great struggle—the rivalry of love. Fully appreciating the sentiment of "None but the brave deserve the fair," the contest for possession commences. It is a bloody and terrific tournament, the females gathering in a trembling group to watch the issue of the combat that is to decide their fate. The rocks are dyed with blood, and strewn with slain. The victors approach the weaker sex, triumphantly make their selection, and adopt their partners for the season.
A rich harvest rewarded the early sealers. Of the two species, the black is preferred for its finer and longer fur, the skin fetching double the price. Captain Flinders speaks of the crew of the Nautilus getting 9,000 skins in a very short time. Captain Fawthrop informed me that he knew a party of 35 men collect 36,000 skins in eighteen months. Then the skins sold at the rate of eight to a dozen for a gallon of rum, valued at five shillings. The oil in the early times fetched six shillings a gallon. The profit of the merchants was enormous by exportation. It was an uncertain fishery. A large number of seals having been observed on Macquarie Island, a strong party was fitted out at Sydney for their capture. Arriving at evening, the sealers declared there were 50,000 of them; but in the morning not one was to be seen. From a perusal of old Sydney Gazettes, the following is taken:—The schooner Endeavour, from March 9, 1803, to May 28, 1804, got 9,514 skins and 200 gallons of seal oil. The Surprise, from March 11 to September 15, 1803, 15,480 skins and 610 gallons; the Governor King, 3,288 skins. In September 1803 a vessel brought to Sydney 11,000 skins.
The numbers rapidly diminished in the Straits owing to the fishery being improperly conducted. Legislation should have restricted the period of the chase; as the slaughter of mothers during the time of suckling caused the death of the young ones. It is related that, at the South Shetland Islands, off the Horn, 300,000 seals were captured in two years, and that 100,000 young were supposed to have died from want of maternal support. They are now nearly extinct there. Even in 1826, the Hobart Town Gazette urged Government to protect the breeding season. In March of that year it is written, "Young Scott, who has been an inhabitant of the Straits, and has cohabited with a black woman, by whom he has three children, declares that he has known 300 pups to have perished on one bank, owing to the
