Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/186

162 conceivable multitude of the minutest forms of organic life.

There is considerable variety in the colour of each of the three species of seals, from a dark gray, beautifully marbled with spots and stripes of a much deeper colour, to almost uniform white, depending, doubtless, in a great degree upon the age of the individual.

The largest-sized seal is less numerous than the smaller species, and is armed with enormous tusks, fully as large and strong as those of the polar bear, to which also the shape of the head bears a very strong resemblance. It should be attacked with caution; for, although awkward and unwieldly on the ice, it has both the inclination and the means of inflicting severe wounds, and is, therefore, a formidable creature to engage.

The middle-sized seal, called the sea leopard, and the white antarctic seal, may be easily knocked on the head without the smallest personal danger; from the severely wounded state in which we found some of the males, having long and deep gashes along their sides and backs, from which in a few instances the blood was still flowing, they must have fierce battles with each other at this period of the year.

They are, however, not in sufficient numbers to induce our merchants to send to these regions after them; had it been our sole object we might have taken twenty or thirty every day; but, as on an average the largest yield only sixteen, the