sides, he throwing himself about furiously,
and struggling and rolling towards the sea;
but he being soft and fat, the lances sharp
and long, they perforated his heart; the blood
flowing in torrents, and covering the men.
Just as he had obtained the edge of the surf
to make his escape from his merciless enemies,
he fell, and expired. He measured sixteen
feet in circumference, and twenty in length!
It is remarkable that these unwieldy masses
of animated nature, so seemingly helpless, and
incapable of exertion, should be delicate and
ardent in their amours. In the early part of
the spring, the females come out of the sea,
for the purpose of propagating and bringing
forth their young. The males are always
on the beach to receive them; and, the moment
the ladies appear, the males make a
terrible snorting noise, the signal for them to
commence a dreadful battle, in order to
determine which shall be the champion of the
strand. The monsters raise themselves up
on their flippers, and throw themselves on
each other, and as their mouths are wide, and
armed with formidable teeth, the wounds
they give and receive are of a terrific nature.
Glass once saw two of them fighting on this
very spot, in which one struck the eye of his
opponent completely out. When this fighting
has been continued till one remains
“ master of the lists,” he becomes the gallant
of all the females, who lie around, seemingly
in fearful anxiety till the battle is
ended. The authority of the conqueror is
absolute amongst his mistresses, and no bashaw
ever assumed more importance in his
seraglio than he does: though, like most
other conquerors, his dominions are liable to
invasion, and the frontiers are often entered
by small parties of the discomfited foe. The
bulls which have been driven off, prowl
around, and often smuggle off a frail female j
who, if her lord is engaged in dalliance with
another, and his attention diverted from her,
receives the homage of the banished and unfortunate
kindly; but if by chance, they are
seen by the enraged master, he sends forth a
dreadful noise from the snout, and shuffles
after the disloyal couple, and, if he cannot
come up with his rival, takes vengeance on