Aristotle could not have had any knowledge of the great seal of the Frozen Sea, since in the time he lived all the north of Europe and of Asia was unknown, The Romans considered Gaul and Germany as their north, and the Greeks knew still less of the animals belonging to this part of the world; it is, therefore, very probable, that when Aristotle speaks of the phoca as a very common animal, he only means the Mediterranean seal.
These three species have many properties in common with each other; the females bring forth in winter, and place their young upon some sand-bank, rock, or small island. When they suckle their young they sit upon their hind legs, and continue to nourish them in this manner for twelve or fifteen days, after which she brings them to the water, accustoms them to swim, and to search for their food; she carries them on her back when they are fatigued. As each litter does not consist of above two or three, her cares are not much divided, and the education of her little ones is soon completed. In fact, these animals are very sagacious and docile; they understand and naturally assist each other in dangers. The young ones distinguish their mother among a numerous troop; and are perfectly obedient to her call. We are unacquainted with their time of gestation; but if we judge of it from that of their growth, the length of their lives, and the size of the animal, it must be many months; the time from their birth till they attain their full growth being many years, the length of their lives must be proportionably long. I am even inclined to believe that these animals live upwards of a hundred years, for we know that cetaceous animals, in general, live much longer than quadrupeds; and as the seal is the link between both it, ought to participate of the nature of the first, and consequently live much longer than the last.
The voice of the seal may be compared to the barking of an angry dog. When young, they have a shrill note, somewhat like the mewing of a cat. Those that are taken early from their dams mew continually, and often die of hunger sooner than take the food that is offered them. They bark at and endeavour to bite those who injure them, and are more of a courageous than timid nature. Instead of being terrified at thunder and lightning, it seems to delight them; they generally come on shore in tempests and storms, and even quit their icy abodes to avoid the shock of the waves; at such times they sport in great numbers along the shore: the tremendous conflict seems to divert, and the heavy rains that fall, to enliven them. They have naturally a disagreeable scent, and which is smelt at a great distance, when there are great numbers together. When pursued they often drop their excrements, which are of a yellow colour, and of a very abominable scent. They have a prodigious quantity of blood, and being also loaded with fat, they are, consequently, very dull and heavy. They usually sleep a great deal, and very sound, and are fond of taking their repose in the sun on flakes of ice, or sides of rocks, and they may be approached very nigh without being disturbed, which is the usual method of taking them. They are very seldom secured with fire-arms, for they do not immediately die, even if shot in the head, but plunge into the sea, and are entirely lost to the hunter; therefore the general method is to surprise them when asleep, or at a distance from the sea, and knock them on the head with clubs. “They are not easily killed, and are a long time dying (says an eye-witness), for although mortally wounded, their blood nearly exhausted, and even stripped of their skins, yet they still continue alive; and indeed it is a shocking sight to see them in this condition wallowing and rolling about in their blood. These remarks were made on an animal we killed, about eight feet long; after it was skinned, and deprived of the greater part of its fat, yet it attempted to bite, notwithstanding they had given him many powerful blows over the head and nose. It even seized a cutlass with as much vigour as if it had not been wounded; after which we pierced it through the heart and liver, from whence as much blood flowed as is contained in a young ox[F].”
[F] Recueil des Voyages du Nord. tom. ii. p. 117, &c.
The hunting, or perhaps, to speak more properly, the fishing of these animals is not very difficult, and is attended with great profit, the flesh being good food, and the skin exceedingly serviceable. The Americans fill them with air, and make a kind of raft, or small boats of them: their fat yields a clear and much sweeter oil than that drawn from the porpoise, or other cetaceous animals.
To these three kinds of seals already mentioned we may, perhaps, add a fourth, described in Anson’s voyages by the name of the sea-lion. These are found in great numbers on the Magellanic coasts, and at the island of Juan Fernandes, in the South Sea. The sea-lion resembles our seal, which is very common in the same latitudes, but it is much larger, being from eleven to eighteen feet long, and from eight to eleven in circumference, when it has acquired its full growth. They are so fat that when the skin is taken off, the blubber is about a foot thick all round the body, and from a single animal more than ninety gallons of oil may be drawn. They are, at the same time, very full of blood, and which, when deeply wounded, springs out with amazing force. Upon the throat of one of these animals being cut, two hogsheads of blood were taken out, besides what then remained in its body. Their skins are covered with a short hair of a brownish colour, but blackish on the tail and feet. Their toes are united by a membrane, which does not reach to their extremity, and each of them are terminated by a claw. The sea-lion differs from the common seal not only in its size and bulk, but also by other characters. The male has a kind of thick crest, or trunk, hanging from the end of its upper jaw, about five or six inches long. This character is not seen in the females, and forms a very striking distinction between them. The strong males collect together a flock of females, and permit no other male to approach them. These animals are truly amphibious; they remain all the summer in the sea, and go upon land in the winter; at which season the females bring forth, but never produce above one or two at a litter, which they suckle.
The sea-lions, while they are on land, feed on the herbage which grows by the sides of the sea. They are of a very heavy and drowsy nature, and delight to sleep in the mire. Though very indolent and difficult to waken, yet at those times they commonly fix some as centinels near the place where they sleep; and it is said, that these centinels give loud warnings when any danger is near. Their voices are very loud and of various tones; sometimes grunting like hogs, and sometimes neighing like horses. The males often fight about the females and wound one another desperately with their teeth. The flesh of these animals is not disagreeable to eat; particularly the tongue, which is as good as that of the ox. They are very easily killed, as they cannot defend themselves, nor fly from their enemies: they are so exceedingly heavy, that they move with great difficulty, and turn themselves with still greater. Those that hunt them have only to guard against coming too near their teeth, which are very strong, and with which they inflict deadly wounds.
By comparing other observations and accounts, and from the conclusions which may be drawn from them, the sea-lion of South America, appears to be nearly the same animal as that found on the northern coasts of the same continent. The large seal of Canada, spoken of by Denis, by the name of the sea-wolf, and which he distinguishes from the common seals, may possibly be of the same species as these sea-lions. “Their young, says this author, are bigger and longer at their birth than our largest hogs.” Now it is certain that our seals are never of that size, even when full-grown. The Mediterranean seal, or the phoca of the ancients, is still less; therefore there only remains the seal Mr. Parsons has described, which agrees with that mentioned by Denis. Mr. Parsons does not say whence this great seal was brought: but whether it came from the north of Europe, or from America, it might be the same as the sea-wolf of Denis, or the sea-lion of Anson, for it appears to be of the same size, since though not nearly full-grown it measured seven feet in length. Besides the size, there is the most apparent difference between the sea-lion and the seal, namely, the male of the first has a large crest on its upper jaw. Now Mr. Parsons did not see the male; he only described the female, which had no crest, and which perfectly resembled the female sea-lion, mentioned by Anson. To these similarities Parsons adds another still more precise; he says, that the great seal which he saw had a stomach and intestines like those of a cow; and the sea-lion also mentioned in Anson’s Voyages, is described as an animal which feeds on grass during the whole summer. Hence it is very probable that these two animals are formed alike, or rather they are the same animals, and very different from other seals, who have but one stomach, and which live entirely upon fish.
Rogers had spoken of this animal nearly in the same manner as is done in Anson’s Voyages. "The sea-lion (says he) is a very strange creature, and of a prodigious bulk; I have seen some above twenty feet long, which could not weigh less than four thousand pounds. Many of them were sixteen feet long and must weigh two thousand pounds; notwithstanding which, I was surprised at the great quantity of oil drawn from these animals. Its shape is nearly like the sea-calf; but its skin is as thick as that of an ox; the hair is short and bristly; the head disproportionally large; the mouth very wide; the eyes of a monstrous size, and the nose, which resembles that of the lion, has terrible whiskers, formed of such exceedingly stiff and bristly hair, that they might be used for tooth-picks. Towards the latter end of June, these animals go upon the island of Juan Fernandes to bring forth their young; which they do at about a gun-shot distance from the edge of the sea; there they remain till the end of September, without moving out of the place, and without taking any nourishment: at least, we did not see them eat. I observed some which remained eight days in the same spot, and which would not have stirred then had they not been frightened by the report of a pistol. At the island of Lobos in the South Sea, we likewise saw several sea-lions, but a much greater number of seals."
These observations of Woods and Rogers, which agree with what is said in Anson’s Voyages, seem to be further proofs of these animals living upon grass when they are on land; for there is but little probability that they should exist three months without any food, and especially during the time they suckle their young. We find in the Collection of Voyages to the South Seas, many remarks respecting these animals; but neither the descriptions nor circumstances appear to be exact: for example, it is said, that in the Straits of Magellan, there are sea-wolves of such an enormous size, that their skins, when stretched out, were six and thirty feet wide; which is evidently an exaggeration. It is also said, that on the two islands of Port Desire, those animals resemble lions in the anterior part of their body, having a very long mane on their heads, necks, and shoulders. This is a still greater exaggeration; for the sea-lions have only a little more hair on the neck than on the rest of the body, but which is not above an inch in length. It is likewise said that there are some of these animals above eighteen feet long, many about fourteen, but most commonly not above five. This might induce us to imagine, that there are two species, the one much larger than the other, because the author does not say whether this difference proceeded from the difference in their ages, which, however, was necessary in order to prevent error. “These animals (says Coreal) keep their mouths always open. It is with great difficulty that two men can kill one of these animals even with a strong lance, which is the best weapon that can be made use of for that purpose. One female suckles four or five young ones, and beats away any other young that comes towards her; from which circumstance I conclude they bring forth four or five young ones at a litter.” This presumption seems well founded; for the great seal, described by Mr. Parsons, had four teats, situate in such a manner as to form a square about the navel. I thought it necessary to collect every circumstance relative to these animals, which are but little known; and it is much to be wished that some skilful traveller would give us a proper description of them, and particularly of their internal parts, as the stomach, intestines, &c. for, if we could rely on the testimonies of travellers, we should believe that the sea-lions belong to the class of ruminating animals; that they have several stomachs, and that, consequently, they are of a far distant species from the seal, or sea-calf, which certainly has but one stomach, and must be placed among the carnivorous animals.