§4. ANIMALS EXTIRPATED BY HUMAN AGENCY- 



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difficult problem, we pass to the examination of the effects 

 of human agency on the extinction of animals ; and we 

 shall find conclusive evidence, that since Man became 

 the lord of the creation, his necessities and caprice have 

 occasioned the extirpation of many species of animals, of 

 which relics occur in the superficial alluvial deposits, asso- 

 ciated with those of contemporary species, but concerning 

 which both history and tradition are silent. 



In this country, the beaver, wolf, hyena, bear, &c. are 

 examples of animals which, though exterminated in these 

 islands, still exist on the continent ; while the Mammoth 

 and Irish Elk, of which numerous remains are found in our 

 alluvia and drift, have long since been obliterated from the 

 face of the earth. That the gradual extinction of many of 

 the existing species of animals will be effected by human 

 agency alone, cannot admit of question. In those animals 

 which supply fur, a remarkable proof of the immense de- 

 struction which is carried on, is stated in a late number of 

 the American Journal of Science. " Immediately after 

 South Georgia was explored by Captain Cook, in 1771, 

 the Americans commenced carrying seal-skins from thence 

 to China, where they obtained most exorbitant prices. 

 One million two hundred thousand shins have been taken 

 from that island alone, since that period ; and nearly an 

 equal number from the Island of Desolation ! The numbers 

 of the fur-seals killed in the South Shetland Isles (S. lat. 

 63°,) in 1821 and 1822, amounted to three hundred and 

 twenty thousand. This valuable animal is now almost 

 extinct in all these islands." From the most authentic 

 statements it appears certain that the fur trade must hence- 

 forward decline, since the advanced state of geographical 

 science shows that no new countries remain to be explored. 

 In North America the animals are slowly decreasing from 

 the persevering efforts, and the indiscriminate slaughter, 

 practised by the hunters, and by the appropriation to the 



