The Sea and Its Living Wonders: A Popular Account of the Marvels of the Deep and of the Progress of Martime Discovery from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeHartwig, G. (Georg)
History
The Sea and Its Living Wonders: A Popular Account of the Marvels of the Deep and of the Progress of Martime Discovery from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Hartwig, G. (Georg)
Animal behavior; Discoveries in geography; Discoveries in geography -- History; Marine animals; Marine plants; Ocean
Ursine seals are also found in the southern hemisphere, on desert coasts
analogous to their residences in the north. Common seals and sea-otters
stand in great awe of these animals, and shun their haunts. They again
are in equal fear of the Leonine seals, and do not care to begin a
quarrel in their presence, dreading the intervention of such formidable
arbitrators, who likewise possess the first place on the shore.
Steller's Sea-Lion, (_Otaria Stelleri_,) is about as large again as
the sea-bear, but its tawny hide, covered with short bristles, is
without value in the fur trade. To the Aleut, however, the animal is of
great use, for he covers his boat with its skin, makes his water-tight
_kamleika_ with its intestines, the soles of his shoes with the webs of
its feet, ornaments his cap with its long beard hair, and feasts upon
its flesh. On all the coasts and islands of the Pacific this sea-lion
is found, from 61° N. lat. to unknown southern limits, but nowhere in
such numbers as on the Pribilow Island, St. George, where its countless
herds afford a wonderful spectacle. The shapeless gigantic fat and
flesh-masses, awkward and unwieldy on land, cover, as far as the eye
can reach, a broad, rocky, naked strand-belt, blackened with oil. The
sea-birds occupy the empty places between the herds of the sea-lions,
and fly fearlessly before the gaping jaws of the huge monsters, without
caring about their hideous bellowing. In countless numbers they build
their nests in the caves of the surf-beaten cliffs, and among the large
boulders on the shore, whose tops are whitened with their dung. A thick
fog generally spreads over the desolate scene, and the hollow roaring of
the breakers unites, with the screaming of the birds and the bellowing of
the sea-lions, to form a wild and melancholy concert.
Steller's sea-lion is furnished only with an erect and curly hair-tuft at
his neck, while a complete mane flows round the breast of the sea-lion
of the southern hemisphere, (_Otaria jubata_). The remainder of the body
is covered with short smooth hairs, or bristles. The sea-lioness has no
mane, and is darker than the male. The fore-fins 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. A
formidable-looking beast, eleven feet long! and well may the naturalist
start, when, walking through the high tussack grass of the Falkland
Islands, he suddenly stumbles over a huge sea-lion, stretched along the
ground, and blocking up his path.
[Illustration: Walrus, or Morse.]
[Illustration: Skull and Head of Walrus.]
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