THE COMMON SEAL. The usual length of these animals is five or six feet. The head is large and round; the neck small and short; and on each side of the mouth there are several strong bristles. From the shoulders the body tapers to the tail. The eyes are large: there are no external ears; and the tongue is cleft or forked at the end. The legs are very short; and the hinder ones are placed so far back, as to be of but little use, except in swimming. The feet are all webbed. The tail is short. The animals vary in color; their short, thick-set hair being sometimes grey, sometimes brown or blackish, and sometimes even spotted with white or yellow. The dens or habitations, in which these animals most commonly reside, are hollow rocks, or caverns, near the sea, but out of the reach of the tide. In the summer-time they will frequently leave the water, to bask or sleep in the sun on the large stones or shivers of rocks. They are, however, extremely watchful, never, says Mr. Pennant, sleeping long without moving. At intervals of about a minute or two, they raise their heads, to see that they are not threatened with danger. Providence seems to have given to them this propensity, because, being destitute of auricles or external ears, they consequently are neither able to hear quickly, nor from a great distance. THE COMMON SEAL. In their proper depth of water these animals are very rapid in their motions. They will dive like a shot, and in a few moments after wards, rise at a distance of forty or fifty yards. A person of the parish of Sennam, in Cornwall, once saw a seal in pursuit of a Mullet. The Seal turned it to and fro, in deep water, as a grey-hound does a hare. The Mullet, at last, found that it had no way to escape but by running into shoal-water. The Seal pursued; and the former, to get more surely out of danger, threw itself on its side, by which means it darted into shallower water than it could have swam in with the depth of its paunch and fins, and thus escaped. Seals, if taken young, are capable of being tamed; they will follow their master like a Dog, and come to him when called by the name that is given to them. Some years ago a young Seal was thus domesticated. It was taken a little distance from the sea, and was generally kept in a vessel full of salt water; but sometimes it was allowed to crawl about the house, and even to approach the fire. Its natural food was regularly procured for it; and it was carried to the sea every day, and thrown in from a boat. It used to swim after the boat, and always allowed itself. to be taken back. It lived thus for several weeks; and probably would have lived much longer, had it not been sometimes too roughly used. A Seal that was exhibited in London, in the year 1750, answered to the call of his keeper, and attended to whatever he was commanded to do. He would take food from the man's hand, crawl out of the water, and, when ordered, would stretch himself out at full length on the ground. He would thrust out his neck and appear to kiss the keeper, as often as the man pleased; and when he was directed, would again return into the water. Some time ago, a farmer of Aberdowr, a town on the Fifeshire side of the banks of the Frith of Forth, in going out among the rocks to catch lobsters and crabs, discovered a young Seal, about two feet and a half iong, which he brought home. He offered it some pottage and milk, which the animal greedily devoured. It was fed in this manner for three days, when the man's wife, considering it an intruder in her family, would not suffer it to be kept any longer. Taking some men of the town along with him for the purpose, her husband threw it into the sea; but notwithstanding all their endeavors, it persisted in returning to them. It was agreed that the tallest of the men should walk into water as far as he could, and, having thrown the animal in, that they should hide themselves behind a rock at some distance. This was accordingly done; but the animal returned from the water, and soon discovered them in their hiding-place. The farmer again took it home, where he kept it for some time; but at length growing tired of it, he had it killed for the sake of its skin. We are informed that Seals delight in thunder-storms; and, that during these times, they will sit on the rocks, and contemplate with apparent pleasure and gratification the convulsion of the elements. The Icelanders entertain, respecting these animals, a strange superstition. 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. The females produce two or more young ones at a birth. These, in northern climates, they deposit in cavities of the ice; and the male makes a hole through the ice near them, for a speedy communication with the water. Into this they always plunge with their offspring, the moment they observe a hunter approach; and at other times they descend into it spontaneously in search of food. The manner in which the male Seals make these holes is astonishing: neither their teeth nor their paws have any share in the operation. It is performed, says M. Acerbi, solely by their breath. When the females come out of the sea, they bleat like sheep for their young: and though they often pass among hundreds of other young ones before they come to their own, yet they will never suffer any of the strangers to suck them. About a fortnight after their birth, they are taken out to sea, and instructed in swimming and seeking their food: when they are fatigued, the parent is said to carry them on her back. The Seal-hunters in Caithness assured Mr. Pennant that their growth was so rapid, that in nine tides (about fiftyfour hours) after their birth, they became as active as their parents. These animals are pursued and killed for the advantage of their skins and oil. The time when this is done is generally in October, or the beginning of November. The hunters, furnished with torches and bludgeons, enter the mouths of the caverns about midnight, and row in as far as they can. They then land; and, having stationed themselves in proper places, begin by making a great noise, which alarms. the animals, and brings them down in confusion from all directions towards the sea. In this hazardous employment much care is requisite on the part of the hunters to avoid the throng, which presses upon them with great impetuosity, and bears away every thing that opposes its progress; but when the first crowd has passed, they kill great numbers of young ones, which generally straggle behind. To the inhabitants of Greenland, Seals are animals of great importance. The sea is to these people what corn-fields are to us; and the Seal-fishery is their most copious harvest. The flesh supplies them with their principal food: the fat furnishes them with oil for their food, their lamps, and fires; and the fibres of the sinews serve better for sewing with than thread or silk. Of the skins of the entrails, this people make their windows, curtains for their tents, and shirts; and part of the bladders they use in fishing, as buoys or floats to their harpoons. Of the bones they formerly made all those instruments and working-tools that are now supplied to them by the introduction of Even the blood is not lost; for they boil that, with other ingre dients, as soup. Of the skins they form clothing, coverings for their beds, houses, and boats, and thongs and straps of every description. To be able to pursue and kill Seals, is the height of the Greenlanders' desires and pride; and to this labor, which is in truth an arduous one, they are trained from their childhood. The hunting of the Seal also sets the courage and enterprize of the Finlander in the strongest possible light. The season for this chase begins when the sea breaks up, and the ice floats in shoals upon the surface. Four or five peasants will go out to sea in one small open boat, and will often continue more than a month absent from their families. Thus do they expose themselves to all the horrors of the northern seas, having only a small fire, which they kindle on a sort of brick hearth, and living on the flesh of the Seals which they kill. The fat and skins they bring home. The perils with which these voyagers have to struggle, are almost incredible. They have incessantly to pass between masses of ice, which threaten to crush their little bark to atoms. They mount the floating shoals; and, creeping along them, steal cautiously upon the animals, and kill them as they repose on the ice. The Common Seals are found on most of the rocky shores of Great Britain and Ireland, and especially on those of Scotland. They inhabit all the European seas; and are found considerably within the arctic circle, in the seas both of Europe and Asia, and even upon the shores of Kamtschatka. Their usual food consists of fish and other marine productions, all of which they eat beneath the water. When they are in the act of devouring fish that abound in oil, the place may be easily remarked by the smoothness of the waves immediately above. The flesh of Seals formerly found, in England, a place at the tables of the great; as appears from the bill of fare of a vast feast which archbishop Nevil gave in the reign of king Edward the Fourth. The voice of a full-grown Seal is hoarse, and not unlike the barking of a dog; and that of the young ones resembles, in some measure, the mewing of a kitten. THE URSINE SEAL. The males are about eight feet in length, but the females are much smaller. Their bodies are thick, decreasing somewhat towards the tail. The nose projects like that of a Pug Dog: and the eyes are large and prominent. The fore-legs are about two feet long, and, with the feet, have somewhat the appearance of turtles' fins. The hind legs are rather shorter; and have five toes, separated by a web. The general color of the hair is black; but that of the old ones is tipped with gray. The females are ash-colored. Like the species last described, the Ursine Seals live in families, every male being surrounded by from eight to fifty females, whom he guards with the utmost jealousy. Each family keeps separate from the others, although they lie by thousands on the shores which they inhabit. The males exhibit great affection towards their offspring, and equal tyranny towards the females. They are fierce in the protection of the former; and, should any one attempt to carry off their cub, they will stand on the defensive, while the female conveys it away in her mouth. Should she, however, have the misfortune to drop it, the male instantly quits his enemy, falls on her, and beats her against the stones till he leaves her for dead. But if the young one be entirely carried off, he appears excessively affected, sheds tears, and exhibits every mark of sorrow. Those animals that, through age or impotence, are deserted by the females, withdraw themselves from society, and not only become splenetic, peevish, and quarrelsome, but so much attached to their own stations, as to prefer death to the loss of them. If they perceive another animal approaching them, they are instantly roused from their indolence, snap at the encroacher, and give him battle. During the fight, they often insensibly intrude on the station of their neighbor, who then joins in the contest: so that at length the civil discord, attended with hideous growls, spreads along the whole shore. This is one of the causes of the disputes which take place among these irritable creatures. But a much more serious cause is, when an attempt is made to seduce away any of their females. A battle is the sure consequence of the insult, and sad indeed is the fate of the vanquished animal: he instantly loses all his females, who immediately desert him and attach themselves to the victor. When only two of the animals are engaged in combat, they rest at intervals, laying down near each other; then, rising both at once, they renew the battle. They fight with their heads erect, and turn them aside to avoid the blows. As long as their strength continues equal, they use only their fore-paws; but the moment that one of them |