lO 



many as twelve or fifteen thousand a day are often secured 

 by those favoured with this exceptional opportunity. 



In the case of sailing vessels, the men had half the gross 

 receipts of the voyage for their share. But, owing to the 

 greater cost of steamers, and their expensive outfit, the 

 men's share is now reduced to one-third. 



The steamers are from three to six hundred tons burthen 

 — wood built, full timbered, with hold beams, heavily 

 planked, sheathed, and thoroughly equipped to endure 

 severe trials in the ice floes. They cost from twelve to 

 twenty thousand pounds, or even more, and, as they can 

 only be employed profitably during the short period of the 

 seal fishery, which rarely occupies more than two months, 

 and as this has been proved a business of chequered success, 

 it cannot be contended that the investment is one of large 

 attraction. To the people of the colony the substitution 

 of steam for sailing vessels has proved a loss ; the quantity 

 taken has not at least shown any increase on the average 

 of former times, while the men^s share has been greatly 

 diminished. Moreover, the sailing vessels were in a large 

 degree the property of resident "planters," whose earnings 

 helped to swell the common wealth, while now the owner- 

 ship has passed into the hands of large capitalists, some of 

 whom live abroad, and, in the nature of things, their means 

 cannot play the same important part in promoting the 

 social well-being of the colony. 



When successful, the sealers sometimes return in two 

 or three weeks. The seals — or rather the skin and fat, the 

 carcase being left on the ice — are quickly landed, and the 

 one separated from the other by a process termed skinning. 

 The fat is then cut up, placed in a manufactory, and tried 

 out by steam, the result being the pure, colourless, and 

 tasteless oil, of which samples are exhibited in our collec- 



