NOTES ON THE SEAL AND WHALE FISHERY. 23 



were in amongst the Seals at the same time, and by April 2nd 

 five had arrived in port well-fished ; the ' Walrus,' a vessel of 

 276 tons, manned by a crew of 120, having 16,720 pelts. In 

 consequence of the heaviness of the ice and the intensity of the 

 frost the more powerful of the ships fared best ; the ' Kite,' a 

 small vessel of 190 tons, with a crew of 89 men, was quite 

 unable to contend with her surroundings, and only secured 733 

 Seals. The great bulk of the young Seals, being killed very early 

 in the season, were rather immature, but those taken later on 

 were in better condition. Very few old Seals of either species 

 were obtained, and very few young Hoods, the ' Diana ' alone 

 being fortunate enough to secure about 7000 of the latter ; these 

 were obtained well out to sea south-east of the Harps. As these 

 are usually found outside of the Harps, and well to the north- 

 east of them, Sir Robert Thorburn informs me it is supposed, 

 and probably correctly so, that a section of the Harps and most 

 of the Hoods passed away south, thus escaping. It seems likely 

 that most of the Gulf Seals also, as will be seen, escaped. 



The reports from the Gulf sealers are very unfavourable, 

 owing to the immense sheets of unbroken ice which prevented 

 the vessels from reaching the young Seals. 



The commander of the ' Viking ' states that it was the worst 

 year in his experience, and that his vessel was unable to reach 

 the Bird Eocks ; her 4394 Seals were taken coming out of the 

 Gulf. The ' Nimrod ' reports to the same effect ; it was found 

 impossible to get into the Gulf, and her 5000 young Harps were 

 taken in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's before the end of 

 March, after which time only some two or three hundred Seals 

 were killed. She arrived in port on May 2nd. 



An unsuitable iron boat from Nova Scotia was wrecked in 

 the Gulf, and the crew taken off the Magdalen Islands by the 

 ' Aurora,' which was sent out for that purpose. 



The average take of the twenty-one vessels was 13,546, eight 

 of them having above that number, and thirteen below it ; eight 

 vessels had more than 16,000 each, four others between 10,000 

 and 13,000, and nine under 10,000. The ' Aurora ' again this 

 season headed the list with 34,849, of which only 185 were old 

 Harp Seals, very few of which, as already stated, were killed by 

 any of the vessels, and the bulk of those late in the season. The 



