310 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PEIBILOF ISLANDS. 



but in these Seas. Here are always thousands, I might say possibly millions of them, either sitting 

 on the Bays, or going and coming in the Sea round the Island; which is covered with them (as they 

 lye at the top of the Water playing and sunning themselves) for a mile or more from the shore. When 

 they come out of the Sea they bleat like Sheep for their young; and though they pass through 

 hundreds of others' young ones before they come to their own, yet they will not suffer any of them to 

 suck. The young ones are like Puppies and lie much ashore; but when beaten by any of us, they, as 

 well as the old ones, will make toward the Sea, and swim very swift and nimble ; tho on shore they 

 lie very sluggishly, and will not go out of our way unless we beat them, but snap at us. A blow on 

 the nose soon kills them. Large ships might here load themselves with Seal Skins and Trayne Oyl, 

 for they are extraordinary fat.' 



Seal hunting began at Juan Fernandez at the same time as Mas-4-Fuero, the two 

 islands being but a few miles apart and the fur seals frequenting them belonging to 

 the same herd. Owing to the early settlement of this island (it had a population of 

 3,000, according to Delano, in the year 1800) the seals probably found the island an 

 uncongenial resort almost before the sealing business fairly began, as Delano, writing 

 in 1800, says there were not then any seals on any part of it.^ Subsequently the 

 island appears to have been visited at intervals by sealers in search of fur seals, but 

 always with poor success. Although not yet extinct there (see affidavit of Capt. 

 Frank M. Gaifney, who reports seeing a few fur seals there in December, 1891), the 

 number left is too small to possess any commercial importance. 



GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.^ ^ 



The Galapagos Islands, situated under the equator, about 600 miles west of 

 Ecuador, are the home of fur seals, which probably belong to a different species from 

 that formerly so abundant farther south. The Galapagos seals reside at the islands 

 throughout the year. They are said to breed in caves and to bring forth their young at 



• A New Voyage Round the World, etc., 1697, pp. 89, 90. 



^ Voyages and Travels, etc., 1817, p. 313. 



•■' The following facts regarding the cruise of the schooner Prosper during the summer of 1897 to 

 the Galapagos Islands were obtained by Mr. George A. Clark, secretary of the Fur Seal Commission, 

 in a recent interview with the captain of the vessel, William L. Noyes. 



The captain said : " The group of islands, known as the Galapagos, from certain interesting turtles 

 found there, lie under the eq^uator and in the region of the ninetieth degree of west longitude. They 

 are 600 miles off the shores of Ecuador, to which they belong, and were uninhabited until a penal 

 colony, now abandoned, was planted there. The climate is tempered by the cool currents of the ocean. 

 The shores are broken and precipitous, marked by cliffs. Parts of the surface reach an elevation of 

 8,000 and 4,000 feet. There are five islands of considerable size in the group and ten small ones. 



"I sailed from San Francisco May 9, 1897, in the schooner Prosper, avesselof 23 tons register, owned 

 by George W. Kneass & Co., of San Francisco, and carrying a crew of five men. We arrived at Wen- 

 man Island, one of the Galapagos group, lying in 1° 20' north latitude, July 17, and, landing, found 

 seals with their young already born. The breeding grounds occupied by the seals were rough bowlder 

 beaches. The animals did not haul inland to any great extent, and were not found upon the sandy 

 beaches. The seals were not very numerous. In the hope that more seals would appear later and in 

 order to let the pups grow, we left Wenman Island and sailed to the south of the equator. 



"On a certain island in S' south we found more seals, and a number were killed which contained 

 unborn pups. This we found to be characteristic of the seals south of the equator. Some killed as 

 late as September were still bearing, and, I should judge, would not be delivered until some time in 

 October or November. 



" In October we returned to Wenman Island, finding and taking a few seals, but none of the pups 

 we left in July. On another island I saw a single pup alone swimming in a little pool. 



"The waters about the island were infested by sharks of the man-eating type. One of these we 

 killed while at anchor beside the vessel. Its stomach contained the flesh and bones of an adult seal 



