Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1882-06-25
Sealing.

The seals of the North Atlantic are
not hunted for their fur as are their
Alaska cousins, but chiefly for their
oil, and secoudarily for their skins. 1t
is an industry which profita bly employs
hundreds Of ships and thousands of
seamen, and it receives the name of
sealing"
You may know that near the end Of
winter enormous herds, chiefly of the
harp seals, come down and congregate
upon the floating fields of ice eastward
Of Newfoundland, where the young
are born in March. These are the
place and season Of the largest fishery,
but the locality is never fixed nor GER
tain; the fields. approached simulta-
neously by sailing fleets and steamers
from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Scot
land, England, France, Germany, and
Norway, must be sought for every year
AS though for the first time This is
in the icy. tempestuous North Atlantic,
at the most stormy period Of the year.
Dreadful gales may drive the ships
anywhere but where they seek to go,
bergs may be hurled against them, the
ice may jam them between its ponder
Gus edges and crush the doubly braced
hulls into spinters, or cleanly cut away
parts of the bottom, 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 it as
far as its power can force it. When it
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 brok-
en-, 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, d,-sOmetimes greatly pro-
longed, and in the midst of frozen
sea and the most violent storms,-and
the ship has the good lack to sight a
herd, then begins for the crew of hardy
sailors season of about the most ard
reus labor that one can imagine.
If the weather permit, the vessel is
run into the ice, and moOred there; IL
nst, it sails back and forth in open
spaces, managed by the captain and
ors or two others, whiie the remainder
of the crew, SON etime3 sixty or seven
ty, or even more in number, set into
bosts and row swiftly to the foe. The
yomng seals lie scattered about here
and there, baskirg in the sun or
sheltered under the lee of hummOck,
and they lie so thiokly that half a
dosen will often DO seen in space
twenty yards square. They can not
get away, or at most oln only founder
about, and their piaintive bleatings
and white coats might almost be those
oa lambs. The old seals are frightened
away by the approach of the sailors,
iaad never show fight, and the y0ung-
stsrs are easily xii ed; so the men do
not take guas, but only clubs, with
which they strike the poor Little I al
lows sinpls blow on the head, usually
killing theri at OEce
Having struck down all they SET
within "a short distance, the Smal
squad Of laen who work together ther
quickly skin, or las they calliD 'sculp
mem, with broad clasp knife. cuttin9
clear tArougb the THICK layer of ia
which lies underneath the hide, and 81
leaving "a surprisingly small carcass be
hind. Bundles are then made OF from
three to seven "pelts" and each MAJ
drags bundle toward the boat. Thi
is sometimes miles distant, the ice i
rough and bl oxen, he must leap cracks
trust himself to isolated cakes, an'
| octo.> ho colla into tho &, o. ginu wat pJ