NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
to local fishing industry, and Government gave 
permission for a limited number to be destroyed, 
which was easily done by surprising them on land 
when basking in the sun, and spearing and clubbing 
them. The commercial value of their skins on 
the London market averaged from twenty to thirty 
shillings each. The flesh is not used for any pur- 
pose, although it is wholesome enough. 
The chief islands around the South African 
coast where Sea Lions resort to breed are 
Hollam’s Isle, south of Walfisch Bay ; Long Island, 
near Agra Pequena; Jacob’s Rock, in Saldahna 
Bay; Robbensteen, in Table Bay; and Dyer 
Island, off the Caledon coast. 
Between the months of November and January 
the females visit these islands and give birth to 
two pups. Sea Lions breed once yearly, the 
period of gestation being twelve months, the female 
being impregnated again shortly after the pups 
are born. ‘The young seals are suckled for 
three to four months, and during this period 
should they happen to lose their mother they, 
as a rule, are adopted by another mother seal which 
rears them, in addition to her own pups. During 
the time the young are being suckled the mother 
never ventures far from them, confining her fishing 
operations to the adjacent shallows. When the cubs 
are old enough to eat fish and hunt for themselves 
they make for the water, and do not return again 
to their place of birth. 
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