The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1861-09-13

cal four-barreled lancasters OF forty-gauge.
During the last one hundred and fifty yards
of the boats approach to the seal the steers
man alone propels it by gently padding ii
with two oars, one eye on the seal and the
other on his oars; IL the seal looks in the
direction Of the boat ho stops rowing, and
great care is requisite on his part to avoid
coming against pieces Of ice. which make q
rasping noise, almost sure to attract the at
ten.ion of the seal. I need hardly observe
that the boat must also keep carefully to the
leeward, as the seal has an acute sense OF
smell and IL the advantage Of the sun can
be obtained in addition, as in the case above
related, the moments OF Phooa barbdta are
probably numbered. ! always knelt in the
bow of the boat, and selected my own OPP
portunity to FIRE, and. the moment the ride
was discharged, all the men rowed with their
utmost strength to the spot, where, II the
seal showed any symptoms Of lie, l always
darted II harpoon into him; but, If he seemed
quite dead, some one jumped out and struck
the hack pick into his head, and dragged
him away from the edge for fear he should
come alive again. This is not an unneces.
sary precaution, as have known seal, ap-
parently stone dead, give convulsive kick
over the brink Of the ice, and to 60 to the
bottom like siIty-eight pound shot, while
his proprictors, as they delusively considered
themselves, were standing within two feet of
him.
WHAT is MADE OUT OF THE SEAL.
When the seal is fairly dead. all the men
except one get on the ice, and with their
knives they strip the skin and blubbcr, in
one sheet of his body in very few minutes.
The carcass or "krop" is then thrown
into the sea, that it may not be mistaken for
a live seal at distance; the blubber is laid
fat in the bottom of the boat, and you pro-
ceed in quest Of moro or return to the ship.
A fulI-sized Spitzbcrgcn seal, in good con-
dition, is about nine and half or ten feet
long, by six or six and u half feet in circum-
ference, and weighs six hundred pounds or
upward. The skin and fat amount to about
one half the total weight. The blubbcr lies
in one layer Of two or three inches thick
underneath the skin, and yields about one
half of its own weight Of fine oil. The value
of seal of course varies with the state Of
the oil market all over the world; but at
the time OF which l write, oil being unusual
ly cheap, they only averaged about five or
six dollars apiece, but still the fact Of the
animals being OF some use contributed to
render the chase of them much more excit-
ing, as nothing can be more dstasteful or
unsatisfactory to the feelings of true sports
man than taking the life Of anything which
is to be Of no use when dead.
SEALS ARE VERY UNCERTAIN ANIMALS.
When seals are in the water they are not
the least afraid Of boat, but come boldly up
quite close to it, first on one side and then on
the other, as If impressed with the deepest
curiosity to SEQ what the unusual looking
object in. When they are shot dead in the
water, however, they sink so rapidly that it
is very difficult to get possession of them
The most approved plan is not to fire unless
the boats head is directed towards the seal
and distant not more than thirty yards then,
if the men all give way instantly and vigor-
ously, you may bo in time to thrust or
dart the harpoon into the seal before he sinks,
but more likely you will be in time to see
him sinking far down in the clear water with
his tail downward. Some people compute
that one half Of seals shot in the water, even
with skilful management, are lost; Others
say two-thirds and, from our own expert
cnce, am inclined to think it is two to one
on the seal, or thereabouts. / have several
times lost six consecutiyely, and most tan
talking proceeding it was but, bad luck as
that may seem, 1t is nothing; for our head
harpooner, Christian, a very smart fellow,
told me that one day he shot dead eighteen
immense seals, and lost every one of them.-
If you merely wound seal there is u much
better chance Of getting him than If he is
killed outright, as he sometimes founders on
the surface till he is harpooned. have often
thought that it would answer to use small
shot when they come so close, and l regret
never having made the experiment.
now luE WHITE BEAR GOES A SEALING.
The white bear, US is we'll known, subsists
principally ON seals, and he kills many Of
them on these sheets Of 'f,st' ice; but how
he manages to get within arms length Of
them that is beyond what can understand.
When the seals are floating about on loose
drift ice, Bruins little game is obvious
enough. He FIRST finds his seal, by eyes or
nose, in the use Of both OF which organs U.
maritimus is unsurpassed by any wild animal
whose acquaintance have ever made, and
then, slipping into the water half mile or
80 to leeward Of his prey, he swims slowly
and silently towards him, keeping very little
Of his head above tho water. On approach
Ing the ice on which the seal is lying, the
bear slips along unseen under the edge Of it
until he is close under tho haplcss seal, when
one jump up and one blow Of his tremendous
paw generally settles the business. The seal
canno, 60 fast enough to escape by crossing
to the iceberg if be jumps down when the
bear is close to him he does tho best hc can
for his life, for il he does not jump actually
into the arms Of his foe hc is very likely to
escape, the bear having no chance whatever
a. a. 2 n.