The large seal, which was
exhibited some time ago at Exeter 'Change, appeared to me to understand
the language of its keeper as perfectly as the most faithful dog. When he
entered at one end of its long apartment, it raised its body from the
water, in which it was injudiciously too constantly kept, supporting itself
erect against the bar of its enclosure, and wherever he moved, keeping its
large, dark eyes steadfastly fixed upon him. When desired to make obeisance
to visitors, it quickly threw itself on one side, and struck the opposite
one several times in quick succession with its fore-foot, producing a loud
noise. The young seal, again, which was kept on board the Alexander, in one
of the northern expeditions, became so much attached to its new mode of
life, that after being thrown into the sea, and it had become tired of
swimming at liberty, it regularly returned to the side of the beat, to be
retaken on board. Such examples might be greatly multiplied; and I cannot
help stating, that aware of this disposition to become familiar, and this
participation in the good qualities of the dog, it is astonishing that
mankind have not chosen this intellectual and finely organized quadruped,
for aquatic services scarcely less important than some of those in which
the dog is employed on the surface of the land.
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