1‘J'J 
iilKHit oi tlio ice, ti:s Wull as licavy falls of snow ami drift, that voiy 
oiton such hulked Seals are never seen again by the men that killed 
and bulked them, as the vessels and steam-ships arc frerpiently 
driven by gales ot wind far out of sight or reach of them, and 
frequently wheeled or driven into another spot, Avliere the men 
commence killing and bulking as before. In many inshmccs it 
has happened that the crews of vessels, as well as the crews of 
steam ships, have killed and bulked twice their load. Xo doubt 
Seals that are bulked are often picked up by the crews of other 
vessels ; but such is the law, that so long as the Hags are erected 
upon the bulk.s, and the vessel or steam-shij) i.s in sight, no man 
can take them, notwithstanding the vessel’s or steam-ship’s men 
that bulked them may be ten miles away from them; whilst 
another vessel may be driven within a (piarter of a mile of tlie 
thousands of bulked Seals, l)ut, owing to the law, dare not take 
them.”* 
Sometimes the vessels are driven quite away, and the bulked 
Seals deserted ; thousands are rendere<l useless by the effects of 
cither frost or sun ; and not unfroquently from tlio capsizing of 
the imn all the bulked Seals are lost; or, in bad weather, the 
drift-ice, “ rafting ” over the bulks, destro3's them entirelv. !Mr. 
Carroll asserts that not less than ten or twelve thousand iiounds’ 
worth of Seals’ pelts are lost annually by this .system of hunting. 
It seems incredible that, after so many years of Avasteful 
hunting, the Seals should show no decrease. Such is said, 
however, to be the case. It must be remembered that the 
numbers of Seals found on the Jan iMayen and Greenland ice 
were declared to bo inexhaustible ; but that after a certain limit 
Avas reached, they rapidly decreased. That a similar result must 
follow in the XeAvfoundland sealing seems inevitable, unless some 
stoiw are taken so to regulate the fishery as to prevent the 
indisCTinunatc slaughter Avhich annually takes place; and the first 
step in that direction should be the abolition of “ panning.” 
Since the introduction of gas, and more recently of minei-al oils, 
for the purpose of illumination, the demand for Seal and Whale 
oil has, of course, greatly deercased ; so likewise has the supply. 
* ‘ Xortli American Pinnipeds,’ pp. 5-31— 55-2. 
