206 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



i>'M. Til Mio Noilli AMiiiitic at Mio picsiMit day Micro exists no kiiOAvn 

 si»0('i('s ol" the I'lir seal, al(li(»iij;li fossil remains indicalo their cxisteiu'o 

 in tlie tertiary period. 



S;>S. l<]xt('nsi\e sealiiii^' operations were condiu'tcd in tlie JSoiilli Seas 

 about (lie close of the hist century and the lirst part of the iireseiit 

 ciMitiiry. Vov all this period there are extant many of the actual logs 

 and journals of those en.uajied in the pursuit. 



These " sealers" of the South Seas hailed for the most part from British 

 jwrt s or from those on the east coast of North America, and very consid- 

 erable jirofits accrued, a.ltliouf;h the work was of a. i)articularly arduous 

 and venturesome character. 



iS;>l). It isnotvworthy, however,that Soutli Sea sea I inn, as a i;reat indus- 

 try, undoubtedly inid itsorii;in in the closing' of thi^ fur trade of the Nortli 

 Pacitic to l*in.ulish traders and seahns when tlu^ Russians prevailed on 

 China, at that time the one chief market tor such furs, to close lier 

 I'll ports absolutely ajiainst all furs broui^lit across the racilicfrom 

 the islands and coasts of North America, the monopoly of the 

 wlioh^ trade beinu' accorded to the liussiaiis at their iireat mart of Kiat- 

 clia, on the A moor. hjUii'lishmen had become convinceil of the }:;reat 

 value of the China fur trade, and this policy of restriction on the part 

 of the Russians at once turned maritime enterprise to the South Seas 

 for the necessary sui>]>ly of furs, and in a very few years made secure 

 the foot iuj;- ol' the l<in<;lish and Americans in the China and other markets. 



S [(). At a very early period, the biUiilish were already endeavouring; to 

 collect fur-seal skins for the ('himi market in the seas known to their 

 rejiiilar l^^ast India traders. Thus in f'ebrnary 1773, when the vessels 

 CiHiN eyini;- Lord iMacartney to China called at the Islands of Amsterdam 

 and St. Taul, in the Southern Indian Ocean, in latitude ."{i)*^^ south, they 

 found a sealinu' i)arty there en,i;aj:'ed in carryinji' out w contract to snp- 

 ]>Iy L*r>,0()0 skins of the ritoca Ursina for the Canton market. The 

 descriiition sent home was as follows: 



'I'lio soiils aro IbniHl hore in iironter iinmbors in the siimnior tlnin in tlio winter 

 . . . . Ill 1ht^ aiuinntM- nionl. lis tln\v ('OHIO Msliorc, isonn'tiiuos in droves of 800 to 

 4,000 ;it .1 tin\t\ ont ol' wliicli about 100 arc (Uvstroyod, that nninber boing abont as 

 luniiy as iivo nion oan pog <lown to dry in tlio coiirso of the day In gen- 

 oral th(<y are not shy Most of those that eonie ashore are teiiialea, in the 



])ro(»ortion ot thirty to oiio lMab^. ^Vlu'th(^^ in tlieso animals nature has lixed on such 

 apiiareiit disin'opoi't ion b(^l,\vet^n tlie s(<\(>s, or wluithcr, whilo tlu^ rciiiajtvs hax'ti oeca- 

 sion to seek the shore, the males eontinue in the deep, has not hitherto been observed 

 by observations hero." 



Ill 1785) the Island of Anisterdtim was visited by Ctiptiiin Cox, of the 

 " Mi'rcury," who reported as follows: "On our lirst landing we tbund 

 the sliort^ covered with such a multitude of seals that Ave were obliged 



to disperse them before we could get out of the boat We 



procured here 1,000 skins of very superior »iuality."t 



Sll. Theseal-skin for long tbund its chief market iuChinaand Russia, 

 where it became a covettHl :ind fashionable fur, but its gradual intro- 

 duction into l<]urope and America dates from the time when South 

 S(>a sealing was first taken in hand as a regular industry. It has been 

 calculated that from tirst to last not less than 17,000,000 skins were thus 

 ])hu'ed in the uuirket, and without doubt it was the threatened failure 

 of this enoruums supply from the south which about the year 1840 led 

 the Kussians, British, and Anieiicans to pay siiecial attention to the 

 supply of fur seals known to exist in the North Pacific Ocean. 



*G. W. Clark on Eared Seals. — " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 



187").'' p. (i.VJ. 

 tlbid., p. (351. 



