DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLANDS 



371 



were never allowed to recover, and their final extermination is believed to have taken 

 place in the opening years of the present century. The last authentic capture occurred in 

 1902^ when the Swedish expedition found a single fur seal on Nelson Island. Since 

 then, as far as we know, none has been recorded from the group. 



In view of the extensive sealing that was in progress at the South Shetlands in the 

 early part of last century it is rather surprising that the discovery of a neighbouring 

 group, to all appearances a likely haunt of fur seal, should have been singularly un- 

 productive of these valuable animals ; for compared with the vast number of skins that 

 were taken from the South Shetlands the produce of the South Orkneys was negligible, 

 or so at least it would appear from the records of capture which have as yet been traced. 

 Even if we ignore these records, for although reliable they are admittedly very scanty, 

 and suppose for the moment that fur seal did once exist on the South Orkneys in num- 

 bers sufficient to attract the South Shetland sealing fleet, the sealers would doubtless 

 have left some record which would be traceable to-day. There is no evidence, however, 

 that such operations ever took place. Although in those days, as now, sealers were inclined 

 to be vague and secretive as to their hunting grounds, many details of the butchery 

 at the South Shetlands survive. Had a similar massacre occurred at the South Orkneys 

 it is scarcely conceivable that it could have passed unnoticed. So far as they have been 

 traced the landings effected by sealers on the South Orkneys during last century are few 

 and far between, fairly conclusive evidence, it is felt, that the group was regarded with 

 indifference and can never have ofltered great prospect of commercial reward. 



The scarcity of fur seals at the South Orkneys, as indicated by the records of the 

 sealers and others who are definitely known to have visited the group last century, is 

 shown below. 



1 Brown, R. N. Rudmose, 1913, The Seals of the Weddell Sea: Notes on their Habits and Distribution, 

 Scientific Results of the 'Scotia' 1902-4, iv, part xiii, p. 186. 



