96 THE SEAL TRADE. 



be prevented by a little less barbarous and revolting 

 cruelty, and a little more enlightened selfishness. 

 Fishermen are by law restrained as to the size of 

 the meshes of their net in taking many of our more 

 valuable fish ; and in the Island of Lobos, in the 

 River Plata, where, as we have seen, there are 

 quantities of Seals, their extermination is prevented 

 by the Governor of Monte Video, who farms out 

 the trade under the restriction that the hunters shall 

 not take them but at stated periods, ages, &c. We 

 could enlarge on this point, but our exhausted space 

 forbids. 



The Seal-fishing in the Northern hemisphere has 

 never been prosecuted with any energy by the 

 British. The ships which are fitted out for the 

 Whale-fishery occasionally obtain from 2000 to 3000 

 Seals, and sometimes more, and vessels sent out for 

 the Seal-fishery alone, and which seldom amount to 

 more than one or two annually, have occasionally 

 procured a cargo of 4000 or 5000, yielding nearly 

 100 tons of oil.* From the Northern parts of 

 Europe, however, and more especially from the 

 Elbe and Weser, there are frequently upwards of 

 fifty sail despatched. In a good Sealing year the 

 number captured off the coasts of Newfoundland 

 has amounted to many hundreds of thousands. 

 The trade is one of much hazard, and leads to 



* By a newspaper paragraph, (July 1838,) we perceive that 

 nine vessels were this season employed on the Greenland Seal- 

 fishing; they procured about twenty Whales, and nearly 40,000 

 Seals. Most of the vessels belonged to Scotland, and more 

 especially to Peterhead. 



