AUSTRALIAN SEA BEAR, 89 
like that of a barracouta. They destroy young sharks, bones of 
small ones having been found in them. 
Where found.—The Australian sea bear is found on the coast of 
New South Wales. It is most numerous at Seal Rocks, near Port 
Stephens ; on the Seal Rocks, off the Nobbies, Western Port; and 
along the coast of Victoria from Thillip Island to Wilson’s 
Promontory ; at Julia Percy Island, off Portland ; also on many of 
the islands in Bass Strait. It exists in fewer localities than 
formerly and in diminished numbers. Bass found the rocks of 
Cape Barren Island, off the north-east of Tasmania covered with fur 
seals of great beauty. Cook, in his first voyage found them at 
Dusky Bay, at the south-east corner of the Middle Island. The 
Royal Society of Tasmania, in 1888, complained that seals were 
becoming the victims of poachers from New Zealand. At one time, 
as many as 1,000 could be counted on Clarke Island in a day, but 
they were rapidly being killed and would become extinct unless 
protected. It is also met with at Rivoli, South Australia; Falkland 
Islands, Houtman’s Abrolhos, a group of rocks about 30 miles from 
the west coast of Australia, where Captain Pelsart’s mau-of-war 
was wrecked, are tenanted by the Australian sea lion, which is found 
principally on the Eastern and Pelsart groups, but like its congener 
it is becoming somewhat scarce Sir G. Grey wrote of the Abrolhos 
—‘‘ These islets appear to be a favourite resort of seals, many of 
which we saw, but of the sort called hair seals. The sailors 
knocked many of them upon the head with clubs, as they lay 
sleeping on the shores. The natives catch seals by surprising them 
upon the beach or in the surf, or when they can, they swim off to 
some of the small rocky islands, which are connected with the main- 
land by reefs, and kill the seals with their weapons. They are fond 
of the sport.” In two years, 1814 and 1815, as many as 400,000 
were captured by sealers on Antipodes Island. Captains of 
coasting steamers occasionally notice seals resting on large clumps 
of floating seaweed, in various parts of the route from Mackay to 
Adelaide. In the autumn of 1891, a sailing boat which had been on 
an extended tour, among the islands off the coast of Western Aus- 
tralia, returned to Albany with 520 skins: this shows that seals are 
still plentiful near the west coast of the continent. 
Uses.—For their skins and the oil extracted from their fat. 
Their skins are much inferior to those of the fur seals killed on the 
Pribyloy Islands, off the coast of Alaska, North America. The 
Hon: David Moore states that years ago there was considerable 
trade in seals at Sydney. The males were entered in the invoices 
as ‘* Wigs,” the females as ‘‘Klapmatches,” and the young as 
Pups.” A male will yield from 5 to 10 gallons of oil. The females 
were seldom killed, as they had very little fat | The trade has now 
entirely ceased in the south-eastern colonies, partly from the 
animals being scared away by the steamers and other vessels, and 
partly from the cost of labour rendering the work unprofitable. The 
young are very easily tamed; one was kept for some time in the 
kitchen at Phillip Island. It moved about somewhat like a lame 
