SEAL FISHERIES 723 



the carcass with specially designed tongs. This method leaves most of the blubber 

 adhering to the pelt, whereas the method of knife-skinning left very little blubber 

 on the skin. In the stripping method the skins are taken from the kilHng field to 

 a tank house where they are washed and submerged in sea water until the blubber 

 hardens and can be removed with a beaming knife. The skins, free of blubber, 

 are then cured in salt, barreled, and made ready for shipment. By using the pres- 



CCourtesy Fouke Fur Co.) 



Fig. 34-4. Removal of the guard hair, exposing the soft luxu- 

 rious under fur of the sealskins. 



ent stripping method it is possible to handle as many as 5,000 skins a day, use 

 less skilled help, and have fewer cut and scarred skins than was possible in the 

 knife-skinning method. 



The cured skins are shipped from the Islands to the Fouke Fur Company, 

 St. Louis, Missouri, which has the contract for dressing, dyeing, and selling all 

 United States Government sealskins. When received, they are carefully inspected 

 for defects or imperfections which would make them unfit for processing, and 

 are then graded as to size and quality. Next, they are washed thoroughly, and 

 each is laced in an oval iron hoop where it is stretched to its proper size and shape 

 and prepared for removal of the guard hair by hanging in a heated room, or 

 cockle, where both temperature and humidity are carefully controlled. Here the 

 guard hair is loosened in its follicles and can be removed without damage to the 

 fine under fur. This is one of the most delicate steps in the processing of the skins. 

 In unhairing, the skins are laid over beaming boards and the guard hair is pulled 



