276 
P H O C A. 
der the weeds, which Ihelter them from the inclemency 
of the weather. In the fummer months they come 
aftiore, fometimes in droves of eight hundred or a thou- 
fand at a time, out of which about a hundred are de- 
Itroyed, that number being as many as five men can fkin 
and peg down to dry in the courfe of a day. Little of 
the oil which thefeanimals mightffurnilh is collefted, for 
want of calks to put it in ; part of the beft is boiled, and 
ferves thofe people inftead of butter. The feal of Ara- 
fterdam is the Phocct nrjina of Linnseus. In general they 
are not fliy : fometimes they plunge into the water in- 
ftantly upon any one’s approach ; but, at other times, re¬ 
main fteadilyon the rocks, bark, and rear themfelvesup 
in a menacing pollure ; but the blow of a Hick upon the 
nofe feemed l'ufficient to difpatch them. Molt of thofe 
which come afliore are females, in the proportion of more 
than thirty to one male. Whether, in thofe animals, 
nature has fixed on fuch an apparent difproportion be¬ 
tween the two fexes, or whether, while the females have 
occafion to feek the (hore, the males continue in the deep, 
has not hitherto been afcertained by any obfervations 
here.” EmbaiTy to China, vol. i. p. aio. 
When M. Von Langfdorff vifited the illand of St. Paul 
in 1805, he found there a party of Ruffian feal-hunters, 
but fcarcely any other inhabitants. Though the Ihores 
were thronged with feals, one of the firft regulations 
which it was found necelfary to make was to reduce the 
number of hunters, and to reflrain within bounds the 
number of animals taken in the year, which was fo great 
as to endanger the extermination of the breeds. Fifteen 
hunters at the illand Saint Paul had killed, within the 
year, 30,000 fea-bears ; and the precautions adopted by 
the hunters tended to the total deftru&ion of the ani¬ 
mals. “ The ufual manner of taking the fea-bears is to 
get between them and the Ihore, and drive them by troops 
one or two verfts into the interior of the illand, where 
they are killed by the ftrok-e of a club. This is done to 
avoid frightening thofe that remain about the Ihore.” 
Langfdorff’s Travels, 1803-7, by authority of the Ruffian 
Government.—The annexed engraving, fig. 1. reprefents 
the male and female of this fpecies. 
2. Phoca leonina, the bottle-nofed feal: body brown ; 
upper lip (of the male) proje£ting from fix inches to a 
foot beyond the lower: hence this fpecies has been called 
by fome naturalifts Ph. probofcidea, or fea-elephant ; Mo¬ 
lina calls it Ph. elephantina ; and it is the “ fea-lion” of 
Dampier, Rogers, and Anfon, having been often con¬ 
founded with the Ph. jubata. The upper part of 
the probofcis confifts of a loofe wrinkled Ikin, which 
this animal, when angry, has the power of blowing up, 
fo as to give the nofe an arched or crefted appearance ; 
and Linnaeus’s fpecific charafter is P/i.capite antice crifiato. 
The feet are Ihort and dulky, with five toes on each, fur- 
nilhed with nails: the hind feet have the appearance of 
great laciniated fins. It has large eyes, great whifkers, 
ihort dun hair on the body, that on the neck is a little 
longer: the Ikin is very thick. A full-grown male will 
meafure twenty feet in length and fifteen in circumfe¬ 
rence. 
The female has a blunt nofe, tuberous at the top ; wide 
noftrils ; a mouth breaking very little into the jaws ; co¬ 
nic teeth, eyes oblique and fmall, fore legs twenty inches 
long, and toes with fiat oblong nails j its hind parts are 
divided into two great forked fins, without any tail; the 
whole body is covered with fiiort ruft-coloured hair: the 
length from the nofe to the end of the fins is fouryards, 
its greateft circumference two and a half. They inhabit 
the feas about New Zealand, Juan Fernandez, Falkland 
Iflands, from S. lat. 54 deg. 40 min. They are feen in 
great numbers in June and July, the breeding feafon, on 
the illand of Juan Fernandez, which they refort to for the 
purpofe of buckling their young on-Ihore, and continue 
there till September : the female, during that feafon, is 
very fierce; one of Lord Anfon’s failors was killed by 
the enraged dam of a whelp, which he had robbed her of. 
The male (hows little attachment to its young, but the 
female is exceffively fond of it. Towards evening both 
male and female fwim a little way to fea, the laft with the 
young on its back, which the male will pulh oft', as if to 
teach it to fwim. 
The young of the fea-elephant is, according to M. Pe- 
ron, about four feet long, and 7olbs. weight, when born ; 
and he adds, that in the firft week it will increafe four 
feet in length and icolbs. in weight, and all this at the ex- 
penfe of the mother, who, in the mean time, has not 
tailed food. In fix or feven weeks they betake them- 
felves to the fea, when the young ones are taught to fwim 
and provide for themfelves. About a month afterwards 
the males and females again return to the Ihore, when the 
loves recommence. 
The fea-elephant is a mild and traftable animal. On 
the firft arrival of the Englilh filhers on the King’s Illand, 
one of the men took a liking to one of them, and begged 
of his companions to fpare its life. For a long time it 
lived peaceably, and was refpedted in the midll of the 
general carnage. The filherman careffed it daily; and, 
in a few months, it was grown fo tame, that he could 
without danger mount upon its back, put his arm down 
its throat, and make it come when called; in a word, 
this docile and harmlefs animal did every thing that its 
proteflor required, and buffered any thing without being 
offended. 
The tongue only of thefe animals, M. Piron fays, is 
ufed for food, and, when falted, is confidered as a deli¬ 
cacy; but Jonathan Lambert, late fovereign of Triftan 
da Cunha, (fee his curious liiftory, vol. xi. p. 407.) 
fays that himfelf, his family, and his flock, lived for 
fome time almoft entirely on the fielh of the fea-ele¬ 
phant ; and that he treated his pigs every now and then 
with one, “ to keep them in heart.” Lord Anfon’s 
people ate it under the denomination of beef, to diftin- 
guiili it from that of the common feal, which they called 
lamb. Peron adds, that the liver, which in fome of the 
fpecies is reckoned a luxury, in the fea-elephant is per¬ 
nicious ; and that the Englilh filhers, on trying to make 
ufe of it, had experienced an invincible propenfity to deep, 
which continued for feveral hours. 
The fat is efteemed an infallible and fpeedy remedy for 
flelh wounds. The hide is valuable for covering trunks, 
and for harnefs. But the oil is the chief obje£l of the 
fiffiery of fea-elephants, of which they furnilh an aftonilh- 
ing quantity; the fiffiermen eftimating, according to M. 
Piron’s account, one of the largeft kind to yield from 14 
to 1500 pounds weight, or about 350 gallons. This oil 
is Hated to be clear, inodorous, and not liable to contradl 
that rancid fmell of which whale-oil can never be de¬ 
prived ; when burned in a lamp, it yields a bright and 
pure flame, without fmoke, and it lafts longer than 
ether produfts of the fame nature, as the fixteenth 
part of a pint is fufficient to feed an ordinary wick twelve 
hours. 
3. Phoca jubata, the marled feal, or fea-lion : neck (of 
the male) covered with a mane. It is ftrange that this 
Ihould ever have been confounded, with the preceding, as 
no two animals can be lefs alike. Inltead of a long pro¬ 
bofcis, this has a Ihort nofe turning a little up ; a great 
head, large eyes, long and thick whilkers, ftrong enough 
for toothpicks: on the neck and Ihoulders of the male 
there is a great mane of coarfe long waving hair, not un¬ 
like the Ihaggy appearance, of a lion : the reft of the body 
is covered with a very Ihort, fmooth, and gloffy, coat, of 
a deep brown colour : thofe of Kamtfchatka are reddilh, 
the females tawny. The fore feet are like thofe ol the 
urfinefeal, or fea-bear, without the leaft external appear¬ 
ance of toes; the hind feet are very broad, furnilhed 
with very fmall nails; the tail is very Ihort; the hind 
parts are vaftly large, fwelling out with the vaft quan¬ 
tity of fat. 
The old males are from twelve to fourteen feet long, 
of great circumference about the Ihoulders; they weigh 
from 
