ORDER OE AMPHIBIA. 
107 
they were considered by tbe ancients as extraordinary beings, 
whose dnty it was to accompany Neptune in procession as he passed 
through his liquid domain. When they want to land, they choose 
a place haying a gentle slope, and hooking on with hands and 
teeth to any rough places near them, they advance with difficulty, 
but more rapidly than the imperfections of their organs of pro- 
pulsion when applied to locomotion on land would have led us to 
suppose [principally, indeed, by means of the subcutaneous 
muscles of the trunk, and making no use of their limbs]. They 
hoist themselves very cleverly on to floating icebergs, on which 
they appear to love to drift. 
They are very tenacious of their rights, which they fight for 
most energetically. From the moment a family has installed 
itself on a rock or on a block of ice, it will not allow any other 
individual of the troop to come and interfere with it ; the male 
takes upon himself to repel every invasion on his domicile. 
Hence arise furious combats, which only end in the death 
of the legitimate proprietor or the flight of the aggressor. 
When there is very little room at their disposal, one sees many 
families keeping on the same rock or iceberg, and living on it 
in perfect harmony ; but they always leave between each other 
a certain space, and rigidly keep to that part which constitutes 
their lot. 
Like the Morse, Seals place sentinels to watch during their 
sleep over the safety of the whole troop. As soon as a Man or a 
band of White Bears appears, the sentinels give vent to long-pro- 
tracted howlings, and the whole company precipitates itself into 
the sea. [These animals mostly breed in caverns which have a 
seaward face, and the young are remarkably large at birth, 
and are then clad with a sort of fleece, which is very soon 
shed, indeed sometimes even before birth. They follow their 
dam from the first, and appear to swim and dive with equal 
facility.] 
The most effective way of killing Seals is to strike them on the 
nose with a club ; if they are attacked with pointed arms they must 
be speared very deeply to put their lives in danger. When they 
see themselves surrounded, they defend themselves courageously, 
but with little success. In their fury, if opportunity offers, they 
break the arms of their enemies between their powerful jaws. 
