506 FAMILY PHOCID^E. 



obtained such favorable results, this good fortune is in part due 

 to the fact that a considerable number of old Seals owing to the 

 peculiar situation of the ice have sought refuge on the shores 

 of the neighboring islands, where our accomplished marksmen 

 with their improved rifles have killed great numbers. But to 

 kill in this way year after year the old Seals means ultimately 

 the destruction of the business ; and as a consequence of the in- 

 creasing number of voyages, and the introduction of steam- 

 power into the Norwegian sealing vessels, the hunt has become 

 now more than ever a war of extermination instead of a judi- 

 cious hunt. But the ice-sea voyages were during a series of 

 years a great blessing to our country and especially to the poorer 

 class of our people ; should we not then exert ourselves and do 

 all in our power to preserve the same ? Should our ships go 

 continually in the old track, visiting always the usual hunting 

 places, and there continue the already long-waged war of exter- 

 mination I Is it not high time that we went to the assistance of 

 our less favorably situated countrymen of Northern Norway with 

 one or two of our well-equipped and excellently adapted steam- 

 ships, to aid them in their praiseworthy effort to discover new 

 hunting-grounds, not only in the Kara Sea and on the shores of 

 Nova Zembla, but also eastward of White Island (at the mouth 

 of the Obi) along the coast of Siberia ? The rarely traversed 

 stretch between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, to the north- 

 ward, should especially be explored with great perseverance, 

 where there is good hope that unknown land and good hunting 

 places may be found, of which wealth one can now scarcely have 

 a presentiment. 



"In order to prevent the loss of our ice-sea voyages and with 

 them the capital that now is or may yet be invested in ice- sea 

 ships, I venture to call the attention of my countrymen to the 

 experiment here proposed, as I likewise pray for a hearing in 

 reference to the before-mentioned proposition for a close-time 

 for the Seals, not only on the part of the Norwegians, but also 

 of the Germans and English. 



"I have read with great interest Mr. Carl Petersen's commu- 

 nication < On our Hunting-fields in the Arctic Sea,' [' Uber unser 

 Fangsfeld auf dem Eismeer'], and another in the 'Finmarks- 

 post. ? It appears from these articles that we are indebted to 

 Consul Finckenhagen, of Hammerfest, for the extension of 

 the hunting-field to Nova Zembla. His vessel, commanded by 

 Captain Carlsen, of Tromso, took a new course and made a 



