REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 11] 



sign of having' been much occupied either in this or former years. 

 While, therefore, it might easily have been assumed at earlier dates in 

 the season that the bare slopes of the "parade" indicated the former 

 existence of great masses of seals unlike any now to be found, the rea- 

 son of the absence of grass upon them, even under the present circum- 

 stances, became perfectly obvious on a later inspection. 



393. Before leaving this particular subject, it may be well further to 

 mention that there is on the North-East Point a considerable area of 

 what may be called "spurious grass limit," to the west of the slopes of 

 Hutchinson Hill, and extending nearly to (3ross Hill. Here there is a 

 flat, spreading back from the beach and bounded on the inland side by 

 a low rise or step, which might easily be mistaken for a very wide 

 expansion of a former rookery ground, but which is in reality not due 



to any such cause, but is physically diflerent. The higher flat, 

 71 running inland from the step or low bank just referred to, is 



chiefly composed of loose, porous sand, a few feet only in thick- 

 ness at the edge, but extending in greater or less thickness over a con- 

 siderable portion of tbe interior of the whole l^orth-East Point peninsula. 

 This is overgrown by rough, tussocky grass. Between the edge of the 

 step and the sea the superficial sandy covering has been removed, prob- 

 ably by the action of the wind and sea in exceptional storms, and has 

 exposed a stonj^ and bouldery lower surface, on which volcanic soil rather 

 than sand is packed between the rocky fragments. All that part of the 

 lower area which is grassed, is covered with a shorter and yellower kind 

 of grass. ISTo distinct "grass limit" can, therefore, be traced across it, 

 and it is impossible in this place to outline the maximum limit of seal 

 occupation at any period except by the polished character of the rocks, 

 a feature which ceases to be observable long before the edge of the 

 upper flat is reached. 



394. The general features here described are well shown in the sketch 

 forming Plate IX in Mr. Elliott's Census Report, though in this sketch, 

 for artistic eifect, the horizontal distances are considerably reduced in 

 proportion to the vertical dimensions. The sinuous line of the edge of 

 the higher flat may be clearly traced by the longer grass, and it is 

 obvious that the seals did not approach this line even at the time this 

 sketch Avas made, or in 1872-74. A photograph taken from the same 

 point of view in 1891 indicates the structural peculiarities of this stretch 

 of ground still more conclusively. 



395. It may therefore be stated, in concluding the consideration of 

 this subject, that neither the extent of the seal-polished rocks nor that 

 of the "grass limits" in the vicinity of the breeding grounds, can be 

 trusted to for the purpose of giving information as to changes in area 

 or position of ground occupied by seals in recent years, as contrasted 

 with that at present occupied. Far less can it be taken to indicate in 

 any reliable manner the numerical decrease in the seals in these years, 

 or be accepted in place of the annual details on this subject which an 

 intelligent supervision of the rookeries would have exacted as a matter 

 of prime importance, but which are unfortunately wanting, and can 

 only be in part supi)lied by incidental allusions or collateral observa- 

 tions which have been preserved. Whether considered from a general 

 point of view, or in the light of the special inquiries made in 1891, such 

 indications as those above referred to must be admitted to mark out 

 only the maximum average limit of oscillation and range of seal occu- 

 pation during a very long period of years. While, therefore, exact 

 recent surveys of the areas marked out by such "grass limits " or other- 

 wise, in the vicinity of rookeries, may possess a certain limited intrinsic 



