DESTRUCTION OF. 485 



home, all of which time was spent about Terra delFuego and the coast 

 of Patagonia and Chile. During these three years (1879 to 1882) our 

 catch was 4,000 seals, 2,000 of which were taken the first year, and we 

 practically cleaned the rookeries out. In 1885 to 18SG, I visited South 

 Georgia as mate of a vessel. We had heard reports of the number of 

 seals formerly taken there, but we did not get a seal, and only saw one. 

 In 1887, while 1 was on Goughs Island, the vessel went over to South 

 Georgia and took 3 seals. In the summer of 1887 we put six men on 

 Goughs Island, and then went to the Crozets and Kerguelen Island, 

 commonly called Desolation Island. On our return, nine months after, 

 the gang had taken about 40 or 50 skins. Years before the English 

 had had the working of Goughs Island, and had run the business out, 

 so there were practically no seal there. We put a gang on the Crozets, 

 expecting to do well. They staid there five months and took 3 seals. 

 The English at Cape Town had recommended us to go there, because 

 they said that formerly they had taken a great number of skins there. 

 We went to Kerguelen Island, and there I had charge of the sealing. 

 We staid about four months, and took 18 seals. Prior to this visit I 

 had spent five months at Kerguelen Island, and we then took 6 seals; 

 that was in the winter of 1883 and 1884. About 1850 this island was 

 visited by an American, who practically cleaned off the seals. The 

 captain I shipped with, Joseph Fuller, visited the island in 1880, and 

 took 3,60ii seals, practically all there Avere; and this was the increase 

 for the thirty years from 1850. 



In the first part of a season we never disturbed the rookeries we 

 visited, always letting the seals come on shore; 

 then we would kill them on land with clubs or %SaSk) 597 ' 

 rifles. During the latter part of a season the 



seals become very wild, and we used to shoot them in the water from 

 boats. When we shoot them in the water we lose certainly three 

 out of five we kill by sinking, and we also wounded a great many more. 

 Shooting seals in the water is the most destructive method of taking 

 them as compared with the number of skins we have to show for our 

 work. 



In 1870, I sent a vessel to Chillaway, off the coast of Chile, where 

 there were thousands of seals in those waters. 

 This last season the Hancock returned from a trip Geo. Fo<jvJ,p. 424. 

 there, and the captain informed me that there 



were no seals worth mentioning. They would have been good rookeries 

 to-day if they had been protected from marauders. The South Shet- 

 land rookeries were in the same condition in former years, while to-day 

 you could not get a thousand dollars' worth of seals if you were to hunt 

 there the whole season. 



In 1885 I made a voyage to the Galapagos Island as master of the 

 schooner Dashing Wave, arriving there on the 30th 



day of August, and remaining until the 8th day of Frank M. Gaffneij,pA2,0. 

 December of the same year. I obtained at this 



time on those islands about 1,000 fur-seal skins which were sold in 

 London at an average price of about 7 shillings each. The seals upon 

 this group do not migrate. I observed the birth of pups during fre- 

 quent intervals during all the time I was there, and from the size of 

 those a little older it was apparent that they are born at all seasons of 



