302 AISTNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIOOSr, 1942 



Magellan in October 1520 recorded their presence in the Magellan 

 Straits. Subsequent navigators were accustomed to provision their 

 vessels with sea lion meat and to replenish their oil supply from the 

 blubber of this large seal. The expedition led by Simon de Alcazaba, 

 for instance, in 1535 took two or three hundred sea lions on an 

 island off the coast of Chubut, Patagonia. Similarly, Sir Francis 

 Drake in 1577 provisioned his vessels with some 200 sea lions killed 

 at Port Desire, Patagonia. 



Although sailors on subsequent voyages frequently salted hogsheads 

 of sea lion meat for provisions, it was not until late in the eighteenth 

 century that the traffic in sea lion skins assumed any marked propor- 

 tions. Accurate figures of the catch during these years are, however, 

 not available. Nevertheless, some idea of the extent of the trade in 

 these skins may be gained from the fact that at least 52,000 sea 

 lion skins were taken in 1821-22 by the shore crews of the American 

 brigs Alabama and Frederick on the islands of Mocha and St. Marys 

 off the coast of Chile (Balch, 1909, p. 481). 



Not even the colonies on the Galapagos Islands escaped from the 

 general slaughter. In 1815-16, the crew of the ship Volunteer of 

 New York loaded the skins of 2,000 sea lions and 8,000 fur seals that 

 had been killed on these islands by the ship's shore crew (Fanning, 

 1924, pp. 287-288). The hides of sea lions were used by the harness 

 and trunk makers of New England. The demand for these hides, 

 however, was not so great as to cause the near extermination of the 

 southern sea lion. 



Sealers are still taking sea lions on the South Falkland Islands, but 

 in accordance with regulations provided by a license system. The 

 take on these islands in 1930 amounted to 4,563 sea lions (Hamilton, 

 1934, p. 313). Two companies licensed by the Peruvian Government 

 are reported to take from 75,000 to 80,000 sea lion skins annually from 

 the rookeries located along the coast of Peru. 



SOUTHERN ELEPHANT SEAL 



At the end of the eighteenth century, elephant seals were present 

 in countless thousands on many of the islands off the southern ex- 

 tremity of South America, particularly along the Patagonian coast, 

 Tierra del Fuego and southern Chile, as well as on Juan Fernandez, 

 the Falkland Islands, the Southern Shetland and South Orkney Is- 

 lands, and South Georgia. 



The records show that as early as 1774 vessels from New York 

 and Nantucket were outfitted not only for whaling but also for sealing 

 on the South Falklands. The abundance of elephant seals and the 

 current demand for oil led almost at once to the indiscriminate 

 slaughter of these huge seals. By 1800, the southern elephant seal 

 fishery had reached considerable proportions. Gangs of men with 



