The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-01-02
The Seal.

~
are used for fur, none have of late years
been so greata favorite, nor esteemed
of more utility, than that of the seal.
The NATIONAL attention has Of course
been additionally turned to this article
of commerce by our acquisition ofsthe
Territory of Alaska, which IS said to af-
ford hundred thousand skins of the
annual catch of 100000 in all the
world. Formerly the Russian Ameri-
can Fur Company of St. Petersburg
gathered these fur products from Alas
ka. Fur seals were collected mainly
from two small islands in Behring' 8
Straits, and the sea-otter skins along
the Alcutian Islands. They were col
lected by natives, brought to a great
depot at Sitka, and thence shipped to
London and St. Petersburg. The sum-
mer home of the seal of these seas is
on the st. Paul and St. Georges ISL
ands, situated 800 miles from any other
land, where from May to November
millions of seals line the shores. TO
prevent the determination of the seal,
the United States Governments, since
its acquisition of the Territory of Alas
ka, has extended protection over the
seal fisheries, providing that only male
seals shall be captured. and laying a
tax on the seals. Whether, however,
the compact is fairly kept we have no
means Of knowing, as other islands in
the neighborhood yield seal, and the
surplus catch can be attributed to those
indefinitely, and there is little power to
see that the contract is kept. The ex-
elusive right to the fur seal fisheries of
these Islands of St. George and St. Paul
is now granted to commercial COM
pany of San Francisco, CAL, who have
sixteen to twenty trading-posts, a dozen
vessels, and q large corps of traders
and employees. who collect the skins
and forward them to San Francis
co, whence they are shipped to all the
world.
Hunters frequently capture seals by
spearing them through the ice when
they come to breathe. In Alaska, from
five to ten men will 60 down among a
number of them and drive as MANY as
they want into their village, the
seals moving at the rate of half a
mile an hour. On arriving at the kill
ing ground theyare allowed forest and
COO. thsEsslvesy, the fur kaing apt I'd
come off # killed at once. Several OF
the creatures are now separated from
the drove and surrounded by q score
or so of men armed with long heavy
clubs, and with blow from these they
are killed. Three or four having been
knocked down, the men set about the
work of skinning. The skin, when
taken from the animal, is by no means
an attractive object. It is grayish and
dirty-looking, and goes through a re-
markable transformation before. it ap-
pears as the beautiful rich brown ma
terial on the market, surprising in APP.
pearance and velvety texture anything
which resembles it. The first process
to which it is subjected is that Of re.
moving all the long, coarse hairs, that
the under-fur, like the down on geese,
may alone remain. Formerly this was
done by pulling out these hairs one by
one. at vast expenditure of time and
money, until, by accident, the discov.
cry was made that the roots of the long
hairs were more deeply Embedded in
the skin, which was placed on a wooden
block with curved surface, and pared
down with knife until the roots of the
long hairs have been cut through and
the skins are very little thicker than a
kid glove. s,,y NJ. Fl. ~. -.
The next process to which it is sub
mitted is that of dyeing. This has
hitherto only been well done in Europe,
hence valuable furs are sent to London
to be dyed. Now, however. it is in ev.
idence that the best seal-skin dyeing is
done by firm in Albany, N. Y; but
as they confine their dyeing, opera.
tons to skins for their own use and
trade, it is Of comparatively little avail
to the public. though we may feel q
just National pride in the pre-eminence
of the skin of our countrymen.-Na.