554 FAMILY PHOCID^. 



numbers, too little time has thus far elapsed to show to what 

 extent it may prove beneficial. 



The chief victims of the seal-hunter in the Antarctic seas and 

 on the Mexican and Lower Californian coasts the Sea-Ble- 

 phauts long since (as previously stated, see antea, pp. 517-522) 

 became practically exterminated on all the islands and coasts 

 where they were formerlj' hunted, and where at the beginning 

 of the present century they were found in immense troops, and 

 in seemingly exhaustless numbers. 



SEALS AND SEAL-HUNTING IN THE OLDEN TIME IN THE GULF 



OF SAINT LAWRENCE. 



This already protracted account of the Seal-fishery may be 

 fittingly closed with the following extract from Charlevoix 

 respecting the Seals of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the 

 Seal-fishery as practised there one hundred and sixty years 

 ago. Charlevoix's account is contained in his letters of travel 

 addressed to the Duchesse of Lesdigiueres, which I give here in 

 the quaint language of the Dodsley translation i^ublished 1761. 

 Under date of March 21, 1721, he says: "The sea- wolf owes 

 its name to its cry, which is a sort of howling, for as to its fig- 

 ure it has nothing of the wolf, nor of any known land animal. 

 . . . They never hesitate in this country to place the sea- 

 wolf in the rank of fishes, tho' it is far from being dumb, is 

 brought forth on shore, on which it lives as much as in the 

 water, is covered with hah-, in a word, though nothing is want- 

 ing to it which constitutes an animal truly amphibious. . . . 

 Thus the war which is carried on against the sea- wolf, though 

 often on shore, and with muskets, is called a fishery ; and that 

 carried on against the beaver, though in the water, and with 

 nets, is called hunting. 



"The head of the sea- wolf," he continues, "resembles that of 

 a dog ; he has four very short legs, especially the hind legs ; in 

 every other circumstance he is entirely a fish [il est Poisson] : 

 he rather crawls than walks on his legs ; those before are armed 

 with nails, the hind being shaped like fins ; his skin is hard, and 

 is covered with a short hair of various colours. There are some 



- a 



entirely white, as they are aU when first brought forth ; some 

 grow black, and others red, as they grow older, and others 

 again of both colours together. 



"The fishermen distinguish several sorts of sea- wolves; the 

 largest weigh two thousand weight, and it is pretended have 



