FISHERIES AND SEAL-HUNTING. 95 



The nets, called "okkani," are 6 "sageues" (42 feet) deep, and have 

 meshes of 7£ inches. 



The following is the manner of proceeding: Forty boats join together 

 and elect a chief and an assistant chief. Then the boats sail out to sea 

 with a fair wind, or use their oars, going in a line, thus forming a sort 

 of chain. In every boat, there are three nets. The chief, followed by 

 twenty boats, is on the lookout for a herd of seals, which he endeavors 

 to cut off, while his assistant remains with the other half of the fleet at 

 some distance from the shore. When the chief thinks that the time for 

 action has come, he gives the signal by throwing into the sea a bale, to 

 which a flag is fastened. At this signal, the boats simultaneously cast 

 their nets, which are all tied together so as to form a wall of meshes, by 

 which the seals are soon completely surrounded. Then the hunters 

 begin to yell and to strike the water with their oars, in order to 

 frighten them. These seek to avoid the danger by plunging, but they 

 rush against the barrier of nets, and are caught in the meshes, so that 

 they can be killed without difficulty. This way of hunting is prohibited 

 in those parts of the sea where it injures the fishing or obstructs the first- 

 mentioned manner of hunting. The chase on the ice is fraught with 

 many dangers, and is, therefore, at present prohibited. The hunters, 

 sitting on little sledges drawn by strong and hardy horses, and provided 

 with food, continue on for several weeks to shoot old seals, and kill 

 young ones while they still have their white and silk-like fur. These 

 hunters brave all dangers; and it has sometimes happened that the 

 south or southwest wind, having detached large masses of ice from the 

 shore, has driven them out into the open sea, where they have floated 

 in all directions, with the adventurous huntsmen on them. These un- 

 fortunate hunters usually perish from cold and hunger on these masses 

 of ice, or find their death in the waves. 



12. — MANUFACTURE OF SEAL-OIL. 



The fat adhering to the skin of the seal is detached from it, cut 

 into pieces, and melted in caldrons, after which the oil is poured in 

 barrels. This is the simplest way of making seal-oil, aud the hunters 

 often employ it. But oil is also manufactured by steam in establish- 

 ments built for this purpose on the left bank of the Volga, opposite As- 

 trachan, by some rich merchants. Thirty-five " versts " (about twenty 

 miles) below Astrachan, the Sapojnikow Brothers have built a steam oil- 

 factory at the "vataga" (flshiug-establishment) of Ikriannaya. This 

 factory is particularly busy in the spring, when whole cargoes of seal- 

 fat arrive, which is either boiled immediately in order to extract the 

 oil, or is safely stored away in cellars. These cellars are long, floored, 

 and furnished with four ventilators and several windows. Large oak- 

 wood tubs, plated with lead on the inside, and capable of holding 700 

 " pouds " (25,200 pounds) of oil each, are placed at intervals in holes 

 dug in the ground. The oil which runs out from the seal-fat piled up 

 in layers flows into these tubs by way of an inclined plane. The oil is 



