ALASKA INDUSTKIES. 19 



have to cg-mp on the slopes, where they are more exposed to the danger 

 of being cut off from the sea and to become the prey of the hunter. 

 The hunting begins as soon as the resting grounds are fully occupied, 

 which generally happens about the end of June. It is carried on until 

 the middle of November, when the seals leave the islands, to disappear 

 for five months in the vast expanse of the Pacific. The surrounding, 

 driving, killing, and flensing of the fur seals has been reduced to a 

 science by the natives of the islands. A day is waited for when the 

 direction of the wind allows of a rookery being ax)proached so that the 

 game can not scent the hunters. A i^arty of from twenty to thirty men, 

 armed with clubs, cautiously advance along the shore until the retreat 

 of the animals toward the sea is cut off by the line of hunters. Then, at 

 a signal from the chief of the expedition, the men rush up the clifl's and 

 drive toward the interior of the island as many seals as have been sur- 

 rounded. When the herd has been driven to a certain distance from 

 the shore, a halt is made, and a sorting of the game as to age, sex, and 

 condition of the fur is effected. This operation requires the exercise of 

 a lifelong experience, and is of the utmost imijortance, as the killing 

 of females, which are easily mistaken for young males even by the 

 natives, would endanger the propagation of the species, and the slaugli- 

 tering of males under 2 or over 4 years old would be a useless extermi- 

 nation, their furs having little value for trade. The sorting once 

 accomj)lished, all the animals not destined for killing are allowed to 

 escape toward the rookery, and the balance of the herd is driven to the 

 slaughtering grounds, situated near the salt houses. Great care is 

 taken, when driving, that the animals do not become overheated, for 

 should this happen the skins would become worthless, the fur falling 

 off". On reaching the slaughtering grounds, the drove is allowed a rest 

 of two or three hours, after which, at a signal given by one of the chiefs, 

 the killing is effected with wonderful rapidity. I have seen a drove of 

 1,600 seals dispatched by 30 men in little more than an hour of time. 

 As soon as the animals are killed, all available hands, men, women, and 

 children, rush to the work of flensing, which has to be finished as soon 

 as possible, to prevent the carcasses from stiflening. Every part of the 

 animal is turned to account — skin, flesh, blubber, and intestines. The 

 skins are immediately taken to the salt house and placed in large vats, 

 the fur side down, and the flesh side plentifully sprinkled with salt. 

 When the skins have been thoroughly saturated with salt, which process 

 requires about forty days, they are taken uj) and shaken. Then another 

 lighter coating of salt is applied, and they are booked up in folds, ready 

 for shipment. 



The commercial value of fur-seal skins depends upon their size, and 

 particularly upon the quality of the fur. The greatest proportion of 

 first-class skins are obtained from seals 3 years old. 



London is the most important and almost the only market for fur-seal 

 skins. There they are manufactured into elegant furs by a series of tech- 

 nical operations, the secret whereof is jealously kept by a single firm. 

 The prices obtained in London by American traders for seal skins shipped 

 in 1867 and 1868 ranged from 16 to 3U shillings per skin, according to 

 quality. The cost of each skin rendered at London, including compen- 

 sation of natives, expenses for salt, shipment from the islands to San 

 Francisco, transshipment for Europe, freight and commissions, amounted 

 to $1.50 in gold. This was the figure of costs when the price paid by 

 the traders to the natives for each skin was nominally from 20 to 40 

 cents, but actually less, as the same traders realized on some articles 

 furnished to the natives a ijrofit of nearly 100 per cent. At present, 



