173 



CEOZET ISLAND FUE SEAL. 

 Otaria gazella. 



Under the title of Crozet Island, theKergnelen Island 

 Fur Seal is also included. Both these animals, with 

 the foregoing and several others, were grouped under the 

 general name of South Sea Fur Seals, which name is 

 still given to many in the Southern Seas. Since the 

 falling-off of these fisheries, this term is being fast 

 supplemented in the trade by the name of Alaska, 

 whence the chief supply of skins is now drawn. 



This Seal is yellow on the cheeks and neck, and has a 

 yellow belly. The hair is grizzly, the fur rich, and the 

 under fur thick and abundant. It was probably at one 

 time abundant on the Heard Islands. 



The skins were worth 60s. to 100s. in 1885. A young 

 Seal caught off Crozet Island was exhibited in London 

 in 1848, but it only lived a short time. It was captured 

 on an iceberg by Captain Triseott, of the Matlicsis. 



Kerguelen Land is a barren island in the Indian 

 Ocean, and it was one of the islands which were visited 

 in the early days of the trade. It would be a good 

 project for some Government to annex this inhospitable 

 island and regulate and foster the Seal-fishery there. It 

 would probably prove a lucrative investment after a few 

 years, but no Seals ought to be taken for some time. 



Lieutenant Spry, in the " Cruise of H.M.S. Chal- 

 lenger" (page 127), narrates thus : — 



" The manner in which the Seal-fishery is carried on 

 in the surrounding seas is both extravagant and 

 destructive, for at the time of the discovery of this 



