122 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



occasion the island of Masafuera was more particularly examined than, I dare say, it ever had been before, or, 

 perhaps, ever will be again". He gives, in the succeeding language, the sum of the Alison survey: 



The Spaniards have generally mentioned two islands under the name of Juan Fernandez, styling them the greater and the less ; the 

 greater being that island where we anchored, and the less being the island we are now describing, which, because it is more distant from the 

 continent, they have distinguished by the name of Masa-Fuera. The Tryal sloop found tiiat it bore from the greater Juan Fernandez W. 

 by S., and was about twenty -two leagues distant. It is a much larger and better spot than has been generally reported; for former writers 

 have represented it as a small barren rock, destitute of wood and water, and altogether inaccessible; whereas, our people fouud it was 

 covered with trees, and that there were several fine falls of water pouring down its sides into the sea ; they found, too, that there was a 

 place where a ship might come to anchor on the north side of it; though, indeed, the anchorage, is inconvenient, for the bank extends but 

 a little way, is steep, too, and has very deep water upon it, so that you must come to an anchor very near the shore, and there lie exposed 

 to all the winds but a southerly one ; and, beside the inconvenience of the anchorage, there is, also, a reef of rocks running off from the 

 eastern point of the island, about two miles in length, though there is little danger to be feared from them, because they are always to be 

 seen by the seas breaking over them. This place has, at present, one advantage beyond the island of Juan Fernandez; for it abounds 

 with goats, who, not being accustomed to bo disturbed, were nowise shy or apprehensive till they had been frequently fired at. These 

 animals reside here in great tranquillity, the Spaniards not having thought the island considerable enough to be frequented by their 

 enemies, and have not, therefore, been solicitous to destroy the provisions upon it; so that no dogs have been hitherto set ou shore there. 

 Beside the goats, our people found there vast numbers of seals and sea-lions. And upon the whole they seemed to imagine that, though 

 it was not the most eligible place for a ship to refresh at, yet, in case of necessity, it might afford some sort of shelter, and prove of 

 considerable use, especially to a single ship, etc. 



NEGLECT OF CHILI. Chili has suffered these famous breeding-grounds of Arctocephalus to be ravaged and 

 utterly eliminated; here she had perpetual interests worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars to her 

 annually in the way of revenue, had they only been looked after and shielded from that wanton and mercenary 

 destruction which has been visited upon them by sealers of all nations between 1806-1840. In 1717 the Spanish 

 government revived and re-established the colony of Juan Fernandez on that island ; but it was in the lapse of a 

 few decades almost entirely ruined by an earthquake. During 1810 the Chilians gained their independence, and 

 these two islands formed part of their possessions; in 1819 they established a sort of a Botany Bay on Juan 

 Fernandez, and have had as many as 500 prisoners there at a time ; it was found, however, to be .too expensive, 

 and when a mutiny, in 1835, placed the island in the hands of the convicts for a brief period, then the prisoners 

 were all removed shortly afterward, and the island deserted, and remained so for forty-five or. fifty years. At 

 the present time the two islands, Fernandez and Masafuera, are leased by a Chilian merchant, who employs all 

 the settlers in cutting wood, tending cattle, and, during the season, in sealing; the average catch is about 2,000 

 fur-seals annually. 



VALUE OF THE ANSONIAN ACCOUNT JUST QUOTED. The Ansonian description, thus quoted in much detail, 

 is one that cannot fail to cause decided comment upon the marked physical differences under which the fur-seal 

 thrives in the north on the islets of Bering sea, as Callorhinus ursinm, or in the south, as Arctocephalus australte, on 

 Masafuera and Juan Fernandez. According to Walter, the size of these two subtropical islands is nearly in accord 

 with the area which I found belonging to the Pribylov group; St. Paul being about the same superficial area of Juan 

 Fernandez, with outlying rocks and islets alike peculiar to each ; while St. George is a trifle larger, only, than the 

 smaller Masafuera, with water bold and abrupt all around about them. 



THE SUBTROPICAL ROOKERIES MERE ROCKY BREEDING BELTS. The rookery sites of the fur-seal are not 

 located by any writer on either island. I should judge from Walter's account that the entire desolate south shore 

 of Juan Fernandez was a belt of cliff-bound breeding-grounds, where these animals laid as they do to-day under the 

 bluffs on the Great Eastern rookery at St. George ; and to which spot none of the Dampier or Anson voyagers 

 resorted. Indeed, from all that I can learn of the physical structure of the islands to which the southern fur-seal 

 repaired, the whole area presented suitable for these creatures to breed upon was of this character, save that of the 

 Falkland islands; no such ground in general topography as St. Paul being known to the Antarctic, nor is it found 

 elsewhere in the Arctic; but St. George is the common type of the southern seal-islands, as it is also typical of the 

 entire Aleutian chain and Alaska generally. 



STRANGE OMISSION OF CHAPLAIN WALTER. The one queer thought in my mind relative to this lengthy visit 

 of Ansou to Juan Fernandez, is that the historian, from whom I have quoted so liberally, should not speak of the 

 fur-seal; for, thirty-two years prior to his lauding Captain Wood-Rogers, of the "Duke", a privateer, touched 

 here to recruit, and found "Robinson Crusoe" Selkirk in lonely possession; that sailor left with Rogers, February 

 12, 1709, and he gave quite a story of his discovery of the seals, which is related by the captain. Curiously enough, 

 acco.-ding to Selkirk, the time when the fur-seal hauls out to breed on Juan Fernandez is that season of the year 

 when Auson was there. Wood-Rogers reports him as saying, " Toward the end of the month of June these animals 

 come on shore to bring forth their young and remain to the end of September, without stirring from the spot and 

 without taking any kind of nourishment." (Kern Collection of Voyages: vol. xi.) 



NUMBERS OF DEADLY ENEMIES THERE: SHARKS. The time of breeding, therefore, is about the same as in 

 Bering sea. Also, in this connection, Commodore Byron, who came, in his voyage round the world, to Masafuera 

 in 17(55, seeking wood and water, says: 



Sunday, April 28, 1765 ; there was, however, another species of danger here to which our cork (surf) jackets afforded us no 



defense, for the sea abounded with sharks of an enormous size, which, when they saw a man in the water, would dart into the very surf 



