PUR-SEAL FISHERIES OP ALASKA. 117 



dried during tlie iiigbt. lu this way tbey are made ready for employ- 

 ment again on the morrow. 



A peculiar value is attached to the intestines of the sea lion, which, 

 after cleansing, are distended with air and allowed to dry in that shape. 

 Then they are cut into ribbons and sewed strongly together into that 

 most characteristic water-i)roof garment of the Aleutian world, known as 

 the " kandaikay" ^ which, while being fully as water proof as india rubber, 

 has far greater strength, and is never affected by grease and oil. It is 

 also translucent in its fitting over dark clothes. The sea lions' throats 

 are served in a similar manner: and, when cured, are made into boot 

 tops, which are in turn soled by the tough skin that com])oses the 

 palms of this aninuil's fore flippers. Around the natives' houses on 

 St. Paul and St. George constantly appear curious objects which, to the 

 unaccustomed eye, resemble overgrown gourds or enonnous <;alabashes 

 with attenuated necks. An examination ])roves them to be the dried, 

 distended stomach walls of the sea lion filled with its oil (and some- 

 times with dried meat), which, unlike the ott'ensive blubber of the fur 

 seal, boils out clear and inodorous from its fat. 



The tlesh of an old sea lion, while not very palatable, is tasteless and 

 dry; but the meat of a yearling is very much like veal, and when 

 l)ro])erly cooked I think it is just as good; but the superiority of the 

 sea-lion meat over that of the fur seal is decidedly marked. It requires 

 some skill in the cuisine ere sausage and steaks of the CallorhinuH are 

 accepted on the table: while it does not, however, require much art, 

 experience, or patience for the cook to serve up the juicy ribs of a young 

 sea lion so that the most fastidious palate will f lil to relish it. 



The carcass of the sea lion, after it is stripped of its hide and disem- 

 bowled, is hung up in cool weather by its hind dippers over a rude 

 wooden frame, or " labaas," as the natives call it; where, together with 

 many more bodies of fur seals treated in the same manner, it serves 

 from November until the following season of May, as the meat house of 

 the Aleut on St. Paul and St. George. Exposed in this manner to the 

 open weather, the natives keep their seal meat almost any length of time 

 in winter for use; and, like our old duck and bird hunters, they say they 

 prefer to have the meat tainted rather than fresh, declaring that it is 

 most tender and toothsome when decidedly '' loud " 



In 1872, v»dien slowly sketching by measurements the outlines of a 

 fine adult bull sea lion which the ball from Booterin's rifie had just 

 destroyed, an old "starooka" came up abruptly. Not seendng to see 

 me, she deliberately threw down a large, greasy, skin meat bag: she 

 whipped out a knife and went to work on my specimen. Curiosity 

 l)roinpted me to keep still, in spite of the first sensation of annoyance, 

 so that I might watch her choice and use of the aui null's carcass. 



She first removed the skin, being actively aided in this operatiiui by 

 an uncouth boy; she then cut off the palms to both fore fiippcrs. The 

 boy at the same time pulled out the mustache bristles. She then cut 

 out its gullet, from the glottis to its junction with the stomach, care- 



'The Aleutian name for this garment is unpronounceable in our language and 

 equally so in the more flexible Russian; hence the Alaskan " kauilaika," derived 

 from the Siberian "kamlaia.'* That is made of tanned reindeer skin, unhaired, and 

 smoked by larch bark until it is colored a saffnm yellow, and is worn over tlie rein- 

 deer-skin undershirt, which has tlie hair next to the owner's skin and the obverse 

 side stained red by a decoction of alder bark. The kajnhiia is closed bchiml and 

 before, and a hood, fastened to the back of the neck, is drawn over the head when 

 leaving shelter; so is the Aleutian kandaika, only the one of Kolyma is used to keep 

 out piercing dry cold, while the garment of the Bering Sea is a perfect water 

 repellant. 



