In one particular these extraordinary animals bear a resemblance to the dromedary, or camel of the desert.

In a bag at the root of the neck they carry with them a constant supply of water.

In some instances, upon killing them after a full year's deprivation of all nourishment, as much as three gallons of perfectly sweet and fresh water have been found in their bags.

Their food is chiefly wild parsley and celery, with purslain, sea-kelp, and prickly pears, upon which latter vegetable they thrive wonderfully, a great quantity of it being usually found on the hillsides near the shore wherever the animal itself is discovered.

They are excellent and highly nutritious food, and have, no doubt, been the means of preserving the lives of thousands of seamen employed in the whale-fishery and other pursuits in the Pacific.
The one which we had the good fortune to bring up from the storeroom was not of a large size, weighing probably sixty-five or seventy pounds.
It was a female, and in excellent condition, being exceedingly fat, and having more than a quart of limpid and sweet water in its bag.