SEAL-HUNTING JAN MAYEN SEAMNG-GROUNDS. 507 



very fortunate trip, since which other hunting expeditions have 

 been made, both from Tromso and Hammerfest. These enter- 

 prising people may not only rejoice in the discovery of new 

 hunting-grounds, but in the accumulation of a considerable 

 amount of scientific information, as Professor Mohn, Director 

 of the Meteorological Institute, of Christiania, can attest.* 



" Ought Southern Norway, which furnishes much more cap- 

 ital than our friends in the North, and has in its proud Arctic 

 fleet several steamships, look passively upon the praiseworthy 

 efforts of our less favorably situated countrymen I 



"The Swedish Government again equipped last year two 

 ships of war for an expedition into the Arctic waters naturally 

 for exclusively scientific purposes ; for the Swedes, who have no 

 interest in the northern ice-seas, yet sacrifice large sums for the 

 honor of their country and the advancement of knowledge. 

 We can with relatively less expense not only bring honor to 

 our own country, preserve our reputation for seamanship, and 

 serve science, but can indulge the highest hopes of finding rich 

 fields for the employment of our costly Arctic fleet, which per- 

 haps in the old, it may be too quickly despoiled, hunting-fields 

 will be without especially remunerative business." t 



From the foregoing it appears that the decrease of the Seals 

 in the Jan Mayen seas, and the improvident slaughter that was 

 yearly waged, had already begun to attract serious attention, 

 as a threatening evil of no small magnitude. Captain Mel- 

 som's strong protest seems not to have been without salutary 

 effect. Subsequently the proposition for a close-time for Seals 

 received more and more attention each year, not only in Nor- 

 way but in Germany and England, with finally the happy result 

 of an international agreement on the part of these countries 

 favorable to the preservation of the Seals. 



As regards the general history of the subject it may be of 

 interest to transcribe in the present connection a communication 

 from Mr. Loveuskiold to Mr. Oolam, Secretary of the British 

 "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals", as pub- 

 lished by Mr. Frank Buckland in " Land and Water," in the 

 issue of August 28, 1875. This communication is of special 

 intr rest, not only from its containing a report of a series of res- 

 olutions adopted by the shipowners of Southern Norway re- 

 specting a close-time, but also much statistical information 



*Geogr. Miith., 1870, pp. 194 et seq. ; 1871, Heft i, pp. 35 et seq., Heft 

 iii, pp. 97 et seq., Heft vi, pp. 230 et seq. 

 t Petermami's Geogr. Mitth., 17 Band, 1871, pp. 341-343. 



