and much damaged umbrella, and I only evaded my part 

 of the contract by giving up the umbrella to get rid of 

 her, infant and all. The maternal instinct of the seal to 

 which I have referred, is one of its most notable charac- 

 teristics ; the mother nurses and suckles her infant with 

 the most assiduous care, and if harm befal it, displays 

 the utmost sorrow and distress. The father likewise is 

 keenly alive to his parental duties until the baby seal 

 reaches something approaching to years of discretion. 



But to return to our seal-hunters on the rock ; the 

 season is approaching its conclusion, the young pups have 

 taken naturally to the water, the old fur seals are all 

 killed off, or, grown wary, have migrated to other rocks, 

 the skins are all salted and ready to be shipped on board 

 the schooner, whose arrival is eagerly waited for. Some- 

 times owing to the boisterous weather, it is impossible for 

 her to effect communication for days or even weeks with 

 the men on the rock, and she has to cruise about until a 

 favourable opportunity arrives, when that does occur, no 

 time is lost in shipping the proceeds of the season, and 

 then, with her hold more or less well loaded, she turns her 

 head towards Sandy Point. Upon her arrival there, there 

 is much to be done, the skins have to be packed in casks 

 for shipment to the first homeward bound steamer. Every- 

 thing and everybody is thoroughly active, and the little 

 settlement again wakens up to abnormal life and energy. 

 Accounts have to be squared up with the merchant who 

 has a prior claim upon the take for goods supplied, and it 

 generally takes several days to adjust accounts, and before 

 each man receives his share of his hard earned gains. 



Such is a very brief account of the fur-seal fishery of 

 Southern Patagonia, and it only remains for me to make a 

 few further remarks as to the modes of killing the seals, 



