52 
so powerful in the agonies of death as to grind stones 
into powder, it seemed from the condition — of the 
teeth of some eight that were taken during the visit 
of the party I have been referring to, that their 
strength is exercised in more laborious work than 
crushing the bones of fishes. ‘The opinion the 
more experienced fishermen expressed, was that they 
fed as much on moluscous animals as on fish, and 
that their teeth suffered much wear and tear in the 
work of breaking shells. Yet it is remarkable that 
the contents of the stomach of those killed gave 
them no insight into the nature of their food ; they 
were invariably empty. | 
I must not omit to mention, that the friends whose 
visit to the Pedros I here relate, had.an opportunity 
of, closely observing the progression of the seal when 
ascending the beach. The advance was by a suc- 
cession of zig-zag movements. it was evident inat 
the ground was first gripped by one fore-flipper, 
then by the other, and that the body advanced first 
to the right then to the left, as one or the other 
flipper took its hold of the earth and helped the 
body onward. They seemed to delight in basking 
in the sun, and to huddle together and grunt out 
their pleasure in each others’ company. 
When Humboldt made his first passage across 
the bank of the Vibora, that in these Pedro Shoals, 
in the month of December 1800, he observed a 
number of curious meteorological phenomena, all 
portending the adverse weather which exposed him 
to Ganger and lengthened his passage to the Havan- 
na to some 14 days. He thus relates his observa- 
