NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 109 



and islands of South Africa, Australia, Xew Zealand, and the 

 islands of the Antarctic generally. 



About the close of the eighteenth century a traffic sprang up 

 in the skins of fur-seals, and as the result of the many voyages 

 made to those distant regions enormous numbers of fur seals were 

 taken. They exist to-day as mere remnants of the great herds 

 that were once found in those regions. By 1830 the supply of 

 fur seals in the southern seas was nearly exhausted. In this 

 sealing no discrimination was made in the character of the seals 

 taken ; all animals whose skins were of any value were slaugh- 

 tered, and the newly born young, usually left on the killing 

 grounds, died in consequence. In the rush for seals to the Ant- 

 arctic sealing grounds, the markets were frequently glutted and 

 much of the catch wasted. 



There are few parts of the world where seals of some species 

 do not occur. All seals breed on land or on ice floes, and return, 

 after their migrations, to their accustomed breeding places with 

 great persistence. They can seldom be driven entirely away, 

 stupidly lingering until brought near to the point of extermina- 

 tion. So certain are seals of returning to their breeding grounds, 

 that the reestablish ment of the difl:'erent species soon follows 

 the protection of these places. The safe-guarding of depleted 

 sealing grounds would in fact be a good business proposition even 

 at this late day, if they could be protected under the authority 

 of the various governments laying claim to such lands. 



South African Seal. — The South African fur seal (Arcto- 

 cephalus dclalandi), frequenting small islands off the west coast 

 of South Africa, became very rare from indiscriminate sealing. 

 It has, during very recent years, been protected by the Govern- 

 ment of Cape Colony. The yield of skins from this source dur- 

 ing the past three years has been as follows: 1902. 1,300; 1903, 

 4,800; 1904, 7,400. (Data from Alfred Fraser of New York.) 



Galapagos Seal. — One resort of the genus Arctocephaliis. the 

 Galapagos Islands, lying on the equator, about 800 miles west 

 of Ecuador, furnishes a striking illustration of wasteful sealing: 

 Fur .seals (Arcfocephahis philippi) were taken from the Gala- 

 pagos Islands in important numbers by early voyagers. IJetween 

 1870 and 1882 these rookeries were again visited by sealers, and. 

 as far as the meager records collected from the sealers still living 

 who engaged in this fishery show, about 20,000 seals were taken. 

 This is. of course, a trivial mnnl)er as compared with llu- total 

 catch made during that ])erio<l. the records of which are not 

 available. The later voyages to the Galapagos Islands resulted 



