IN THE PACIFIC. 185 



the boat, owing to the heavy swell breaking on 

 the rocks. One young seal defended its 

 mother's dead body with such bravery and 

 determination that I could not pass it to bend 

 the line on to the carcase. This touching 

 incident, added to the fact that their skins 

 though extremely pretty were not of great 

 value, made me regret that we had killed any 

 of them, and I determined from henceforth 

 never to shoot another. 



We succeeded in capturing one young seal 

 alive, notwithstanding a very vigorous resist- 

 ance; he was transferred to the ship, and 

 comfortably established in the copper punt, 

 which was prepared for his reception. The 

 seals which we shot were females, with one 

 exception ; this one was so heavy that it took 

 four men to lift him. 



The fishing here was even better than at 

 Indefatigable Island, and we were not so much 

 troubled with sharks ; many of the fish were so 

 heavy that they broke our tackle or straightened 

 the hooks. We caught one beauty of a bright 



