324 VERTEBRATA. 



scattered in the distance, and speckling the offing with their white sails, till they are gradually- 

 lost below the horizon. Each pursues its own course, according to the judgment of the master as 

 to the position of the ice of which they are in search; those immense fields which, dislodged 

 from tin- A ivtie Regions in the preceding summer, have been through the winter pursuing a 

 southerly direction. In Bome seasons, these fields keep close to the land, blockading the whole 



coast as they proc 1, while in others they form a loose and unconnected belt, running down at 



the distance of two or three hundred miles from land. 



•• We will suppose, however, thai ;i day or two's run has brought the vessel to the edge of the 

 field, on which myriads of seals are discovered with their new-born young. The great majority 

 are of one species, the Harp Seal — P. Grcenlandica — whose young, for the first two or three 

 weeks, are cov< red with a dense coat of white wool, which drops off at the end of that period, 

 and discovers the true fur, which is of a drab hue, variously spotted with black. The young in 

 this earliest stage, when they are called Whitecoats, are exceedingly fat, and the oil they produce 

 is more abundant and more valuable. In this state, of course, they are incapable of resistance, 

 and are killed by a slight blow with the 'bat.' The gun is used only to shoot the old seals, in 

 case the time of obtaining the whitecoats should have passed without success. Another species 

 is also found, though not in so great numbers, the Hooded Seal — P. cristata — which, though 

 of larger size, is less valuable. As soon as a seal is killed, and sometimes, we regret to say, even 

 before, a circular cut is made with a sharp knife around the neck and a longitudinal one down 

 the belly to the tail — the skin with the surface fat is 'scalped' off, forming altogether ' a pelt :' 

 this alone is taken, the carcass being left upon the ice. The pelt of a young whitecoat has 

 often three inches of fat, and weighs forty pounds. When three or four pelts are obtained 

 they arc laid one on another, and dragged by a rope, the fur side being undermost, to the vessel, 

 when they are thrown into the hold and stowed. 



" The whole adventure is full of hazard ; in the excitement of the pursuit, leaps of terrific 

 risk are taken from field to field, across yawning chasms, whose terrors are scarcely noticed ; and 

 sometimes night draws on, wdien the excited hunter, then first made aware of its approach, dis- 

 covers that he is many miles from his vessel, with no clue to guide his return across interminable 

 ice-fields. With the setting sun, the temperature has likewise rapidly gone down ; and, perhaps, 

 the bewildered voyager has to pass the night on unsheltered ice, in an atmosphere at zero. 

 Frozen limbs are frequently the result of these exposures, and individuals in their attempts to 

 return, often drop through holes, and are seen no more. But this is not all ; for sometimes a 

 sudden change of wind will separate fields of ice on which the men are sealing, and ere they 

 are aware, they are driving far out to sea, helpless and hopeless. 



"But we will suppose none of these accidents to have happened, but that the hold being filled 

 with pelts, the vessel returns to her port : this sometimes happens in the course of ten days from 

 departure, but sometimes it is delayed for several weeks. Arrived, the seals are landed at the 

 wharf, where they were formerly received by tale; but of late years by weight, as the fairer 

 mode. They are now to be skinned ; for this purpose a man stands before the skinning -table, an 

 inclined plane reaching from his middle to the ground. He seizes a pelt with his left hand, the 

 fur being downward, then, with a sharp knife, edge outward, he boldly and dexterously cuts 

 between the fat and the skin, the former rolling down in large and long masses, while the latter, 

 though shaved clean, rarely receives a gash. A very expert hand will skin five hundred in a 

 day. The fat as it is skinned is removed to a stage, where it is chopped into small portions, and 

 then pushed into a vat beneath. Here it is allowed to remain, covered from the sun, until the 

 advancing heat of spring melts the fat from the cellular tissue, which, when the oil has b 

 drawn off, is rejected under the name of scruncheons. 



"The skin-, divested of fat, are salted in layers, in which state they are exported to England, 

 to be used either as furs, or to be tanned into coarse leather. The value of pale seal-oil in the 

 island may average £25 per ton , and salted skins £50 per thousand. A vessel of one hundred 

 and twenty tons will bring in five thousand young seals, which, averaging 6s. 6d. each, produces 

 £1,625. Half of this is divided equally among the crew, who, however, pay from 20*. to 30s. 

 each for their berth ; the other half belongs to the owner, who, if he be also master, receives 



