METHODS OF CAPTURE SEALING IN JAN MAYEN SEAS. 541 



shipboard ; and finally gives a history of the voyage she made 

 the year preceding his account, a brief abstract of which may 

 not be here out of place. The captain assembled his crew in 

 January, and on the 21st of February the " Hudson" sailed out 

 of the Weser for her Arctic voyage. The 8th of March found 

 her in N". lat. 71 18' and W. long. 3 8'. On the evening 

 of the 9th they sighted Jan Mayen Island, twenty miles dis- 

 tant to the northwest. On the 14th they encountered heavy 

 winds and a turbulent sea. About the beginning of April she 

 reached the sealing-grounds ("Eobbenkiiste'), the Seals being 

 this year northwestward of Jan Mayen in north latitude 72 and 

 east longitude 2. Already, numerous vessels were at the j)lace, 

 and on the 14th of April, at 3 p. m., began the slaughter of the 

 young Seals. At eleven o'clock the same evening the " Hud- 

 son " had on board 901 young Seals, and on the evening of the 

 following day the number secured -reached 2,171. In the course 

 of a few days the crew of the "Hudson" completed their cargo, 

 numbering altogether 5,400 young Seals, which yielded 620 tuns 

 of oil. This, with the skins of the Seals and one Whale ("ein 

 Fisch"), brought 23,983 thalers, gold. 



The same writer thus describes the "Seal-coasts" and the 

 hunt. Under the heading "Die Eobbenkiiste, der Eobbeu- 

 schlag," he says : " The district of the Seal-hunt, if we may so 

 term thebutcheryof the most patient and submissive of animals, 

 embraces the immensely large area of 6,000 to 8,000 square miles, . 

 and though called ' coast' is really no coast, but sea and ice-fields. 

 In this area one comes upon immense herds of Seals, which, 

 according to Yeaman's account, are often twenty to thirty Eng- 

 lish miles broad. The English call such herds ' Seal's- weddings ' 

 or ' Seal-meadows.' The commander, peering through his spy- 

 glass from the 'crow's nest' first discovers the herds of Seals. 

 He shouts the order ' Over all ! ' The crew costume themselves 

 for the slaughter, their suit consisting of gray linen. Into a 

 leathern belt fastened around the body they stick the skinning- 

 knife. Each provides himself with ropes 'and a seal-club, the 

 latter implement consisting of a strong stick or shaft, having an 

 iron point, a hammer and hook. Soon the boats are lowered 

 and the men rush into them, and with a loud ' Holulu ! ' start for 

 the ice. The killing of the feeals upon the ice begins. When 

 the Seals are dead, the skin, together with the fat or blubber, is 

 removed from the body with the skinning-knife. The cabin- 

 boys ('Schiffsjungen') and later all the men draw the skins of 



