to bring iorth and roar their young in peace, and afterwards to get 
away themselves to renew the race in the next season. 
About tliis time, tlie English, Dutch, and Danes quietly went 
out of the trade : the Germans made a feeble attempt to get up a 
steamer or two, but did not enter into it with any spirit. Their 
ships wore old, and converted from sailing ships into screw-steamers, 
and wanted power. In a short time they also disappeared. 
The Norwegians had more .spirit. They came over and bought 
a number of the Scotch sailing vessels, thinking that by hard work 
and superior skill they couM still compete with the steam vessels ; 
but they soon found they had undertaken a fruitless task, and’ 
abandoned the old-fashioned vo.ssels. At the present day they 
have a fleet of fifteen steamers, which often secure largo cargoes 
of Seals, taken in the montli of Juno between Iceland and 
Greenland, and almost entirely of tho “Hooded” species. This 
fishery only commenced in 1877, and has been very successful 
until tho present year (1881), when, owing to the very bad 
weather o.xperienced, tho ships returned with very poor cargoes. 
Iho Hooded Seals come across to tho Greenland ico when the ice 
on the Labrailor coast disappears. 
Dy 1871 this wasteful mode of fishing had made itself seriously 
felt, and the ships could only average about half a cargo before tho 
young Seals were all taken. By some it was believed that the 
main body of tho Seals had divided, and that those encountered 
wore only a portion of the pack. Others thought that bad weather 
had washed tho young Seals off tho ico and drowned them. One 
thing, however, was painfully apparent : tho number of Seals had 
grown gradually less, till there were not sufficient left to fill the 
ships which were fortunate enough to get amongst them In 1871 
one Peterhead ship took 10,942 Seals; in 1874 the same ship, 
under precisely similar circumstances, secured only 1402. In 
1875 tho same vessel took 9769; but there were only five 
steamers present. Had the whole fleet got amongst the S&als 
they would have been very badly off indeed. 
^\riting in 1868, Dr. Brown predicted that, supposing the 
sealing prosecuted with the same vigour as at that time, he had 
little hesitation in stating that before thirty years had passed away 
the Seal fishery, as a source of commercial revenue, would come 
