29 6 
THE STORY OF THE SEAL . 
times gray, sometimes brown or blackish, and sometimes even spotted with 
white or yellow. 
Seals delight in thunderstorms, and during these times they will sit on 
the rocks and contemplate with apparent pleasure and gratification the con¬ 
vulsion of the elements. 
The Icelanders entertain, respecting these animals, a strange supersti¬ 
tion. They believe them to resemble the human species more than any other 
creature, and that they are the offspring of Pharaoh and his host, who were 
converted into seals when they were overwhelmed in the Red Sea. 
One very curious result sometimes follows from the manner in which the 
seal shuffles along. If it is alarmed upon a stony or shingly beach, it at once 
makes for the sea as fast as possible, jerking itself along with its hind flip^ 
pers, and so throwing up the stones behind it in showers. If a hunter is in 
the chase, he is, of course, struck by many of these stones, and with such 
force are they propelled that for years it was thought that the seal purposely 
resorted to this mode of defense, and actually took aim at its pursuer. I 
have discovered that the only object of the seal is to reach the sea as fast 
as possible, and that the stones it throws up are merely jerked up> in the 
air by its hind feet, and are not in any way meant as weapons of defense. 
Near the city of San Francisco, and not far from a hotel on the shore, is 
a rock called Seal Rock, which is usually covered with seals, which sport 
there all day long, to the great amusement of the people, who watch them 
from the hotel piazza. They are not at all afraid, for no one is permitted to 
harm them. In warm sunny days they may be seen climbing up on to the 
rocks and sliding down again into the water, barking as if they enjoyed it. 
Some sleep in the sun, wake up and bark, slide down into the sea, and then 
crawl up again and bark, keeping it up all the day. Partly on account of 
the structure of the ear and partly because the seals pass so much of their 
time below the surface of the water, it has been supposed that the sense of 
hearing will be little needed by them, and that it is not at all acute. 
Yet any one who has been accustomed to diving must have discovered 
that when the body is entirely submerged in the water, the auditory organs 
are very sensitive to sounds which are conveyed through the water, although 
not to those which are produced on land, and are only transmitted through 
the upper atmosphere. 
For example, although when a man is entirely submerged he is unable 
to hear the loudest shouts that can be raised by persons on shore, his ears 
are almost painfully sensitive to any sound that is produced in the water 
