296 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



obliterates their tracks and hides all the surroundings by which 

 the}' could guide their course to the distant vessel ; those on 

 board adopt every means to indicate the direction in which the 

 lost ones should bend their steps ; but in the snow-laden and 

 foggy atmosphere the fog-horn and beacon-light are alike useless, 

 and when the dawn comes and a search-party is sent out great 

 is the suffering which they are called upon to witness — frost-bite, 

 madness, or even death. Add to this all the privation, hard work, 

 and liability to accident, and the sealer is surely entitled to all 

 his hard-earned gains. 



Although not so disastrous a season as that of 1882, the 

 weather during the fishing in 1883 was quite sufficiently severe, 

 and sometimes the vessels were very hard pressed ; never- 

 theless the Dundee ships had a very fair catch, the six 

 vessels averaging 15,392 Seals each, the 'Thetis' taking the 

 lead with 22,1-44, the smallest number 8235 falling to the ' Arctic,' 

 the total catch of the Dundee vessels being 92,354, against 

 03,204 last season. Of twenty-five other fine vessels from 

 St. John's six returned clean, the remaining nineteen capturing 

 between them about 194,000 Seals, or an average of 10,210 each. 

 The very large majority of these 280,000 Seals were young 

 " Harps " ; there were also a few old and second year Harp Seals, 

 and some Hooded Seals. The 'Aurora' also subsequently shot 

 2250 old Hooded Seals, and the 'Resolute' 1493 of the same 

 species in the ice between Iceland and Greenland. 



Passing to the Greenland Seal-fishery, I cannot do better 

 than give a brief summary of tlie voyage of the ' Eclipse,' one of 

 the most successful vessels of the British fleet, with the par- 

 ticulars of which Capt. D. Gray, her commander, has been so kind 

 as to supply me. On the evening of tlie 2nd April, after a very 

 stormy passage out, the 'Eclipse' entered the ice in 73° 55' N. 

 5° E., and joined a fleet of fifteen other British and Norwegian 

 vessels which had also found the Seals, some of the ships having 

 been watching the pack ever since the 28th March, waiting for 

 the opening of the fishery, which was to take place the following 

 morning. About 8 p.m. all was in readiness for putting the men 

 on the ice soon after daylight the next morning. The evening 

 was fine, and the scene pretty and peaceful in the extreme. The 

 Seals were all Harps, and they lay basking upon the ice in 

 all directions, engaged, with evident demonstrations of affection 



