ever it is wounded, flows from it in great quantities ; 

 like many other aquatic animals, it has beneath the 

 skin a covering of soft fat ; this is five inches in 

 thickness, and easily reducible to oil. Notwith- 

 standing the inconvenient conformation of their feet 

 for that purpose, they readily climb up the rocks, 

 on which they are fond of sleeping, though they 

 walk very badly, or rather draw themselves, when 

 on shore, from one place to another. It would, how- 

 ever, be very imprudent to approach them careless- 

 ly, for although so heavy and clumsy in appearance, 

 their necks have great flexibility, and they are capa- 

 ble of inflicting severe wounds with their long teeth. 

 These phocse swim with great swiftness, and make 

 use principally of their hind feet, which they extend 

 in a strait line, so as at a distance to resemble the 

 tail of a fish. They cannot remain long under water, 

 and frequently raise their heads to breathe, orto watch 

 the approach of penguins and other aquatic birds, 

 of which they make their prey. The cry of the old 

 urignes resembles the roaring of a bull or the grunt- 

 ing of a hog, while that of the young is more like the 

 bleating of a sheep. They are common upon all 

 the coast of Chili, and in the islands ; where, every 

 year, the inhabitants kill a vast number of them with 

 clubs, a slight blow across the nose, which is their 

 most tender part, being sufficient to dispatch them. 

 The skin is employed for various purposes, particu- 

 larly for making a kind of float, which is used in 

 fishing and in passing rivers. This consists of two 

 large balloons, from eight to nine feet in length, 

 formed of these skins, carefully joined and sewed, 



