REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 263 



arduous that men can do. It is besides so ill paid, that few but Maoris will undergo 

 the risk and the hardship on the terms which custom has assigned to the enterprise. 

 The owner of the sealing-vessel gets uearly all the benefit if 'many seals are taken, 

 and if the trip is unsuccessful— which is very seldom the case, owing to the sur- 

 prising boldness and endurauce of the Maoris — he loses comparatively little. The 

 Maoris agree to ration themselves, to work the vessel, and to catch the seals at so 

 much per skin, less the cost of the provisions put on board the vessel upon the 

 requisition of the crew at the time of commencing the crtiize. If only enough skins 

 are secured to pay for the stores the Maoris get nothing for their work, while the 

 owner has the protit of the skins at the price they are worth in the Loudon market 

 to recoup him for the use of tlie vessel and for paying the captain's wages. The 

 rule, I believe, is that the sealers have far worse than a sailor's life at less than a 

 sailor's pay, but year after year crews are found ready to engage in the chase. The 

 men are engaged by a Headman, to whom alone they are subject, and who directs 

 the sealing operations. The crew (through their Chief) determine what places shall 

 be visited, and when thej' shall return home. The cajjlain has simply to navigate 

 the vessel from one haunt of the seals — called a "rookery'' — to another, in order 

 that the men who are on shares may have the best opportunity of doing well as far 

 as they are inclined out of the trip. 



We agreed to go with the sealers, and forthwith all hands set about preparing for 

 the expedition, repairing the whale-boat, cutting seal-clubs, making bullets, and 

 packing up. Then a start wiis made for a •' whig rookery" at Enderby Island. A 

 "rookery" is a home of seals in the interstices of rocks near the water's edge. 

 What sealers know as a " whig rookery " is one which is only occasionally the haunt 

 of adult seals, and is not a breeding place. The "take" depends upon whether the 

 seals happen to be "at home" or not. They were not "at home" on this occasion. 



The next "rookery" chosen for a visit was at North-west Cape, 7 miles from Port 

 Ross, and across mountains over 1,000 feet high. We found the track blocked up 

 with snow, so while we were waiting for the snow to melt on the hills hunting 

 excursions were made, and three wild pigs were killed. 



The sealer is armed with a club, which is a stick with a hook at one end. The club 

 is used to stun the seals bj'^ striking them on the nose at close quarters, and the hook 

 serves to bring to a halt seals which are escaping from their holes, or rookeries, into 

 the sea when they are attacked by the hunters. To reach the rookeries, which are on 

 the face of steep cliff's, invariably on the weather side of the islands, the sealers have 

 to travel over the mountains from the sheltered side, where their vessel lies at anchor. 

 These journeys, which are made in winter while the snow is falling heavily, and over 

 almost impassable country, are toilsome and exhausting in the extreme. The men 

 can carry little food or blankets in addition to the equipment for circumventing the 

 seals, and half starved, and without any shelter beyond wliat the rocks afford, they 

 for several days pursue the seals until all the prey is either killed or driven away. 

 But it is in descending the cliffs to reach the rookeries that the most dangerous part 

 of the work is done. Sometimes there is a sheer descent of 1,000 feet to the sea, on 

 the edge of which the seals make their home. The men are let down one after 

 another by their companions, some of whom remain above to haul up their comrades 

 and the skins when the hunt is over. When the scene of action is readied the boots 

 are replaced with a sort of plaited slipper, made by the Maoris, and wliich gives a 

 better foothold on the slippery rocks when leaping about after the escaping seals. 

 The rookeries are formed by masses of rock falling from the cliffs. In time they get 

 covered over with earth, so as to form a sort of roof. It is only in tliese places that 

 the fur-seal, which is the valuable article of commerce, is found. The hair-seal is 

 of no value, as the hide is too oily to tan into ordinary leather. The seals go into 

 the rookeries to breed and to sleej) after a spell at sea, and the hunters have to creep 

 into the holes and crevices between the rocks to get them. The seal will fight hard 

 when put to it. The old seals are mostly spared, as their fur is often torn from 

 fighting, or worn off by rubbing against the rocks, and they are left to multiply the 

 species. When an old seal is met with the hunter lies perfectly flat, and allows the 

 animal to creep over him. Sometimes the seals get so far back in the rocks that a 

 man cannot follow them, in which case they are pulled out to a more open space by 

 means of the hook and clubbed. While the hunters are raiding the interior of the 

 rookeries, some of the party stay ontside to intercept any that may try to escape, 

 like fox terriers watching the holes of a warren till the rabbits bolt. After knock- 

 ing all the seals on the nose and sticking them in the first onslaught, the hunters 

 proceed to skin the animals. The carcasses are thrown into the water. If they 

 were left on the rocks the seals would avoid the place for a considerable time. 



The North-west Rookery, which, as I have said, was one of the first visited by the 

 party, can only be reached by crossing a "razor-back," or couical-sliapcd causeway, 

 which comes to a sharp point with the sea, 700 feet below, on both sides. Some 



