THE ANTARCTIC OCEAN. 



399 



elephant {Macrorhimis elephantinus), so called not only from his size attaining 

 a length of twenty-five feet, and a girth at the largest part of the body of from 

 fifteen to eighteen, but also from the singular structure of his elongated nostrils, 

 which hang down when he is in a state of repose, but swell out to a proboscis a 

 foot long when he is enraged. This gives the animal a very formidable appear- 

 ance, which, along with his bellowing and his widely-gaping jaws armed with 

 tusk-like canines, might strike terror into the boldest heart. But in reality the 

 stea-elephant is a most defenseless creature, for on land it moves its unwieldy 

 carcass with the utmost difiiculty, and a single blow upon the snout with a club 

 sufiSces to stretch it lifeless on the ground. It used to be met with in consid- 

 erable numbers on all the flat shores or islands between 35° and 62° S. lat., but 

 as it yields a large quantity of excellent oil, and as its skin, though merely cov- 

 ered with thick short bristles, is of some value from its great strength and 

 thickness, incessant persecution has greatly thinned its ranks, and in some parts 

 extirpated it. Thus Sir James Ross relates that the sea-elephant and several 

 other species of seals, which were formerly in great abundance at Kerguelen's 

 Land, annually drew a number of fishing-vessels to its shores. But at the time 

 of his visit (1840), after so many years of slaughter, they had quite deserted 

 the place. The flesh of the sea-elephant is black, and of an oily taste, but Anson 

 and his companions, after having been tossed about for several months on a 

 tempestuous sea and reduced to great distress by scurvy, relished it at Juan 

 Fernandez. The tongue is said to be a great delicacy. 



As the soft jet-black fur of the young southern sea-bear {Arctocephalus falc- 

 landicus) is no less valuable than that of its northern relative, the eagerness 

 with which it is pursued may easily be imagined. Formerly vast herds of sea- 

 bears used to resort every summer to the New Shetland Islands, but soon after 

 the rediscovery of the group the American and English sealers made their ap- 

 pearance on its desolate shores, and in the short time of four years extirpated 

 the ursine seals, thus destroying by wasteful destruction what might have been 

 a permanent source of profit. 



The southern sea-lion ( Otaria jithata) is a larger animal than his northern 

 namesake ; and while the latter is furnished only with an erect and curly hair- 

 tuft at the neck, a complete mane flows round his breast. The remainder of 

 the tawny body is covered with short smooth hairs or bristles. The sea-lioness, 

 w^ho is much smaller than her mate, has no mane ; and as she is of a darker 

 color and has a differently shaped head, is frequently mistaken for another 

 species, and called wolf, or lobo, hy the. inhabitants of the south-western coast 

 of America. The fore flippers of the sea-lion have the appearance of large 

 pieces of black tough leather, showing, instead of nails, slight horny elevations ; 

 the hind fins, which are likewise black, have a closer resemblance to feet, and the 

 five toes are furnished with small nails. It is a formidable-looking beast, par- 

 ticularly when full grown to a length of ten feet and more. The sea-leopard 

 {Leptonyx Weddelli), which owes its name to its spotted skin, is peculiar to the 

 southern seas. This large seal is from eight to nine feet long; the hind feet 

 have no nails, and greatly resemble the tail of a fish. 



The Antarctic seals, dolphins, and petrels chiefly prey upon a genus of fish 



