234 MOSTLY MAMMALS 
On Heard Island they still survive in considerable numbers, 
owing to the difficulty of gaining access to their favourite 
breeding-ground, to reach which from the shore two 
glaciers have to be crossed. The difficulty of removing 
the oil and hides from such a locality has, however, been 
to a considerable extent overcome by driving the seals to 
sea during stormy weather, when they are compelled to 
seek an easier landing-place. In the Macquarie Islands 
elephant-seals appear to be still found in considerable 
numbers, but the difficulty, or impossibility, of obtaining a 
fully adult male tells its own tale as to the persecution to 
which the species is subject; and it is only too palpable 
that long before the middle of the present century elephant- 
sealing will have been abandoned as an unprofitable trade. 
But by that time we shall really be living in an impoverished 
world, so far as large animals are concerned. 
