368 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



BLUBBER OF FUR-SEAL : UNPLEASANT ODOR. On the removal of the skin from the body of 

 the fur-seal, the entire surface of the carcass is then covered with a more or less dense layer, or 

 envelope, of a soft, oily, fat blubber, which in turn completely conceals the muscles or flesh of the 

 trunk and neck ; this fatty substance, which we now see, resembles that met with in the seals gen- 

 erally everywhere, only possessing that strange peculiarity not shared by any other of its kind, of 

 being positively overbearing and offensive in odor to the unaccustomed human nostril. The rot 

 ting, sloughing carcasses around about did not, when stirred up, affect me more unpleasantly 

 than did this strong, sickening smell of the fur-seal blubber. It has a character and appearance 

 intermediate between those belonging to the adipose tissue found on the bodies of cetacea and 

 some caruivora. 



This continuous envelope of blubber to the bodies of the " holluschickie" is thickest in deposit 

 at those points upon the breast between the fore nippers, reaching entirely around and over the 

 shoulders, where it is from 1 inch to a little over in depth. Upon the outer side of the chest it is 

 not half an inch in thickness, frequently not more than a -quarter; and it thins out considerably 

 as it reaches the median line of the back. The neck and head are clad by an unbroken continu- 

 ation of the same material, which varies from one-half to one-quarter of an inch in depth. Toward 

 the middle line of the abdominal region there is a layer of relative greater thickness. This is 

 coextensive with the sterno-pectoral mass ; but it does not begin to retain its volume as it extends 

 backward, where this fatty investment of the carcass upon the loins, buttocks, and hinder limbs 

 fades out finer than on the pectoro-abdomiual parts, and assumes a thickening corresponding to 

 the depth on the cervical and dorsal regions. As it descends on the limbs this blubber thins out 

 very perceptibly ; and when reaching the nippers it almost entirely disappears, giving way to a 

 glistening aureolar tissue, while the flipper skin finally descends in turn to adhere closely and 

 firmly to the tendinous ligamentary structures beneath, which constitute the tips of the Pinni 

 pedia. 



The flesh and the muscles are not lined between, or within, by fat of any kind. This blubber 

 envelope contains it all with one exception that which is found in the folds of the small 

 intestine and about the kidneys, where there is an abundant secretion of a harder, whiter, though 

 still offensive, fat. 



FLESH OF FUR-SEAL AS AN ARTICLE OF DIET It is quite natural and very much the fashion 

 for our people, when they first eat a meal on the Pribylov Islands, to ask questions in regard to 

 what seal meat looks and tastes like; some of the white residents will answer, saying that they 

 are very fond of it, cooked so and so ; others will reply that in no shape or manner can they stom 

 ach the dish. The inquirers must needs try the effect on their own palates. I frankly confess 

 that I had a slight prejudice against seal meat at first, having preconceived ideas that it must be 

 fishy in flavor, but I soon satisfied myself to the contrary, and found that the flesh of young seals 

 not over three years old was full as appetizing and toothsome as most of the beef, mutton, and 

 pork I was accustomed to at home; the following precautions must be rigidly observed, however, 

 by the cook who prepares fur-seal steaks and sausage balls for our delectation and subsistence 

 he will fail, if he does not : 



(1.) The meat must be perfectly cleaned of every vestige of blubber or fat, no matter how 

 slight. 



(2.) Cut the flesh, then, into very thin steaks or slices, and soak them from six to twelve 

 hours in salt and water (a tablespoon of fine salt to a quart of fresh water) ; this whitens the meat 

 and removes the residuum of dark venous blood that will otherwise give a slightly disagreeable 

 taste, hardly definable, though existing. 



