Morning journal and courier., 1890-08-28

content with which he slumbers on 8
mound Of bloody skin and fat strikingly
illustrates the adaptability of the human
animal to his surroundings. The men
live chiefly on biscuit and tea sweetened
with molasses. This does not seem a nour-
ishing diet, and yet they all return with
muscles of iron and frames as stout as the
timbers in their ships.
1t only takes two OF three days to reach
the floating ice. And then the question
is where to find the seal. Their position
the year before is no criterion to go by.
There are wherever the ice is best and
safest, and the ice moves in obedience to
the laws of current, wind and storm. 1t
may be tomorrow a hundred miles from
where it is to-day. The sealers take great
chances, therefore, if they fail to enter
upon their work of slaughter as soon as
they catch sight of their victims. This is
a consideration of so much Importance
that the men are apt to inquire before
they ship concerning the religious convic-
tions of their sailing masters. They do
not like to go off under the authority of a
captain who objects to working on Sun
day. The Newfoundlanders are an ex-
ceedingly religious people, and the ques-
ton how far they are entitled to follow
up sealing opportunity on the Sabbath
day has held conspicuous place in the
theological discussions of the islands
clergy
CONSERVATION seizes the seal SO soon as
they catch sight of their human foes.
This is apt to be considerable while
In fact, the chorus of fear which is borne
by the wind into the hunters ears, is one
of the first signs that they are approaching
"seal patch" Soon, however, the black
spots on the ice appear in the distance,
and the ship is thrown at once into the
widest confusion. Crafty, like cat
charming bird, she moves through the
ice field, creeping along until it is plain
that the men can safely reach their prey.
Then she lays to, and at once a swarm of
hunters, 200 or 800 of them, spring upon
the ice, and, with gaff and knife, they
rush at the ''White-coats." The shouts OF
men, the low but never-ceasing grinding
of the ice, like distant thunder rumbling
in the sky, the infuriated roars of the
mocher seal, and the terrified, pitiful
cries of their cubs, for all
the world like the sobbing of child in
that is dreadful to hear.
1t is the young seal, the cub, that was
born only from three to six weeks before
that the hunters are after The skin is
then in its finest condition. The coat il
white and almost fur-like, and the heavy
lining of fat directly under the skin, BY
which the carcass is protected against the
cold, contains its greatest percentage OF
oil. A single blow with the "white
coats" nose is enough to stun, and Otter
to kill him. That delivered, the hunter
whips out his knife and in another second
the skin and.fat are stripped away and tbs
poor little creatures carcass is left steam
ing, bleeding and quivering ON the ice
The skin after it has been taken off il
called ''the pelt. ''The process by which
it has been acquired is known as -sculp
ing. The pelt OF "a .-i;.a.noat in his hes
condition is about three feet long, nssiu,
as wide, and it's weight about 40 pounds
When the hunter has got five or six pelt.
he strings them together and drags then
over the ice to the ship. 1t is not unusua
for a vessel to accomplish in a single da,
all that it has come so far to do. From
| 80, 900 to 100, 900 seal are often found in
single patch" and SO quickly can th'
| hunters work that they often load {,
| the gunwales within ten hours.
This, of course, is a lucky, though no
an unusual voyage. But in the chance o
getting il a thousand risks are run. Tn
1 Ctllcl VI ltlcSc Is ncahAcA- -NONAAA1
more fearful can be imagined than the &C
| ton of the ice under the influence of rag
| ing winds and raging reas. Vast Island
| of ice, hundreds of square miles in are
are lifted ON the crests of mighty wave
and dashed against each other, breakin
into Thousand blocks with a roar tina
would drown the voices of ten Niagaras
| Shooting this way and that, they are ofte
| piled upon one another in n colossal an,
| fantastic monument, more huge and gram
| and weird than any castle of old, Enger
| ing thus for n moment and then sent b,
| the impulse of another wave crashing int
| an iceberg or spinning across the glacia
| sea into the mists beyond. Resistance 4
such forces as these is utterly impossible
| Many noble ship has been ground int
| splinters between the ice or sent in an in
slant TO the bottom by blow from one o
these dreadful batteries. The escapes O
sailors in such perils are often incredible
Sometimes in the worst storms by skillfu
navigation or good luck, or both, the
| contrive to keep afioat. But often the
are forced to the desperate expedient Q
abandoning the ship and taking to the ice
] The chances, of course, are all agains
them, but il has occasionally happene
that by springing from pan" to ''pasl
they have contrived 10 reach land. Th
ordinary stories of the perils of the sc,
shipwreck, famine or fire, are tame indee
compared with the stories these seal-hun
ers can tell of their experiences ION ii
| Labrador