Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-05-31

ters, or cleanly cut away parts of the bot
tom, and leave the vessels to sink and the
men TO save themselves as best they may
upon broken and drifting ice. Often field
of thin bay-ice will lie right in the path.
Then The ship dashes into Il as far as its
power can force il. When il sticks, the
crew leap overheard, chop and break the
field into cakes which are showed under the
foe or hauled out on top: or, If it is too
thick to be broken, saws are brought out
and canal is slowly made for the ships
progress. This is a time of great desire for
haste, and you may well believe that every
man works with all his might.
Well, when all this toll and danger are
passed, ,--sometimes greatly prolonged, and
in the midst of frozen sea and the most
violent storms,-and the ship has the good
lack to sight herd, then begins for the
crew of hardy sailors a season Of about the
most arduous labor that one can imagine.
If the weather permit, the vessel is run
into the ice, and moored there; if not, il
sails back and forth in open spaces, man
aged by the captain and one or two others,
while the remainder of the crew, sometimes
sixty or seventy, or even more in number,
get into boats and row swiftly TO the foe.
The young seals lie scattered about here and
buCits DdShluB III Jnb BUN Vi bntlUeTeO uuQeT
the lee of a hummock, and they lie so thickly
that half a dozen will often be seen in a
space twenty yards equare. They cannot
get away, or at most can only founder about,
and their plaintive bleatipgs and white co5ts
might almost be those of lambs. The nd
seals are frightened away by the approach
of the sailors, and never show fight, and the
youngsters are easily killed; so the men do
not take guns, but only clubs, with which
they strike the poor little fellows a single
blow on the head, usually killing them at
once.
Having struck down all they can see
within short distance, the small squad of
men who work together then quickly skin,
or Gas they call iD "sculp" them, with
broad clasp-knife, cutting clear through the
thick layer of fat which lies underneath the
hide, and so leaving surprisingly small
carcass behind. Bundles are then made of
from three TO seven "pelts," and each man
drags bundle toward the boat. This is
sometimes miles distant, the ice is rough
and broken, he must leap cracks, trust him
self to isolated cakes, and often he falls
into the freezing water, or loses his way in
sudden squall of snow. 1t is Undertaking
and life-risking work, and, to accomplish it
successfully, man must school his muscles
to endurance, his nerves to peril, and his
heart to bitter cruelty; but every pelt is
worth dollar
By night, after seal-meadow" has
been attacked, the decks of the vessel are
hidden under deep layer of fat, slippery
pelts. After these have lain long enough to
get cool, they are slowed away in the hold
in pairs, each pair having the hair outward.
The hold is divided by stout partitions into
compartments, or "pounds," in order to
prevent the cargo from moving about and so
rubbing the fat into oil, which would speed
lily fill every part Of the hold and the cabins,
spelling all ike provisions. A vessel once
had to be abandoned from this accident, be-
cause it had not been "pounded." The
European ships, however, generally separate
the fat at once and stow it in casks.-Eron,
" Seals and Sealing in the North Ahantic," by
Ernest Ingersoll, in 81. Nicholas for June.