76 THE SEA-ELEPHANT. [1823. 



they begin to follow him up very close. When excited, their motions are 

 very quick, — like the flash of a gun on touching the match : hence the 

 name of clap-match, which sailors apply to the female. In retreat or 

 pursuit, their speed is nearly equal to that of a man, and much swifter 

 on the rocks than could be anticipated from their appearance. 



About the latter end of February the dog-seals go on shore : these 

 are the young male seals of the two preceding years ; but owing to 

 their youth and inexperience, are not yet allowed to attend the pregnant 

 females or clap-matches. The purposes for which they now seek dry 

 land are, to shed their coats, and give the new-starting crop of fine hair 

 a chance to grow. By the first of May these objects are effected, 

 when they again take to the ocean, and are seldom seen near the shores 

 again until the first of July, when they appear and disappear alternately, 

 without order or any ostensible purpose, for the period of a month ; 

 after which they are seen no more until the first of September follow- 

 ing. During this month a herd of young seals, male and female, resort 

 to the shore ; and when they retire again to their favourite element, the 

 wigs, or large male seals, make their appearance on the land, for the 

 purpose of selecting a suitable spot for their rookeries, where they are 

 to receive the clap-matches, or females of age. This completes the 

 annual round of visits made to the land by fur-seals of all classes. In 

 high northern latitudes the same process occurs in the opposite season. 

 ! I will now attempt to give a description of the sea-elephant, an ani- 

 mal of which the public in general have a very imperfect idea. The 

 male of this species has a cartilaginous substance projecting forward 

 from the nose, six or seven inches in length ; and from this peculiarity 

 has the animal derived its name, as its purpose seems to be similar to 

 that of an elephant's proboscis. I have seen the male sea-elephant 

 more than twenty-five feet in length, and measuring about sixteen feet 

 around the body ; whereas the female is never half that size, and in 

 form resembles the hair-seal, which does not materially differ from the 

 fur-animal in shape, &c. 



The male sea-elephant comes on shore the latter end of August ; 

 the female late in September, or about the first of October ; her purpose, 

 of course, to be delivered of a present burden, and afterward yield to 

 the irresistible influence of the universal passion. When the males 

 first come on shore they are so excessively fat, that I have seen two 

 from which might be produced a tun of oil ; but after a residence of 

 three months on the land, without food, they become, as might be 

 expected, very lean and emaciated. About the middle of December, 

 their young being old enough to take the water, the whole breeding- 

 herd leave the shore, to follow where instinct leads among the hidden 

 recesses of the deep. About the first of January the brood of the 

 previous year come on shore to renew their coats ; and in the middle 

 of February the full-grown males and females do the same ; and by 

 the first of May they have all disappeared, both old and young. 



From the fact of these animals living so long on shore without food 

 I should infer that they can derive sustenance by absorption during 

 this period, — consuming the substance of their own bodies. Hence 

 their extreme emaciation at the time they return to the ocean. There 



