Read Online Island of the Lost by Joan Druett - Free Book Online Page B

are few more contented sights, one scientist observed, than a well-fed sea lion pup sleeping on his back alongside his mother, his brown fur dry and fluffy, his flippers limply extended, and his little stomach bulging.
    When the pup is one week old his mother is ready for mating. If the beachmaster does not make any overtures, having given up by now, she will initiate the courting by snuggling up to him, arching her neck against his, and spreading her hind flippers to display her genitals. The bull responds by snuffling and licking that area, and then mounts her, their coupling being a muscular and protracted process that can last as long as forty minutes before she tires of it and starts to bite his neck and tugat his mane. After that, she is not interested in mating anymore, and will take to the forest with her pup, often trekking several miles inland to avoid further attentions.
    B Y J ANUARY 19, the date of the castaways’ excursion, the rutting season was almost over. However, a pitched battle was in progress as the small boat drew up, probably between a beachmaster and a Sam who was trying to usurp his rookery. The contestants paid no attention to the
Grafton
sailors, who paddled to keep the boat still in the water while they gazed in fascination. “We watched them about half an hour, and left them still hard at it,” wrote Musgrave; “they fight as ferociously as dogs, and do not make the least noise, and with their large tusks they tear each other almost to pieces.”
    They had seen several of these fights, because during the month of December and the first ten days or so of January, the bulls skirmish constantly to keep dominance over both territories and wives. Musgrave observed that when annoyed, a bull would raise his mane: “It is from three to four inches long, and can be ruffled up and made to stand erect at will, which is always done when they attack each other on shore, or are surprised.” With their enormous teeth bared they looked like lions indeed, with “all the ferocity and formidableness which their name seems to imply.” He sighted one from the boat whose “neck and back were lacerated in a most fearful manner; large pieces of hide and flesh were torn off, perhaps a foot long, and four or five inches wide.”
    Up until this day, the sea lions hadn’t usually bothered the men, but this situation rapidly changed when they rowed toward the southern shore where the subadult males were assembled.Instead of shying away, the young bulls gathered and tried to seize the oars in their teeth. Most were easily beaten off with those same oars, but one large specimen became so enraged that he attacked the boat. Horrified at the sight of the great bull clawing his way up the bows with his jaws gaping wide and his moustache bristling above his huge tusks, the men cringed back. Then Alick seized up the boat hook and slammed it down on the snarling head, and, uttering a furious roar, their attacker disappeared beneath the waves.
    This fright didn’t deter the men from landing the boat on the opposite beach, where they cooked and ate a midday meal while the beachmaster watched from a respectful distance. After exploring the immediate scenery, they returned to the shore and slaughtered a couple of newborn pups, Raynal writing that they considered their flesh “much superior to that of the young who, having given over suckling, have begun to feed on fish.”
    They also shot a dozen widgeon and some ducks, so they could look forward to a more varied menu than usual. Then, tired but relaxed, they rowed back to their own beach, by now aptly named Shipwreck Cove. There they plucked the birds, cooked what they needed, and then hung the others in pairs on the highest branches of the trees, “to place them out of the reach of the attacks of the flies,” as Raynal wrote. For some reason the loathed bluebottles did not rise very high, “probably on account of the