Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-12-05
miscellaneous.
Sealing in Labrador.

Sealing. one of the peculiar industries
of Esouimaux Point and Natashquan. Is
the most venturesome occupation OF the
Labrador coast. Seals are taken in three
ways-by hunting them along the bays
and shores in boats or on the ice, by net
ting them Is fish are taken, and by follow
inc them out to sea in vessels and killing
them on the foes. sometimes met boat
sailing about the islands and bays with
two men aboard eagerly watching the wa
ter and the rocks for the haroor seals:
Dressed in coats and skull-caps made OF
seal-skin, they often creep along the rocks
with the motions of the seal. and decoy
the animal by calling. Some OF them
have trained dog.
..What is he good for in such work ?"
inquired. HE can hardly be retriever
for animals weighing hundreds OF
pounds"
Yes, he is, sir, if seals are fat when
killed, they float, but even if they are very
poor it takes but little tc float them. And
the dog Jumps off and catches them often
before they sink. or he'll dive for them in
shallow water. When they sink in deep
water we often Jig them-haul them up
with fish-hook and line. Some seals
dive when wounded and swim off to sea !;
others turn to the shore and crawl up on
a rock to die"
In the spring of the year they hunt seals
on the ice when it drifts against the shores.
Cape Bauld, Newfoundland, is noted
point for this kind of sealing. The foes
coming from the northern seas strike on
this cape and divide into two parts; one
enters the Strait of Belle Isle, and the
other goes southwark along the coast OF
Newfoundland.
The people told me that hundreds OF
hunters come there in March with dog
sleds from the settlements about Hare
Bay. etc. Each gang OF men bring skin,
provisions, etc.. and many camp in little
huts, and remain till the 9Th or 10th of
May They keep constant watch over
the drifting fields of ice. When seals are
discovered on foe touching the shore or
near it, the men put OF to it in their skiff,
haul the boat up to the ice, and then go
about clubbing the seals. They soon re-
turn to the shore with blubber and hides.
which they bury under snow for keeping
until trading schooner calls. Sometimes
the wind or the current suddenly loosens
the ice and carries it out to sea, and the
sport is then quite perilous. The netting
OF seals is not unlike the taking Of fish in
nets. A strong net may be moored off a
favorable point or in channel, or sever
al nets are combined and moored to form
kind of pond. At La Tacatiere. Cape
Mecatina. noted resort of seals. the com
bination of net measures about 700 faith
oms When seals are abundant, several
hundreds and even thousands were taken
there in a season. In favorable cove a
net may be sunk on the bottom until the
seals enter then it is raised with a wind
lass to close the entrance, and men in
boats row about the bay and drive the
seals into the meshes
| The ocean sealing is the most costly and
productive method. Powerful steamers
built expressly for this work, and manned
by 200 or 300 men, are sent out every year
from St. Johns, Newfoundland, and Dun
dee, Scotland. The sealing fleet of Eskl-
maux Point and Natashquan numbers
about forty small schooners. In 1881 they
took 10000 seals. but in 1882 only 5000.
The strength of these vessels is remarka-
BILE. The one saw building at Eskimaux
Point had timbers twelve inches square
laid in solid, and bolted one to the other
and the bow was mass of beams and
braces. The oil is tried out in furnaces
along the beach; the hides are sent to
London for tanning. Magazine