The bee., 1884-06-07
SEAL HUNTING.
Wholesale Slaughter on the Coast OF
Labrador.

La0T8QOTs
The sealing season, writes CORE
spondent from st. Johns, New Found
land, commences about the 1st of March,
and ends about the last of May,
during which time several of the sealers
make two voyages. and on rare occasions
three. The owners of all sealing vessels
furnish all the boats, sealing gear, pow
der, shot and provisions, in consideration
of which they are entitled to one-half the
seals, and the crew or hunters are entitled
to the other half. The masters of the
vessels receive percentage of the own
er's share as salary. Four different
kinds of seals are caught on the coasts of
Labrador and Greenland-the harp, the
square flipper, the hood, and the native
! seal. The square tlipper is the largest,
and the native is the smallest of the seals
caught. But the meat of the young ma,
tive seal is used as food, and is relished,
being as pleasant to the taste as any salt
water bird. Its length is from three to
five feet, and it is more easily domesti
Gated than any other species of the seal.
1t frequents quiet bays on the coast of
Greenland. The hood seal is so named
from hood covering over the head, ca
pablo of being distended and elevated or
depressed at pleasure. 1t is the most diff
6cult to kill, because it initiates the hood,
which is so thick that club or bullet
will not penetrate it, but if struck in
the throat it invariably, though reluc-
family, submits.
, The hood seal is most eagerly sought
after. They have their young early in
March, and whole families are found on
the ice and easily killed. The harp seal
receives its name from large black,
crescent-shapcd mark On each side of the
back 1t ranges from six to eight, and
sometimes nine, feet in length. Seal
hunting requires great patience and skill.
One seal seems to be always placed on
watch where dangeris to be apprehended
from bears and hunters They climb up
through the holes in the ice, and will re-
main for hours, if not disturbed. They
will scent hunter at q great distance,
especially if the hunter is to the wind
ward of them, and no sooner does the
scent become perceptible to the seal than
he dashes oil into the water The food
OF the seal is salmon, whitefish, and cod
fish. 1t is believed that the hunters must
keep up a sharp war. on the seals in the
vicinity of Newfoundland and in the Gulf
of st. Lawrence, in order that codfisher-
men may have larger catches. The ham
tiers believe that the number of seals is
increasing in the west of Newfoundland,
and the scal-fshing has become one of
vital importance; but this alone would
not support the colony. The seals search
for salmon is so eager that it has been
known to hunt the neighborhood of the
salmon-nets for long time, and to take
the fish after they have been entrapped.
Contrary to the opinion of many, the
fur seal is never found on this coast, but
there is considerable difference in the
species of the common seal. The latter
is generally found in small herds. Its
skin and oil are of considerable mercan-
tile Importance. The skin is dressed and
tanned and used as leather. The oil, il
made before decay has begun, is color
less and nearly inodorous, and it is much
superior to whale oil for many purposes.
The flesh is used for food in Greenland
and Labrador. BY the eagerness of the
hunter, he generally loses in the hunt ten
per cent of those he kills, as he fire.
quently kills and piles on the ice, at a
/ great distance from the vessel, a lot OF
J seals. In such case, in transporting
the skins to the vessel they frequently
become frostbitten, which makes then
) worthless, or they are capsized from tht
/ ice in a gale After the seal is shot, o.
> caught, the skinner removes the fat Al
expert will remove the fat from fiv'
hundred seals in ten hours, being careful
ftt Efts if if Il dIedGcis I is ten eebas every hole h
, About 5000 pounds of seal fat win pro
duce $50 gallons of oil. The herring
and Goldfish fisheries, together with th'
seal-hunting, if carried on with prope
care and treatment, would be the mean
D of giving lucrative employment to man
{ more of our people, and enable them t.
provide the necessaries of life, of whicl
many of them are now destitute.