AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 213 



greMlly reducing llie average take, which probably does not exceed 12 

 or 15 gallons to each individual throughout the season. The cargo of 

 2,000 barrels secured by the bark Sioalloiv in 1898 rei^resented an 

 average yield of 15.75 gallons per individual. Another cargo of (300 

 barrels, secured late in the season when the animals were in j)oor 

 condition, represented the capture of 2,000 individuals. 



The hunters endeavor to arrive at the islands as soon as the sea- 

 elephants come ashore, usually the early part of November. The ani- 

 mals are found in herds or pods varying in number from 20 to 300 or 

 more each, the favorite resort apparently being the numerous mud 

 puddles. The largest and fattest are selected for killing, females and 

 pups being unmolested if a sufficient number of large bulls is obtain- 

 able. The bulls are sometimes of enormous size, frequently IC feet 

 or more in length and 12 feet in circumference. The females are very 

 much smaller, probably one-third the size of the bulls, but generally 

 they are fatter for their size and their blubber is somewhat more yel- 

 lowish. A number of seals of various species, especially the leopard- 

 seal, are frequently met with and are driven out and slaughtered 

 when sea-elephants are scarce; otherwise they are not molested, as 

 they are not nearly so fat as the sea-elephants. Rifles and lances 

 are the weapons commonly employed in the slaughter. 



After killing a sufficient number the skin is roughly and quickly 

 gotten out of the way and the blubber taken off in horse-pieces of 

 suitable size for handling, say about 18 inches wide and 2 feet long, 

 or less, this varying according to the thickness. The horse-pieces are 

 strung on a pole and carried down to the shore, 15 or 20 making a 

 good load for two men. At the shore the pieces are strung on raft- 

 tails or ropes, 18 or 20 feet long, and towed to the ship. The long 

 immersion in the water soaks off the sand and blood and cleanses the 

 blubber. 



The oil is extracted in much the same manner as in the whale fish- 

 ery. The blubber is lifted on deck, cut into strips about 2 inches 

 wide, and these are minced or partly cut through at intervals of 

 about 1 inch and placed in try-pots, precisely as in the case of whale 

 blubber. The cooking is only slight, much less than applied to the 

 whale blubber, being continued for only about 15 minutes. The fuel 

 consists of the dry scrap, supplemented with wood procured on the 

 islands. After cooking for about 10 or 15 minutes and dipping off 

 all the oil on the surface, the scrap is placed in a receptacle and 

 subjected to considerable pressure, in the manner customar}^ in the 

 right-whale fishery already described. The oil does not run as freely 

 from the blubber as whale oil ; especially is this the case with the 

 fat of the pups, which is fine-grained and "milky." Occasionally 

 the oil is tried out on shore in a manner similar to that al:)oai'd the 

 vessel, the try-works being erected near a running stream wherein 

 the blubber may be washed free from sand and blood. 



The product from all the southern islands from 1803 to 1900, 



