474 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



this business. The hides are in general not used, but an attempt is being made to use them for 

 shoe-soles. The " trimmings" of the seals are saved and sold to the Chinese. They consist of 



1. The whiskers, which are mounted with silver, &c., three together, and used as toothpicks. 



2. The intestines, gullet, &c., used as food. 



3. The genitals, used for soup. 



4. The galls, used as medicine. 



5. The teeth, used for rings and made into ornaments. 



A sea-lion skin entire averages about 125 pounds; when the belly is thrown away, about 

 87 pounds; and the body produces about 11 gallons. 



Very lately an agent of a San Francisco firm has come to Sauta Barbara to buy seal-skins 

 for some purpose of boat-making in Alaska; he offers good prices for them. Fifteen to twenty 

 men are employed by this firm in seal and otter hunting, mostly Califoruians, at $25 to $39 per 

 month. A few Chinese at $20 to $25. 



5. THE NORTH-ATLANTIC SEAL-FISHERY. 



BY A. HOWARD CLARK.* 

 1. THE SEALING GROUNDS: EXTENT OF THE FISHERY. 



SPECIES TAKEN. " The seals hunted in the North Atlantic and Arctic waters belong chiefly to 

 four species, namely, the harp, or Greenland seal, Phoca (Pagophilus) grcenlandica, the rough seal, 

 Phoca (Pusa) fcetida, the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), and the hooded seal (Cystophora cristata). 

 The first, by its numbers, far exceeds in importance all the others together, and is hence the chief 

 object of pursuit. Two other species, the bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) and the gray seal 

 (Halichcerus grypws), are also taken when met with, but both are rare, and neither enters largely 

 into the general product of the seal-fishery. The Newfoundland seal-fishery is limited to the cap- 

 ture of the Greenland, harbor, and hooded seals. The latter is not, however, a regular object of 

 pursuit, but is taken as opportunity favors, and some seasons but very few individuals of this 

 species are met with. The harbor seal is taken along the shores, where it is permanently resident, 

 but comparatively only in small numbers. The rough seal and the bearded seal are of consider- 

 able importance to the Greenlanders, the former especially, more than half of the seals taken by 

 them belonging to this species. 



"The pursuit of seals for their commercial products forms, as is well known, a highly impor- 

 tant branch of industry, giving employment for a considerable part of each year to hundreds of 

 vessels and thousands of seamen, as well as to many of the inhabitants of the seal-frequented 

 coasts of Newfoundland, Greenland and Northern Europe. Although these animals are destitute 

 of the fine soft coat of under-fur that gives to the fur-seals their great economic importance, their 

 oil and skins render them a valuable booty. Seals have been hunted from time immemorial, but 

 until within the last hundred years their pursuit was limited to the vicinity of such inhabited 

 coasts as they were accustomed to frequent. For nearly a century, however, a greater or less num- 

 ber of vessels have been constantly employed in their capture on the ice-floes of the Arctic seas, 

 or on the uninhabited coasts and islands of the far north. This industry, therefore, plays an im- 



"This fishery is not at present participated iu by the United States, yet in view of its great importance I give in 

 some detail an account of its history and methods, quoting largely from Allen's "North American Pinnipeds" 



