Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-03-13
HOW WE GET SEAL SKIN FURS.

HOW WE GET SEAL SKIN FURS.
Seal skin fur, as an article of COM
merce and as material for the man.
ufacture of warm clothing, is well
known, but to the majority of people
the facts relating to its production and
the habits of the seal itself will prove
novel as we'll as interesting. A report
in reference to the home, habits, life,
and capture of the fur seal of Alaska
has lately been made to the govern
ment by Mr.. II. W. Elliot who resided
for upwards of year on the Prybilov
Islands, lying in the middle of Behr-
ing Sea, about $50 miles from the near
est land, the principal of which are st.
Paul's Island and st. Georges Island,
where the seals do mostly congregate.
The population of these islands is COM
prised in about eighty families. The
people average about five feet six inches
in height, have small, wide-set, dark
eyes. high cheek bones, an olive COM
plexion, and straight black hair
They speak the Russian language and
belong to the Greek Church, of which
they are faithful members. In point
numbers they are about the same as
they were fifty years ago, the deaths
about equalling the births, so that the
Malthusian theory about over popula-
ton is not applicable to their case
During the winter season, which lasts
more than half the year, they sleep
most of their time, only waking up to
cook their food and eat it, drink beer
which they call "guass' and on which
| they get Il little intoxicated, play at
cards and go to church. Some of the
women have learned to play the accor-
deon. and the Americans have taught
them such tunes as "Dixie," '.Shoo
Fly and John Brown" the last be-
ing an especial favorite in the commu-
nifty. Such are the people who catch
the seals.
There are four kinds of seals on the
islands, the fur seal, the seal lion, the
hair seal and the walrus. The kind
of seal found in the Geological Gar
dens and stuffed in the museums is the
hair seal, but that is not the seal which
gives us our furs. The fur seal is to
/ us the most valuable and interesting.
This gentleman, when full grown,
which is when he is seven or eight
years old, and when he first comes out
| from his winter quarters in the seas to
his summer resort on the islands,
weighs from 400 to 900 lbs, and meas
ures from 81 to Z! feet from the tip of
his nose TO the end Of his tail. He has
IA small head, large and expressive eyes
those of the female being especially
lustrious and beautiful-and wears a
luxuriant yellowish gray moustache
on his upper lip.
The males come to the islands first,
some time in May or June, just after
the American people have done their
annual moving. They come up from
the sea by thousands, and each male
selects space of ground about ten feet
square or larger, which is his by right
of possession. Sometimes one seal
takes fancy to the spot chosen by
another, and then they have a fight
for it, the stronger of course winning.
and the other one marching off to the
tune of "John Brown" in search of
another location.
1t takes the males about three or
four weeks TO get these matters settled,
and then the females begin to arrive
in numbers much greater than the
males. The males select from the new
arrivals as many companions as they
think properand conduct them to their
respective habitations. Some old Nor
mons, regular bluebeards, have been
seen with rs many as forty. The fe-
males never think of forsaking the To-
cations to which they are at first coax
ed, but it occasionally happens that a
terrible fight takes place between their
protector and some other male seal
who covets his neighbor's house and
wives too. AS before, so in this case,
the law is always on the side of the
strongest.
The young seal pups are born almost
as soon as the females reach the islands,
and they are taken great care of by their
mothers so long as they remain at
home. The males also fight for the
pups if an enemy invades the homes
but if the young folks wander from
their particular location, they have to
find their way back as best they may,
and if captured or even killed, the
mothers do not care in the least
With them "out of sight" means "out
of mind"
The seals remain on these islands
for five or six months, and during all
this time eat nothing whatever. They
eat SO many fish and get so fat while
they are in the water during the WIN
ter, that all they have to do in the
summer is to loll about in the sun
tapping their great fins about and try
ing to keep cool, being. sustained by
the absorption of their own fat. Not
so the females, which go into the sea
occasionally for day or two at time,
taking their pups with them. The
pups cannot at first swim, but they
succeed after a few efforts, and then
! delight in the water, twisting, turning,