UTILIZATION OF THE SKINS OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 333 



old hood.s range from 15 to 24 pounds and average about $1.65 each 

 in value. Of the old seals the skins of the females are preferred to 

 those of the males, as the latter are frequently damaged about the 

 neck and foreflippers, by the animals lighting among themselves. 



The principal seal fisher}^ of northern Europe is prosecuted in the 

 seas about Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen by vessels sailing from Dundee 

 and various other ports of the North Sea, and engaged also in the cap- 

 ture of whales and walrus. As in the case of the Newfoundland fishery, 

 the Greenland or harp seal is the principal species secured in the Jan 

 Maj^en district, but many hooded or bladder-nosed seals are also 

 obtained, principally by shooting. During recent years about 35 ves- 

 sels have been engaged from the various ports, mostly from Norway 

 and Scotland, and the annual take of seals has ranged between 100,000 

 and 200,000, the proportion of mature seals being much greater than 

 in the Newfoundland fishery. Owing to increasing scarcity of seals 

 north of Europe, the British vessels have almost abandoned their 

 pursuit, leaving it in the hands of Norwegians, whose more economical 

 outfits enable them to continue the fisher}^ at a profit. 



In the seas north of Russia, especially the White Sea and in the 

 vicinity of Nova Zembla, manj^ harp seals are taken in the spring by 

 vessels from Norway and also b}^ natives of the coast. The fishery is 

 not so extensive as that off the Newfoundland coast, the product 

 amounting to probably less than 20 per cent of the latter. Another 

 important seal fishery is that of the Caspian Sea, the species captured 

 being peculiar to those waters. This industr}^ is centered at Astra- 

 khan, and the annual product is reported as less than 100,000 pelts. 



METHODS OF TANNING SEAL SKINS. 



The total quantity of seal skins received in the markets of the 

 world approximates 650,000 annually, valued at 1600,000. The 

 majority are sold in London, but some are sold in Liverpool, Dundee, 

 Hamburg, New York, Halifax, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. Most 

 of them are tanned in Great Britain, London and Dundee being more 

 extensively interested than any other places; but some are^tanned in 

 Norway, Russia, Germany, France, and the United States. Previous 

 to 1901 the number tanned in the United States was small, not fre- 

 quently exceeding 80,000 in any one year; but during 1901, owing to 

 an overstocking of the trade in Great Britain, about 75,000 skins were 

 purchased and prepared by leather manufacturers in the United States. 



The general methods of tanning seal skins employed in Europe and 

 America do not differ greatly from the treatment of similar pelts. 

 As received at the tanneries, seal skins are thick, heavy, and extremely 

 oily, but except in the last characteristic they closel}^ resemble other 

 raw skins. They are roughly cleaned of adhering flesh and blubber and 

 as much of the oil as practicable is pressed out, when they are placed 

 in lime pits to loosen the roots of the hair and prepare them for depi- 



