SEA ELEPHANTS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143769, 18 April 1912, Page 8

SEA ELEPHANTS.

One of the curious industries that are being carried on in the solitary, inhospitable islands of the .Southern Ocean is that associated with the production of sea elephant, oil. Kerguelen Island is on of the principal haunts of the sen elephant, and a Norwegian company which has leased the island from the French Government has been employed in the production of oil for some years. One of the representatives of the company. Mr. G. B. Bull, has been visiting Sydney, and has described the industry to newspaper reporters. He says that during September and October the beaches of Kerguelen Island swarm witli sea elephants, which make their breeding places on the island. They are mysterious creatures. They stay on the island only two or three months, hut Mr. Bull says that no one knows what becomes of those which escape the company’s hunters. The herds are never seen at sea. but they make their appearance at the island each year with remarkable regularity. The males arrive first, about a fortnight before the females, and a great deal of fighting goer; on among them while they are securing suitable camping places. The combats last almost nilhout cessation for days, but as He sea elephant’s principal weapon is its weight little blond is spilt. Tile one which can push hardest secures the best place, and the weakest ones often are driven hack into the sea. Mr. Bull says that he has never heard of one sea elephant being killed by another. The numbers that visit Kerguelen Island every year are almost, countless. The Norwegian company’s employees killed 2d,000 last year, and Mr. Bull says that -there seems to have been no diminution of the numbers. The sea elephants are shot with rifles, tint company having found that the practice of clubbing them frightens them away and requires coo much effort. Only the blubber is used, the skims haring no commercial value. Mr. Bull states that rabbits are pretty numerous on the island, American whalers having left some there fifty years ago, and the company has liberated some Iceland sheep, which are thriving. He has spent two years on the island, and ho declares ‘that life is pleasant there.