The record-union., 1896-07-04
SEALS NOT EASILY CAUGHT.
Hunters Experience Great Difficulty
in Bringing Them Ashore.

in Bringing Them Ashore.
Hunting sea lions is an important in
dustry on the islands off the California
coast. The schooner F'alson has started
on another four months cruise among
the islands south of California and off
the coast of Mexico for the hair seal, or
California sea lion. These wary seals
climb out of the seas upon rock hedges
and enjoy themslevs in the sun. An
old bull usually has six or eight wives.
Occasionally the husbands fight vicious
ly with other males, and they are very
jealous of their families. Parental af1ec-
tion for the pup seals is marked. Tne
daddies labor earnestly teaching the
children to swim. Strange to say, the
pups are averse to the waiter at first,
but after a time they enjoy a frolic in
the surf ais keen1y as do the old folk.
The skins of these bulls, cows and
pups are what the hunters seek. They
land upon am island and sneak UP be-
hind hundreds of seals summing on the
rocky Lodges. Each bullet is sent into
the animals skull, if the hunters aim
is true, and death is instant Oniy
the brain wound causes instant deaun.
If wounded elsewhere the seal usually
gets into the sea and sinks before the
hunter reaches its body.
So expert do the hunters become With
their rifles that they frequently nre
sixteen shots with their W1ncheSterS,
each killing seal, before the heard dis
appears into the sea. The hides are
sent aboard the ship and saited down.
When the vessel is filed the cargo Is
taken Ito Sam Francisco and sold at 8 to
6 cents pound. Pup hides, weighing
twenty pounds, are the most valuable.
Adult hides weigh fifty to eighty
pounds, and sell for to cents
pound Leather men men use these
hides for horse collars, harness and
other articles requiring particularly
tough leather.
The inaccessibility of the seal rook-
cries frequently involves the hunters IN
danger. The seals are shot from a prom
ontory. Then the hunter is lowered on
rope by his companions 100 to 2OO feet
to the slippery wave-washed rocks oe-
low, where the dead seals l1e lie
quickly skins the animals. A small
boat from the ship rides outside the
surf line ready to carry the hides away.
A small line is f1oated ashore to the
hunter, who ties the hides to it one by
one, and the boat is loaded, the hunter
is drawn ito the top of the cliff, and
another rookery 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
rnuzzle are highly priced by Cinnamon,
and large quantities are exported TO
China The Chinese mount these hairs
with gold for use as toothpicks and ear
spoons. Other parts of the animals are
dried and shipped to China for use by
the native doctors, who claim that they
effect marvellous cures with the med1-
cines 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
fiying overhead a lion will dive and
swim some distance under water from
the point where he disappeared. He
approaches the surface carefully, al
lowing merely the tip of his nose to
show above the surface. By giving his
body a rotary motion this nose tip
makes circles on the ocean, and to the
eye of the flying gull resembles a water
bug at play With a swish the deceived
gull rushes down from it's station like
a ball from a gun. The lion sinks few
inches, and as the gull hits the water
with tremendous impetus the jaws
close nercilessly on the sea fowl and
it is hauled below the surface and de-
voured.
Upon approaching a rookery occupied
by a numerous herd of sea lions one
first hears their lbng, plaintive howl
ings, as if in distress, but when near
them the sounds become more varied
and deafening. The old males roar so
loudly as to drown the noise of the
heaviest surf among the rocks and cav
erns, and the pups Ncroak hoarsely or
send forth sounds like the bleating Of
sheep or the barking of dogs.
The lions take great risks when at
tempting to escape from hunters. In
one instance about twenty lions were
collected on the brink of a precipitous
cliff about sixty feet above the rocks,
which shelved from the beach below.
The hunters thought that by surpris-
ing the animals they could drive them
over the cliff and that the tremen-
dous fall upon the sharp rocks below
would kill them all. The surprise was
successful. Every lion jumped to what
seemed certain death, but to the chagrin
CT the hunters when they arrived at
the foot Of the cliff, where they expect
ed to find the lions either helplessly
mutilated or dead, the last animal of
the herd was seen plunging into the sea.
New York Press.