The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1886-07-28
sealing In Labrador.

Sealing, one Of the peculiar indus
tries Of Esquimaux Point and Natash.
quan, Is the most venturesome oecupa-
tion 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 netting them as fish are
taken, and by following them out to
sea In vessels and killing them on the
foes. sometimes meet boat sailing
about the islands and bays with two
men aboard eagerly watching the wa
ter and the rocks for the harbor seals.
Dressed In coats and skull-caps made OF
seal-skin, they oftcn creep a'Jng 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?"
I inquired. HE can hardly be re-
triever for animals weighing hundreds
Of pounds"
Eyes, he is, sir: If seals are fat when
killed, they float, but even II they arc
very poor 1t takes but little to float
them. And the dog jumps off and
catches them often before they sink, or
he'H dive for them Id shallow water.
When they sink in deep water we often
Zig 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, Newfound.
land, is a noted point for this kind of
sealing. Tho 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 New
foundland.
The people told me that hundreds of
hunters como there in March with dog.
sleds from the settlements about Hare
Bay. etc. Each gang of men brings q
in little huts, and remain till the 9th or
10th Of May. They keep a constant
watch over the drifting fields Of ice.
When seals are discovered on a foe
touching the shore or near it, the men
put off to it in their skiff, haul the boat
up on the ice, and then 60 about club
bing the seals. They soon return to
the shore with blubber and hides, which
they bury under snow for keeping until
q 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 favorable point or
in channel, or several nets are COM
bined and moored to form a kind of
pound. At La Tabaticre, Cape Mecca
tina, noted resort of seals, the COM
bination of net measures about 700
| fathOms. When seals were abundant,
several hundreds and even thousands
were taken there in season. In a
favorable cove q net may be sunk on
the bottom until the seals enter; then it
Is raised with windlass 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 2O0 to 800 men, are
sent out every year from st. Johns,
Newfoundland, and Dundee, Scotland.
The sealing fleet Of Esquimaux Point
and Natashquan numbers about forty
small schooners. In 1881 they took
$4,000 seals, but in 1882. only 5000.
The strength Of these vessels is re.
markable. The one saw building al
] Esquimaux Point had timbers twelve
inches square laid in solid, and bOlted
one to the other, and the bow was o
mass of beams and braces. The oil il
tried out in furnaces along the beach
the hides are sent to London for tan.
ting.-C II. Fa,nham, IN Harpcr's
Magazine for October.