THE ANTARCTIC SEAL FISHERIES. 435 



"The fur-seal which we take have been by travelers distinguished by the name of sea-dogs and 

 the ursine seal. "We call the male 'old wigs' and the female 'clapmatches.' The hair-seal 

 males are called sea-lions and the females 'clapmatches' also. The young seals are called 'pups' 

 until they are old enough to be called yearlings. The hair-seals and the fur-seals never associate. 

 The former always take a sandy beach and the latter always take a rocky one. They generally 

 lay in rookeries of from three hundred to several thousand. We take them by getting between 

 them and the water, and being frightened they huddle together when they are easily killed by a 

 blow over the nose with a walnut stick about 3 feet long. They sometimes break through for the 

 water and it is almost impossible to stop them. The old wigs take the lead and the others follow 

 like sheep. They are sometimes on very high ground, but they will go off a precipice 50 feet, 

 falling on their breast without apparent injury. Two or three years ago a man was knocked off 

 by them from a high rock and dashed to pieces. They are not dangerous if a good lookout is kept, 

 for they move slowly. Our men sometimes get bit by them, but it is through carelessness. After 

 they are killed the next thing is to skin them. The blubber is generally taken off with the skin, 

 as it is less labor than to skin close. The skins are then laid on a slab or tanner's beam, and the 

 blubber all taken off very clean, close to the skin, with what the tanners call a beaming knife. 

 After this they are all to be washed clean, the flipper holes sewed up, and carried to the pegging 

 ground, which is frequently a considerable distance, and sometimes en another island. The pegging 

 ground must be good clean ground, where it is clean and free enough from stones or rocks to get 

 the pegs down easily with the hand. They are pegged out with ten pegs each, and one good long 

 clear summer day will make them fit to come out of the pegs, but in this country w'e frequently 

 leave them down a week, and sometimes three weeks. After they are out of the pegs, they are to 

 be stacked and allowed to sweat a little, and in this way they are to be spread and stacked several 

 times before they are sufficiently cured to take on board the ship. During the whole time they 

 are in the pegs we are trimming them where they may curl so as not to receive the sun, and 

 scraping them with our knives to remove whatever blubber may be left on them. While aboard 

 ship they must be frequently shifted and beat to keep the worms out. The skins taken in the 

 winter must be salted and freshened in the spring. This requires considerable labor, as they must 

 be carried on board the ship to be salted, and then taken ashore to be dried. From West Point 

 we had to carry the skins about 4 miles to the pegging ground, but it was by water. They were 

 then carried up hill on our backs. There is a great deal of labor in getting a cargo of skins, but 

 we would not mind that if we could find them. The seal produce young yearly, generally two 

 pups; those among the islands appear to lay on the rocks most of the time. During the last two 

 spring months they are off the rocks most of the time, probably to wean their pups, as the pups 

 remain on the rocks. They remain off till near the pupping time again, which is early in the 

 summer. The old wigs are very much scarred from their battles for the females. * * * Our 

 shoes were not expensive here, as we generally wore moccasins. Taking a green seal skin, we put 

 a foot on it and cut around it, sew up the heel, and run a string round the toe, which draws it 

 up, and tie it on the instep. By walking it becomes leathered and soft to the foot. Hats got to be 

 a very scarce article. Some made seal skin hats. I did my own washing and ironing, and did 

 it well. Perhaps you would have langhed to see me ironing, but we have no idlers and boys. 

 Steward and all go sealing." 



CAPTURE OF SEA-ELEPHANTS AND CARE OP THE OEL. 



The bulls or full-aged male sea-elephants are enormous animals, varying from 12 to 24 feet in 

 length and from 10 to 15 feet in circumference. The females are scarcely one-third the size. 



