THE NORTH ATLANTIC SEAL FISHERY. 479 



" Tlie Eskimo make use of every part of the seal, and, it is said, make an excellent soup 

 by putting its blood and any odd scraps of meat inside the stomach, heating the contents, and 

 then devouring tripe, blood, and all with the greatest relish. 



" For my own part I would sooner eat seal's meat than mutton or beef, and I am not singular 

 in my liking for it, as several of the officers on board the Pandora shared the same opinion as 

 myself. I can confidently recommend it as a dish to be tried on a cold winter's day to those who 

 are tired of the everlasting beef and mutton, and are desirous of a change of diet. It is very fatten- 

 ing, and if eaten every day for several weeks together is likely to produce rather surprising effects. 



" Seal's meat is a panacea for all complaints among~th~cse primitive people. Our Eskimo 

 interpreter, 'Joe,' had a most troublesome cough when we left England, and was convinced he 

 should not get rid of it until he had seal's flesh to eat. He would not look at any medicine offered 

 to him on board, but shook his head and said, ' By and by, eat seal, get well.' His prescription 

 turned out to be a very good one, for he had not long been feasting on his favorite food before he 

 lost his cough, and we heard no more of it. For delicate persons, and especially young ladies and 

 gentlemen who cannot succeed in making their features sufficiently attractive on chicken and 

 cheesecakes, no diet is likely to succeed so well as delicate cutlets from the loin of a seal. 



" For my own part I cannot help thinking that the diminution in the number of seals caught 

 near the principal Danish settlements in Greenland has a great deal to do with the prevalence of 

 consumption and other diseases among the native inhabitants of those places. Seals are becom- 

 ing scarcer every year, and, in company with the bison of the Forth American prairies, will ere 

 long be of the past, and leave the poor Green lander and Bed Indian to follow them."* 



4. THE SEAL HUNT. 



DESCRIPTION OF A SEAL HUNT. The following description of the seal hunt is from Allen's 

 History of North American Pinnipeds : 



"The season for ' ice hunting' begins at the Newfoundland ' sealing grounds' about the first 

 of March and continues for about two months. The seals are then on the ice-floes at a consider- 

 able distance from land, often several hundred miles. The same vessel, however, sometimes 

 makes two, and, on rare occasions, three voyages during the season. About fifty years ago vessels 

 engaged iu sealing rarely left port before March 17, but more recently have sailed by the first of 

 that month, and sometimes during the last days of February. This, Mr. Carroll claims, is too early, 

 and tends greatly to the detriment of the interests of the sealers themselves, as they thus disturb 

 the seals at a time when they should be left in peace, or before the 'whelping time' is over. He 

 strongly advocates the prohibition by Government of the departure of any vessels for the sealing- 

 gronnds before March 15, since otherwise, he observes, the seal-fishery of Newfoundland may soon, 

 and very soon, dwindle away to such a character that it will not be worth the risk of money to 

 prosecute it. 



"The vessels employed in the sealing business are ' pounded off in the hold,' or divided into 

 small compartments to protect the pelts from injury by friction, as well as to preserve the cargo 

 from shifting. The pelts are allowed to thoroughly cool before they are stowed, and are packed 

 ' hair to fat, to prevent the fat from running.' The owners of sealing vessels find all the boats, 

 sealing-gear, powder, shot, and provisions, in consideration of which they are entitled to one half 

 of the seals; the men are entitled to the other half. Iu steamships the owners find everything 

 required for the prosecution of the voyage, and receive two-thirds of the value of the seals, and the 

 men one-third." t 



* Land and Water, December 18, 1875. 



t CARROLL: Seal and Herring Fishery of Newfoundland, p. 9. 



