18 



bull of the tiger breed; we have named him Royal Tom. He is not at 

 aU afraid of us when we see him on shore ■ if the seals around him run 

 away, Tom will not move, and takes very little notice of us. One 

 day some of the men tried to drive Tom into the water, but he would 

 not move for some time; but after some trouble I suppose they got 

 him to start; he went leisurely down to the water, and there he 

 remained scratching himself; Tom had a dry coat and did not fancy 

 wetting it just then, and into the water he would not go." " In 

 going up I found seal tracks nearly to the top of the mountain, which 

 I reckon is about 4 miles from the water ; and about 3 miles up I 

 saw a seal." " We killed a cow and her calf this morning ; we got 

 milk from the cow after she was killed, which was very rich and good, 

 and much better even than goat's milk." " The seals are very 

 numerous here ; they go roaring about the woods like wild cattle ; 

 indeed we expect they will come and storm the tent some night. We 

 live chiefly on seal meat." " And a one-year-old seal, part of which 

 we had roasted for dinner to-day — it was delicious." " One instance 

 came especially under my notice of a cow, whose calf had been kiUed 

 and taken away from her, roaming about the place where she lost it, 

 incessantly bellowing, and without going into the water — consequently 

 going withoat food for eight days. After the first few days her voice 

 gradually became weaker, and at last could scarcely be heard. I made 

 sure that she was dying. She survived it however, and on the eighth 

 day went into the water." 



Mr. Morris, in addition to the information already quoted in page 

 15, has kindly furnished me with the follovsdng interesting particulars 

 of the history of the Southern Fur-Seal Fishery and the habits of the 

 animal, which have the advantage of being derived from his own 

 personal experience. 



From him I learn the follovping particulars. The females in Septem- 

 ber come on shore to pup, and remain until about March. The pups 

 are born black, but soon change to grey or silvery grey. The herd then 

 go to sea for the remaining portion of the year, returning again in 

 September with regularity. 



During this absence at sea, the male pups have changed from the 

 grey to a light brown colour, while the females remain unaltered. 



In New South Wales the sealing trade was at its height from 1810 

 to 1820 ; the first systematic promoters of which were the Sydney firms 

 of Cable, Lord, & Underwood ; Eiley & Jones ; Birnie ; and Hook iS; 

 Campbell. The vessels employed by them were manned by crews of 

 from twenty -five to twenty-eight men each, and were fitted out for a, 

 cruise of twelve months. 



The mode of capture adopted was : the men selected for the shore party 

 would number from six to eighteen, this being regulated by the more 

 or less numerous gathering of the seals seen in the rookery. These men 

 always land well to leeward, as the scent of the animal is very keen, and 

 cautiously keep along the edge of the water, in order to cut off the 

 possibility of retreat : then when abreast of the mob, they approach 



