154 'I'lIK FlSHERIE^l. 



ill icy fetti'i-s auil tlicir ])eople idle. Al)()ut tlie iniildle of Mairli 

 the haidy Newluunillainl seal lumtei-s da^li out into the eiasliiiig 

 ice-Hoes, aud in a c.)niile of iiioiitlis the work is done, and a 

 ndllion dollar.- I'.-aliscd. It intertV-res with no other indnstry, 

 .and the men who take jurt in it can follow up the summer 

 lishery or engage in the cultivation of the soil. Formerly the 

 aveiage annual value of this tislu-ry was over a million dollars, 

 lint the }iric'_- of seal oil has seiionsly declined. 



HOW SKALS AKK TAKKN. 



The young seals are born on the ice which the Arctic current 

 carries i)ast the.se shores, fiom the 15th to the 20th of February ; 

 and as they grow lapidly and yield a much tiner quality of oil 

 than the old ones, the (object of the hunters is to reach them in 

 their babyhood, while \ et fed by their mothers' milk, and Avheii 

 they are powerle.ss to escape. So rapidly do they grow that by the 

 IGth of Mari'h tliey ai-e in the best condition to be taken. By the 

 1st of April they begin to take to the water and can no longer be 

 easily captureil. Sumewhere amid these \ast iey wildeines.ses 

 the seals nuv'^t be .-(Uight. When the x'es.sel reaches an icefield 

 Avhere the seals are visilile, the men eagerly bound on the ice 

 nnd the work of destruction begins. A blow on the nose kills 

 the young seal. Instantly the " sctdping knife ' of the hunter is 

 at work and the skin, with the fat adhering, is detached from the 

 caicass, which is left on the ice : the pelts are dragged over the 

 ice to the vessel whieh conveys them to pnit. The fat and .skins 

 are then separate<l, the former l)eing salted foi exportation, aud 

 the latter manufactured into oil by a ])rocess in which steam is 

 largely used. St. .Inhn's and Harbour ( Ji'ace are the jilaci's where 

 all the seal oil is manufactured. 



The reader is ii-ferred to " Hatton ami Harvi'y's Newfound- 

 land "' or to the ailicle ''Seal Fisheiies of the AVorld,'' by Rev. 

 M. Har\'ey, in the latest edition of the Ein-ijilDpunUii llritannicH' 

 1'or lull details regarding the natural history of the seal and the 

 mode in which the fi.shery is conducted. 



The following ligTii-e's show the nundx'r of seals taken in the 

 ^•(•ars named : — 



