129 



Another writer, referring to the destr notion of far seals in the south- 

 ern seas, says: "These vahiable creatures have often bewi found Ire- 

 quentin<^' some sterile islands in innumerable multitudes. By way of 

 illustration we shall refer only to the fur seal, as oceurihii; in South 

 Shetland. On this barren spot their numbers were such that it has 

 been estimated that it could have continued pernuineiitly to furnish a 

 returji of 100,000 furs a year; which, to say nothing- of the public bene- 

 tit, would have yielded annually, from this spot alone, a very handsome 

 sum to the adventurers. But what do these men do? In two short 

 years, 182 L-2, so great is the rusli, that they destroy 3-;0,000. They 

 killed all and spared none. The moment an animal landed, tliough 

 big with young, it was destroyed. Tiiose on shore were likewise imme- 

 diately despatched, tliough the cubs were but a day old. These, of 

 course, all died, their number, at tlie lowest calculation, exceeding 

 100,000. No wonder, then, at the end of the second year the ani- 

 mals in this locality were nearly extinct. So it is, we add, in other 

 localities, and so with other seals; so with the oil-seals and so with the 

 whale itself, every addition oidy making bad worse. And all this 

 might easily be prevented by a little less barbarous and revolting 

 cruelty, and a little more enlightened selfishness. Fishermen are by 

 law restrained as to the size of the meshes of their net in taking many 

 of our valuable fish; and in the Islaud of Lobos, in the Kiver Plata, 

 wliere, as we have seen, there are quantities of seals, their extermina- 

 tion is prevented by the governor of Montevideo, who t\irms out the 

 trade under the restriction that the hunters shall not take them but at 

 stated periods, ages, etc." ]^ataralist''t'i Library, 1)5. 



Giving due weight to all the evidence adduced by the respective 

 Governments, including the opinions of eminent naturalists in various 

 countries, it is absolutely certain — 



That this race has been conceived, and 1ms come into existence, upou 

 the islands of the United States in Bering Sea, which, by formal legis- 

 lative enactment, have been set apart as a land home for these animals, 

 where they can breed, and rear their young, and renew their coats of 

 fur, and to wliich they nuiy return, and for more tlian a century have 

 regularly returned, from their annual migration into the high seas; 



That these animals, from the necessities of the race, must come into 

 existence, and for a large i^arl of each year must abide, upon land; 



That the United States, in every form in which it coulcl be done, 

 consistently with the nature and habits of these animals, has taken 

 possession of, and appropriated, this race as its ijroperty; 

 11492 9 



