AUSTRAL-AFRICAN ISLANDS 
236 
land than in this place. When Cook came to this country 
at a later period it made so dreary an impression on 
him that he proposed to give it the name of Island of 
Desolation”. Its possession by the French can entail but 
little economic advantage. The penguins will soon be 
exterminated, as they are being killed off for their skins, 
which are sold in Capetown, and the beds of coal are 
apparently not worth working. Seal-hunters and whale- 
fishers might get a little profit from the sea, and at the 
present time a French contractor has obtained a mono¬ 
poly of this fishery for 50 years. It has been proposed 
to introduce sheep-farming, or to transfer the convicts 
from New Caledonia to the Kerguelen Isles. These are 
schemes, however, that are not likely to be realized. 
If ever it should happen that advantage is taken of the 
resources of the South Polar regions, the numerous har¬ 
bours of Kerguelen Land may render it a point of sup¬ 
port, and an intermediate station for vessels to call at 
in order to take in provisions. 
