 pieces" are strung on a raft -rope (a rope three fathoms long, with an eye -splice 

 in one end), and taken to the edge of the surf; a long line is made fast to it, 

 the end of which is thrown to a boat lying just outside of the breakers ; they are 

 then hauled through the rollers and towed to the vessel, where the oil is tried 

 out by boiling the blubber, or fat, in large pots set in a brick furnace for the 

 purpose. The oil produced is superior to whale oil for lubricating purposes. Ow- 

 ing to the continual pursuit of the animals, the}' have become nearl}' if not quite 

 extinct on the California coast, or the few remaining have fled to some unknown 

 point for security. 



Thus far, we have been writing of the Sea Elephant and manner of capturing 

 it on the islands and coasts of the Californias ; and, although thousands of the 

 animals, in past years, gathered upon the shores of the islands contiguous to the 

 coast, as well as about the pebbly or sandy beaches of the peninsula, affording full 

 cargoes to the oil- ships, yet their numbers were but few, when compared with the 

 multitudes which once inhabited the remote, desolate islands, or places on the 

 main, within the icy regions of the southern hemisphere ; and even at the expense 

 of digression, we have thought it well to give an account of the animal in those 

 regions. Several geographical points have already been mentioned, and among these 

 Kerguelen Land, or Desolation Island, and Herd's Island, are the great resort- 

 ing- places of these animals at the present day. The last-named place is in latitude 

 53° 03' south, and longitude 72° 30' to 73° 30' east. Its approximate extent is 

 sixty miles. Its shores are somewhat bold, broken, and dangerous to land upon ; 

 no harbor being found that is secure for the smallest vessel. In the smoothest 



