REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 217 



the latter the last full years gave a total catch of about 190,0^0, whereas 

 the total catch south of tlie Equator only reaches 25,000. But the 

 South Seas, during the first seventy years of the fisheries, produced at 

 least 16,000,000 seals, whereas from the North Pacific it seems probable 

 that not more than 5,000,000 have been, in all, secured in 110 years. 

 To reinstate in some degree the South Sea fisheries would thus be to 

 revive, if only partially, a great and most profitable industry. 



890. At the same time, in the immediate matter of the preservation 

 of the fur-seal in the Northern Pacific, it is well to bear in mind that 

 actual experience in the South Seas proves incontestably the following 

 among other facts: 



(i.) Excessive slaughter on shore, in the entire absence of any pelagic 

 sealing, results in commercial extermination. 



(ii.) Excessive slaughter and disturbance causes absolute depletion 

 and desertion in given breeding places, leading the surviving seals to 

 seek other resorts. 



(iii.) As Fanning has recorded, while old rookeries are being depleted 

 and new ones being taken up, more seals are seen at sea than ever. 



900. This is a timely object lesson for the North Pacific, where from 

 two known breeding resorts, for the past twerfty-five years, so great a 

 iininber of skins have been taken (§ 43 et seq.) l3y excessive slaughter 

 on shore, and complaints are now made ofiicially that unlass strong 

 measures of rest and recuperation are promptly adopted the seals fre- 

 quenting these resorts will disappear. Undoubtedly, they will seek 

 other breeding places. 



901. Mr. Blaine has done good service in drawing attention, in his 

 despatch of the 17th December, 1890, to the disastrous results in the 

 South Seas following on indiscriminate and unrestricted slaughter of 

 the fur-seal. There has never been recorded any more self evident and 

 striking example of the consequences of excessive slaughter by man. 

 It is therefore useful to bear in mind the precise character and circum- 

 stances of the seal fishery of the Southern Hemisphere. 



VIII. — Marketings the Seal -skins. 



902. The process of preparing the sealskins for the market, costing, 

 on the whole, 18s. to 20s. per skin, is the work of a prosperous industry 

 in London. 



The skins are landed in the docks, and sorted for size, quality, and 

 kind, ready for the sale-room. Eventually they arrive, thus graded, at 

 the factory, and are dealt with in batches. The process commences 

 with the removal of the fat and flesh left on the skins by careless skin- 

 ning; the next step is thoroughly to cleanse the skin by hot- water 

 washing and stretching, after which the skins are deftly shaved down 

 to the requisite thinness. They are then treated in a hot chamber, and 

 the outer hair taken off. The completing stages are those of dyeing to 

 a uniform colour, and finally shaving the skin down to the necessary 

 thinness. At every stage much technical skill and judgment are 

 required. 



903. It is a noteworthy fact, that nearly all fur-seal skins are taken 

 to London to be dressed and sold. The fur-seal industry thus gives 

 employment to much shipping on the Pacific, to railways across the 

 American continent, and to shiiiping on the Atlantic; while in the 

 business of insurance, and in the sale of the raw and finished skins, 

 both wholesale and retail, as well as in the processes above described, 

 very considerable profits are realized. 



