NEW ZEALAND FUR SEAL. 205 



Victoria ; also those near Doubtful Bay, West Australia; 

 Seals' Bay, King's Island, and Tasmania. 



In Flinders' " Voyage to Terra Australis," page cxxix, 

 it is stated that in 1798, at Passage Point, to the north- 

 east of Van Diemen's Land, *' The number of Seals 

 exceeded everything we had any of us before witnessed ; 

 and they were smaller, and of a different species from 

 those which frequented Armstrong's Channel. Instead 

 of the bull-dog nose, and thinly-set sandy hair, these 

 had sharp-pointed noses, and the general colour of the 

 hair approached to a black ; but the tips were of a 

 silver-grey, and underneath was a fine, whitish, thick 

 fur. The commotion excited by our presence, in this 

 assemblage of several thousand timid animals, was very 

 interesting to me, who knew little of their manners. 

 The young cubs huddled together in the holes of the 

 rocks, and moaned piteously ; those more advanced 

 scampered and rolled down into the water, with their 

 mothers ; whilst some of the old males stood up in defence 

 of their families, until the terror of the sailors' bludgeons 

 became too strong to be resisted. Those who have 

 seen a farmyard well-stocked with pigs, calves, sheej), 

 and oxen, and with two or three litters of puppies, with 

 their mothers in it, and have heard them all in a tumult 

 together, may form a good idea of the confused noise of 

 the Seals at Cone Point. The sailors killed as many of 

 these harmless and not unamiable creatures as they 

 were able to skin during the time necessary for me to 

 take the requisite angles ; and we then left the poor 

 affrighted multitude to recover from the effects of our 

 inauspicious visit." 



(Page cxxxiii) : " The Hair Seal appears to frequent 

 the sheltered beaches, points, and rocks ; whilst the 

 rocks and rocky points exposed to the buffeting of the 



