SEALSKIN INDUSTRY IN UNITED STATES. 541 



covery and the year 1800 over 1,200,000 seal skins were taken by the 

 British vessels fi'oui the island, and seal life thereon was exterminated. 



CROZETTS. 



The Crozett Islands, in same ocean and not far distant, were also 

 visited and luinted over and the seal life there \vas 

 totally exhausted. °^°^^*' ^^'""'^• 



MASAFUERO. 



An island in southern Pacific Ocean, latitude 38° 48' S., longitude 

 80° 34' VV., came next in order of discovery, and from ^ f 

 its shores in a few years were gathered and shipped ^^"^ "*^™ ** ^^ 

 1,200,000 fur-seal skins. 



Delano, chapter 17, page 306, says of Masafuero: "When the Ameri- 

 cans came to this place in 1797 and began to make a business of killing 

 seals there is no doubt but there were 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 of them on 

 the island. I have made an estimate of more than 3,000,000 that have 

 been carried to Canton from tlience in the space of seven years. I have 

 carried more than 100,000 myself and have been at the place when there 

 were the people of fourteen ships or vessels on the island at one time 

 killing seals." 



SOUTH SIIETLANDS. 



In 1821-'23 the South Shetland Islands, a group nearly south from 

 Cape Horn, became known to the seal-hunters, and in 

 two years over 320,000 seals 

 shipped from these islands. 



SOUTH GEORGIA. 



Later still seal were found on the island of South Georgia, South 

 Atlantic Ocean, and from this locality was obtaiued 

 over 1,000,000 of far-seal, leaving the beaches bare of , So^ith Georgia la- 



,,.;.' ' ^ land. 



seal hie. 



CAPE HORN. 



From the coasts of South America and about Cape Horn many thou- 

 sands of fur-seal have been taken, and of the life once 

 so prolific there nothing is now left save such remnants *^^ 

 of former herds as shelter on rocks and inlets almost inaccessible to the 

 most daring hunter. 



This record shows the nearly complete destruction of these valuable 

 animals in southern seas. Properly protected, Kerguelan Land, Mas- 

 fuero, the Shetlands, and South Georgia might have been hives of 

 industry, producing vast wealth, training schools for hardy seamen, 

 and furnishing employment for tens of thousands in the world's markets 

 where skins are dressed, prepared, and distributed. But the localities 

 were no man's land, and no man cared for them or their products 

 save as through destruction they could be transmitted into a passing 

 profit. 



The skins from the localities mentioned were marketed mainly in 

 China, as exchange for silks, teas, etc. ; a portion went ^i^^.y,.^ f„r those 

 to Europe, and in France and England were manufac- skins'. '' 

 tured into caps, gloves, and other small articles, being 

 simply unhaired and dressed. Their commercial value in China was 



