The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1883-01-25
SEAL HUNTING.
1he hunters Dirty. Oily set-..Cu.
rious Facts from seal Hunting Eek.
periences.

The Hunters a Dirty. Oily set-..Cu.
rtous Facts from seal N uniting Ex,
periences.
Detroit Free Press.
motley and curious lot are the men yho
for few weeks in the year hunt the seal saws
letter writer at St Johns, N. F. Stalwart in
frame and used to the sea until they have alb
solute contempt of its terrors, bold in adven-
ture on the treacherous ice foes and marvel
ously skilled in seal lore, they make up body
OF men in some respects not to be matched on
the globe. Crowded like pigs on a sailing
steamer, they cultivate positive affection for
dirt, and regard it as kind of honorable
badge for their adventurous calling. During
avoyage of several weeks they never take of
their clothes, even to sleep. The oil from seal
blubber fairly drips from their garments, dirt,
SCOT and tar adhere to their faces in steadily
thickening strata, and when they finally enter
port to strut the street in unwashed glory thew
are incarnate emblems of filth and odor A
night in st. Johns after the arrival of two or
three lucky seal crews means bedlam for the
city, Honest burghers fly the streets and look
well to the doors and shutters O. nights. On
the ice the endurance, sure -footedness and
daring of the seal hunters are well nigh
incredible. They leap from cake
to cake where it seems even a
child could not be sustained, drag their heavy
boats long distances through the hummocks
and think nothing of passing a night ON the
Ice far from the steamer, provided only seal
are near. Their cold hands they warm by
thrustinS them i'll the gashes cut in the still
in nnr Of In
stance is recorded where freezing sealer
saved his life by heaplng up the CORY car
casses for night over his own body When
hunting the sealers so by twos, SO that one
can aid his companion should he fall in the
water between the foes. Though the finding
considerable depends on the sagacity of the
captain, who, if up to his business, watches
carefully the winds of late February and
carly March, so as to know where and when
the ice can best be met so
Curious and isolated facts gathered from
sealing experiences are related here without
number. Some years ago. during an other
wise bad season, the seals @struck in" on the
ice near the Newfoundland coast, while the
steamers were away. Women and children,
leaving the shore, engaged in the slaughter,
and during :, few DAYS G4000 head were killed
within a few miles OF ST. Johns. At about the
same time cyclops among the seals was
found with only single perfectly developed
eye exactly In the center of the forehead. In
another case large, shapely animal had eight
fippers instead of four, the usual number.
The hlppefs of the novel creature, all of full
size, were arranged symmetrically by four on
the upper and lower parts of the body.
Whether these specimens were freaks of
nature or represented separate species, is a
question for biologists. The fippers of the
rare dainty by the islanders, and are often
brought back from the ice in long strings to
be kept for food When, as rarely happens,
more seals are found than a single steamer
can load, the surplus are killed and the pelts
heaped on the ice, 10 be marked with the
steamers flag. III that case an unloaded YES
sci can bring in the pelts and demand Ger
tain large percentage of their value. On their
second voyage out the steamers seek the full
grown animals, which weigh SOME 200 pounds.
They are fierce fellows, who force their way
to the water and have to lie shot, making the
process of collecting pelts slow and unprOfita-
bic as compared with the capture of a new
born herd
When the steamers arrive the pelts are nm
loaded and Transferred to the oil factories
which line the border of st Johns harbor.
The blubber is separated from the pelt to be
tried into oil, which is used for lubricating,
for the fine soaps and dozen other purposes.
The skins are sailed, then sent to Europe
where they are tanned into coarse but hand
some leather, particularly beautiful for its
SfalnlnG, and worked up for purses, costly
bookbinding and like uses AS stated the
sealing business of the north Atlantic is
almost monopolized by Observation-Disclosures
4 feet of steamers belonging to a firm at
Dundee, Scotland, come every year to St
Johns but they take their crews on here and
here also is the factory Of the owners The
monopoly is now and promises to be for all
time natural one, founded ON proximity to
the ice, and still tirmer on the long traditions
the trained eXpe fence and the almost reckless
enterprise OF, the bold island sealers.