EFFECTS OF LAND KILLING. 119 



With the knocking down of the killable seals and the release of those not suitable, 

 the work of handling the seals on land ceases to have tiny effect on the life of the 

 herd. The processes of taking and curing the skins have been so well described by 

 Mr. Elliott and others that it is hardly necessary to redescribe them, but for the 

 sake of completeness a brief summary may be given. 



SKINNING THE SEALS. 



As the animals are clubbed they are stretched out in order, with space for the 

 skinners to work about them. The skull of the fur seal is its weakest point, and the 

 blow of the club renders the animal instantly unconscious, if it does not kill it 

 outright. It is immediately stuck to the heart with a knife, which serves the double 

 purpose of insuring death and bleeding the animal. 



THE DIVISION OF LABOR ON THE KILLING FIELD. 



The Aleuts, by whom the various operations are carried on, follow at present a 

 systematic division of labor, working in four sections, the operations of "clubbing," 

 "sticking," "flippering," and "skinning" going on simultaneously. The clubbing and 

 skinning are done by the most skillful and experienced of the men. The beginners do 

 the sticking and flippering. This last process involves the cutting of the skin loose 

 from about the nose, tail, and nippers, and slitting it through the median line of the 

 belly. When this is done the animal passes into the hands of the skinner, who 

 removes the pelt with a few quick strokes of the knife, spreading it out flesh side 

 downward on the grass to cool. 



THE TREATMENT OF THE SKINS. 



The skins are gathered up in wagons and counted into the salt house, where they 

 are salted in tiers, with the flesh side up, layers of salt alternating with the skins. 

 After lying thus for five or six days they are taken out and resalted in reverse order. 

 They remain in this salt for about ten days or two weeks, when the process of curing 

 is complete, and they are taken out, wrapped in neat bundles, each containing two 

 skins, and tied securely, ready for shipment. 



The skins are then counted into the bidara, which is to lighter them to the ship, and 

 are counted for a third time into the hold of the vessel. At San Francisco they are 

 placed in casks and shipped to London, where they are dressed and dyed and finally 

 distributed to be manufactured into garments. 



THE EFFECTS OF LAND KILLING. 



Owing to the polygamous habit of the fur seals, the greater part of the male life 

 born is superfluous for breeding purposes. For the 130,000 breeding cows found on 

 the rookeries of St. Paul and St. George islands in the season of 1897, 4,418 bulls were 

 adequate, or at least out of fully 10,000 adult bulls ready and willing to serve harems, 

 only this number were able to obtain them. Therefore only 1 bull in 30 is absolutely 

 necessary under .present conditions. That this limit could be materially lowered 

 without positive danger to the herd is conclusively shown by the history of the 

 Russian herd on Bering Island, where the observations of the past three years, as 

 detailed by Dr. Stejneger, show that a male fur seal is capable of attending to the 

 wants of between 100 and 200 cows. l 



Stejneger, Prel. Report, 1897, p. 11. 



