The evening times., 1899-05-17
A SOUTH SEA s1AuaHrER.
The Marathon of the Shetland Seals
I'm the Sosth PaciAc.

Il v se&4n - DoAfen, III tuc SPcctAtuf.J
Far beyond the roaring track Of tn,
homeward-bound merchantmen lie in tn
South Pacific the grim clusters Of salt
whitened isles marked on the chart as tn
South Shetlands. Many years have conn
| and gone since their hungry shores wer,
busy with the labors Of the sealers, that
disdainful Of the terrors Of snow-ladeI
| gale and spindrift- -burdened air, toiled amit
the Antarctic weather to fill their hold
with the garments Of the seafolk. Then
] after perils incredible, the adventurer1
would return to port and waste in weei
OF debauch the fruit Of their toll, utterly
forgetful OF crashing foe or kissing sea
| frozen limbs or wrenching hunger pains
When all was spent they would return
resolutely forgetting their folly and wreak.
| ing upon the innocent seal all the rage Of
regret that would rise within them. They
i spared none; BULL COW, and calf alike were
slain, as IL in pure lust OF slaughter, until
| the helplessness OF utter fatigue compelled
| them to desist and snatch an interval oi
| deathlike sleep, oblivious Of all the grind
| ing bitterness Of their surroundings. Lie
was held cheap among them, consequence
not to be wondered at OF its hardness
and the want Of all things that make lie
desirable And yet the stern existence mad
its own strong fascination for those wn<
| had become Injured to it. Few OF them ever
gave 1t UP voluntarily, ending their stormy
| life struggling in some sudden ghasuy
| fashion and being almost Immediately ior-
| gotten. Occasionally some sorely manned
man would survive the horrors OF his dis
abiement, lying in the fetid forecastle IN
sullen endurance until the vessel reached
a port whence he could be transferred 10
civilization But there unhappy men fret
| ted grievously for the vast openness OF the
Antarctic, the gnashing OF the ice fangs
upon the black rocks the unsatisned roar
| of the western gale and the ceaseiess COM
| bat with the relentless sea.
Many years came and went Wniie tne
| Southern sealer piled his trade, until al
| last none of the reckless shippers couiu
| long disguise from themselves the lac'
thai their harvest fields were rapidly be-
coming completely barren. Few and iar
between were the islets frequented by the
seals. the majority Of the old grounds be-
| ing quite abandoned. One by one the de-
jected fishermen gave up the attempt, un-
til in due time those gaunt fastnesses re-
sumed their primitive loneliness. The long,
| long tempest roared questioningly over the
deserted islands. as IL calling for its van
ished children, and refusing to be COM
forted because they were not. Years pass
ed in solitude but for the busy Sea fowl,
who because they had no commercial
value. were left unmolested to eat their
fill of the seas rich harvest ana rear
among the black rock crannies their nuhy
broods At last, out OF the midst OF a
blindipg smother of snow, there appeared
one day off the most southerly outiier Oh
the South Shetlands little group OF round
yelyety heads staring with wide. humid
ewes at the rf-lashed fortresses OF the
shore. Long and warily they reconnoitred.
for. although many generations had passed
since their kind had been driven from
those seas, the memory of those pitiiess
DAYS had been so steadily transmitted
through the race that II had become part
of themselves, an instinct infallible as any
other they possessed. No enemy appear
ing. they gradually drew nearer and near
er until their leader. fine bull seal OF
four seasons. took his courage In both MP
pers and mounted the most promising
slope. emerging from the foaming breakers
majestically. and Immediately becoming
hirpling heap Of clumsiness that apparent
ly bore no likeness to the graceful, agile
creature OF few moments before Obe-
dieutly his flock followed him until they
reached a little patch of hard. smooth sand
sheltered by a semi-circle OF great wave
worn powders and admirably suited to
their purpose Here. with sleepless vigi-
lance of sentinels. they rested rather
brokenly at first, as every incursion of the
indignant sea fowl startled them- but
presently subsiding into ungainly attitudes
of slumber.
Whence they had come was as great a
mystery as all the deep-water ways Of the
sea people must ever be to man, or how
many halting places they must have WIS.,
tied and rejected at the bidding Of their
unerring instinct warning them that the
arch -destroyers' visits were to be feared.
However, they soon made themselves at
home, fattening marvelously upon the in
Vulnerable muititudes OF fish that swarmed
around the bases of those barren islands,
and between whiles basking In the tram
sient sun CLEANS that occasionally touched
the desolate land with streaks of palest
gold. And as time went on, being unmO-
Tested in their domestic arrangements, the
coming generation tumbled about the rug
ged shore in those pretty gambols that all
young things love. learning steadily with
al to take their appointed places in the
adult ranks as soon as they had proved
their capability SO to do. Thus uneventful-
ly and happily passed the seasons until
the little party of colonists had grown to
be a goodly herd with leaders of mighty
prowess. qualified to hold their own against
any OF their kind. and Injured to combat
by their constantly recurring battles with
each other, their love affairs. in which
they fought with 4 fury astonishing to
witness.
But one bright spring morning, when
after full meal the females were all doz-
ing peacefully among the powders, and
the pups were gleefully waddling and
tumbling among them, there came a mes
sage from the sea to the fighting males,
who instantly suspended their family bat
ties to attend to the urgent call. How the
news came they alone knew; its exact sig
nificance wah hidden even from them. but
a sense of imminent danger was upon them
all. The females called up their young
and retreated further inland among the
labyrinth Of rocky peaks that made the
place almost impossible for human travel
The males, about forty of them, ranged
uneasily along the shore. their wide nos
trils dilated and their whiskers bristIing
with apprehension. Ever and anon they
would pause in their watchful patrol and
couch silently, as If carved in marble. star
ing seaward with unwinking eyes at the
turbulent expansion Of broken sea. Pres
emily, within a cables length of the shore.
up rose an awful head-the enemy had ar
rived. Another and another appeared, un-
til a whole herd Of several scores of sea-
elephants were massed along the land edge
and beginning to climb ponderously over
the jagged pinnacles shoreward.
Not only did they outnumber the seals
by about four to one, but each of them
was equal in bulk to half a dozen cf the
largest Of the defenders. Huge as the
great land mammal from which they take
their brutal name, ferocious in their aspect.