370 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



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third of its width in the center, from end to end, clear and open as a passage-way, while on each 

 side are rows of stanchions with sliding plauks, which are taken down and put up in the form of 

 deep bins, or boxes "kenches," the sealers call them. As the pile of skins is laid at the bottom 

 of an empty ' kench," and salt thrown in on the outer edges, these planks are also put in place, so 

 that the salt may be kept intact until the bin is filled as high up as a man can toss the skins. 

 After lying two or three weeks in this style they become " pickled," and they are suited then at 

 any time to be taken up and rolled into bundles of two skins to the package, with the hairy side 

 out, tightly corded, ready for shipment from the islands.* 



AVERAGE WEIGHT OF RAW SKINS. The average weight of a two-year-old skin is ui pounds ; 

 of a three-year-old skin, 7 pounds; and of a four-year-old skin, 12 pounds, so that, as the major 

 portion of the catch is two or three year-olds, these bundles of two skius each have an average 

 weight of from 12 to 15 pounds. In this shape they go into the hold of the company's steamer at 

 Saint Paul, and are counted out from it in San Francisco. Then they are either at once shipped to 

 London by the Isthmus of Panama in the same shape, only packed up in large hogsheads of 

 from twenty to forty bundles to the package, or expressed by railroad, via New York, to the same 

 destination. 



PACKING SKINS FOR SHIPMENT. The work of bundling the skius is not usually commenced 

 by the natives until the close of the last week's sealing; or, in other words, those skins which 

 they first took, three weeks ago, are now so pickled by the salt in which they have been lying ever 

 since as to render them eligible for this operation and immediate shipment. The moisture of the 

 air dissolves and destroys a very large quantity of the saline preservative which the company 

 brings up annually in the form of rock salt, principally obtained at Carmen Island, Lower Cali- 

 fornia. 



LAW PROTECTING THE SEALS. The Alaska Commercial Company, by the provisions of law 

 under which they enjoy their franchise, are permitted to take one hundred thousand male seals 

 annually, and no more, from the Pribylov Islands. This they do in June and July of every year. 

 After that season the skins rapidly grow worthless, as the animals enter into shedding, and, if 

 taken would not pay for transportation and the tax. These natives are paid 40 cents a skin for 

 the catch, and they keep a close account of the progress of the work every day; they do so, as it 

 is all done by them, and they know within fifty skins, one way or the other, when the whole num- 

 ber have been secured each season. This is the only occupation of the three hundred and ninety- 

 eight people here, and they naturally look well after it. The interest and close attention paid by 

 these natives, on both islands, to the " holluschickie " and this business was both gratifying and 

 instructive to me during my residence there. 



ERRONEOUS POPULAR IDEAS. The common or popular notion with regard to seal skins is 

 that they are worn by those animals just as they appear when offered for sale; that the fur-seal 

 swni - about, exposing the same soft coat with which our .ladies of fashion so delight to cover their 

 lender forms during inclement winter. This is a very great mistake ; few skius are less attrac- 

 tive than is the seal skin when it is taken from the creature. The fur is not visible ; it is concealed 

 entirely by a coat of stiff overhair, dull, gray-brown, and grizzled. It takes three of them to make 

 a lady's sacque and boa, and, in order that the reason for their costliness may be apparent, I take 

 great pleasure in submitting a description of the tedious and skillful labor necessary to their dress- 

 ing ere they are fit for sale. A description of this process will be found in the Section of this 

 report on PREPARATION OF FISHERY PRODUCTS. 



'The bundled skins are carried from tlio salt-houses to the haidar, when the order for shipment is given, and tossed 

 into that lighter, one by one, to be rapidly stowed ; 700 to 1,200 bundles make the average single load ; then, when 

 alongside the steamer, they are again tossed up, and cm her deck, from whence they are stowed in the hold. 



