The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-05-14

ing OF clubs. and then i'll exactly an oppO-
site direction from their drivers. 1t took
about three hours to bring them to the set
Element, SO that it was six o'clock when
they arrived there and all the inhabitants
of the village came out to meet them :;
partly to estimate from the number of seals
what their individual gains were to be, and
partly also to relieve the drivers, and allow
them to get breakfast, before the killing
commenced
| The spot chosen for the killing was lit
tie valley, near the storehouse. Here the
various droves were united, and the drivers.
having refreshed themselves, by breakfast
ing on some of the young ones that they
had killed at the beach and brought in on
their backs, now prepared for action. Some
two hundred seals were divided from the
main body; and having completely sur
rounded them, the men contracted the cir
Gle, driving the seals as they did so into the
center.
Then began the work of Instruction.
| The seals were heaped one on the other, in
their eagerness to escape from the death
that threatened them Oh all sides while
the men struck at their heads with long
! clubs and at almost every blow seal would
leap into the air, with painful moan. fall
to the ground, convulsed in agony, and
quickly die.
| So much actual strength had they, how
ever, that sometimes seal would seize one
of the clubs with his teeth, and wrenching
it from the hands of the man who held it,
toss it, by turn Of his head more than
thirty feet. In Il few minutes, all those
under three years of age were killed, and
those over that age driven off to find their
way to the water as best they might. All
the men, women, and children then came
and each, taking seal, worked with such
| rapidity, that soon the skins had all been
taken from those that had been killed In
this way another and another portion were
taken from the great main body, until in
the evening it was all exhausted, and the
ground for over two acres was covered with
bare white bodies, which, In the dim,
stormy twilight, reminded one of field of
battle after days combat.
The skins were brought to the storehouse,
counted, and each head of family accred-
tied with the amount that he and his house.
hold had taken. The next morning the
skins were sailed, and having remained in
pickle five days, were taken out, rolled in
bundles of two each, and were then ready
for shipment.
The ground being so rocky, it was i'm
possible to bury the seals bodies. and to
throw them into the sea would cause all the
living seals to forever abandon the island
so they were allowed to remain, the natives
only taking off enough of fat to supply
them with oil, for food ana light At the
end of the season, there were many acres
of purified carcaSes, which ''reeking up
to heaven, brought dire vengeance upon
their destroyers, as the list of mortality all
to clearly showed. Yet if the seals cause
the death of the Aleuts, they are also abso-
lutely necessary for their subsistence, as
the islands produce no vegetables whatever
and the inhabitants are obliged to depend
entirely on what is brought there for trad
ing purposes For meat, they use the seal,
fresh in summer sailed in winter: varied
perhaps, now and then, by gull or loon !;
but the means of supplying themselves with |
the latter are SO very inconstant, that were
the former frightened away by any mis-
management-which has frequently been
the case at other localities-the Aleuts
would be also obliged to desert the islands,
leaving them as barren and isolated as they !
were fifty years age, when the Russian first |
brought men to reside there.
The number of seals killed on these two |
islands have averaged. for the ten years
preceding 1868, little less than one hum !
bred thousand annually and with proper
management. this could probably be con- /
tinued indefinitely as the yearly increase |
far exceeds that amount. During the sum |
mer of 1863 OF the first year that the coun-
try came under American rule, there were |
over tive hundred and sixty thousand killed. |
Last year, although there was an act of |
Congress forbidding any one to land on the
ioitih't', SASSp TT ny pSiiIiiSSloi llSh "oNCli
ment, there were nevertheless, more than
thirty thousand seals destroyed the law
being enforced and evaded in a manner that |
is peculiar to America, and which calls |
loudly for Civil Service reform.
There are several bills now before Con-
gress, each advocating separate theory,
but all uniting in the wish to preserve the
fisheries. The one most feasible, and |
which will probably be adopted, is that of
leasing out both islands, for term of years,
to responsible parties allowing them to
kill a certain number annually; ebliging
them to take paternal care of the Aleutian
inhabitants; and holding them accounta-
BILE for any Infringement of its provisions.
In this way, the Government may derive a
revenue, varying from one hundred thous-
and to three hundred thousand dollars an
nually.
The great market for these skins is Lon
don, to which place they are all shipped,
via San Francisco, or the Hawaiian Islands;
the price varying, according to demand,
from fifteen to twenty-eight shillings each.
In order to reduce them to the state in
which they are usually seen, they have to
undergo long process of cleaning, cutting
and dyeing, which is to American furriers
if their claim that it was formerly done
here be 4 true one-a "loSt art = for GER
tain it is that nowhere outside Of England
is it understood and even there it is held |
as monopoly by half dozen business
houses. The skill required to remove the
long hair that covers the fur, is only OBJ !
tanned after years of practice, the operation
being an extremely delicate one. The skins
are placed Oh frames, and the inner surface
pared off, until the roots of the hair are
completely severed; while the roots of the !
fur remain untouched. or account of their
nearness to the outside surface. The hair
is then very easily removed, and the light
yellow fur made ready for dyeing, either to
a more golden yellow, dark purple or
black and is afterwards brought to the /
general fur market.