THE JAMAICA SEAL I 1 3 



on King Island, Bass Straits, on December loth, 

 1802, he noticed that the brown colour of the sea 

 elephants caused them to resemble rocks on the beach. 

 Columbus has long been famous as the discoverer 

 of America; perhaps he should also be styled the 

 discoverer of the West Indian seal, for when In 1494 

 his flotilla made the West Indies some of these 

 animals were noticed by the party. Between 

 1494 and 1675 the Spaniards established a 

 regular sealing industry — mirabile dictu — in the 

 Tropics. The present species was extensively hunted 

 for its oil on the Alacrane Islands, Englishmen 

 also engaging in this occupation. One of these 

 sealers — Captain Long — had good reason to remem- 

 ber the Alacranes; for his vessel having- been 

 stranded in a N. W. gale he was obliged to remain 

 on the islands, contending with a crew of Job's 

 comforters who despaired of saving the ship, though 

 they consented to resume sealing and killed sufficient 

 to fill a cask with oil. The group consists of a 

 series of rocky ledges about four leagues long ; 

 voyagers gain the islands by manoeuvring through 

 an intricate maze of deep- water channels. Two 

 "New England ketches" ran upon the rocks; Long 

 rendered assistance. The crews of the ketches in 

 return aided him with his own vessel; so with the 

 cask of oil which had cost him so much hardship 

 the plucky captain eventually left for Trist. In 

 1675 Long's friend, Dampier, visited the Alacranes. 



