The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-07-24

A Dangerous Occupation OF the
Californian Coast
uncovered From Promontories
70 Get Hides.


out Of the seq upon rocky lodges and
enjoy themselves in the sun. An old
bull usually has elk or eight wivea
Occasionally the husbands fight
yiciously with other males, and are
very jealous Of their families Pater-
nal affection for the pup seals is
marked The daddies labor earnestly,
teaching the children TO swim.
Strange to say the pups arc aversc to
the water at first, but after a time they
enjoy irolic in the surf as keenly as
do the old folks.
The skins Of these bulls, cows and
pups are what the hunters seek They
land upon an island and sneak up be-
hind hundreds of seals summing on the
rocky lodges A bullet is sent into an
animals skull, and If the hunters aim
is true death is instant Only brain
wound would cause instant death. If
wounded elsewhere, the seal usually
gets into the sea and sinks before the
hunter reaches the body. SO expert
do the hunters become with their
rifles that they frequently fire sixteen
shots from their Winchesters, each
killing q seal, before the herd disap-
pears into the sea. The hides are
sent aboard ship and sailed down.
When the vessel is filed, the cargo is
taken to San Francisco and sold for
three to six cents pound. Pup hides,
weighing 20 pounds, are the most val
liable. Adult hides weigh 80 to so
pounds, and sell for three or four
cents a pound. Leather men use
these hides for horse collars, harness
and other articles requiring particu-
larly tough leather.
The inaccessibility of the seal rock
cries frequently involves the hunters
in danger. The seals are shot from a
promontory. Then the hunter is
lowered on a rope by his comrades
1O0or 200 feet to the slippery wave.
washed rocks below, where the dead
seals lie He quickly skins the AMI
mails. A small boat from the ship
rides outside the surf line ready to
carry the hides away. A small line is
Aoated ashore to the hunter, who ties
the hides to it one by one, and the
boat is loaded, the hunter is drawn to
the top of the cliff, and another rock.
cry is sought for more game. The
surf about these deep sea islands is
very high, and is one of the obstacles
of the seal hunter.
The long stiff hairs from the seals
muzzle are highly priced by China.
men, and large quantities are ex-
ported to China. The Chinese mount
these hairs with gold for use as tooth
picks and earspoons. Other parts of
the animals are dried AMI shipped to
China for use by the native doctors,
who claim that they effect marvellous
cures with the medicine made from
these parts.
The sea lions are rather cute in
their way. They enjoy a great deal
of sea fowl occasionally. When the
gulls are flying overhead lion vii
dive and swim some distance under
water from the point where he disap
peared. He approaches the surface
carefully, allowing merely the tip o
| his black nose to show above the sur
face. By giving his body arotary mo
ton this nose tip makes circles on tn
ocean, and to the eye of the fyinj
t gull, resembles a waterbug at play
With a swish the deceived gull rushe
5 down from its station above like q bal
from a gun. The lion sinks a fey
inches, and as the gulls hits the waite
with tremendous impetus the Jaw
| close mercilessly on the sea fowl, an
it is hauled below the surface and de
voured.
/, Upon approaching rookery occu
pied by numerous herd Of sea lion
/. one first hears their long, plaintiv,
howlings, as if in distress; but whel
near them, the sounds become NOR
varied and deafening. The old male
roar SO loudly as to drown the nois
of the heaviest surf among the rock
d and caverns, and the pups croa
n hoarsely or send forth sounds like til