82 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



I liave spoken of heretofore. This singulaily disagreeable smell does not exist in the blubber of the hair-seal 

 (Phocidw), the sea elephant or sea-lion, and it makes the process of refining very dilficult. They said it was almost 

 impossible to properly deodorize it and leave the slightest margin of profit for the manufacturer and the dealer. 

 It was gummy and far darker in color than any other seal-oil, hence it possessed little or no commercial value. 

 Then, again, when the subject of taking oil from the seal-islands of Alaska is considered, the following obstacles, 

 in addition to the first great objection just cited, arise at once to financial success : the time, trouble, and danger 

 in loading a vessel with oil at the islands where, on account of the absence of a harbor and the frequent succession 

 of violent gales, a ship is compelled to anchor from a mile and a half to three miles from the coast, on which the 

 surf is always breaking. The cost, again, of casks and cooperage will amount to 10 cents per gallon ; the cost of 

 the natives' work in securing and bringing tlie blubber to the try-works, 10 cents per gallon; the cost of refining 

 it, 10 cents; and the cost of transportation of a cargo of, say, 60,000 gallons will amount to nearly 20 cents per 

 gallon; thus making a gallon of fur-seal oil aggregate in cost to the taker 50 cents, which entails ui)on him 

 nothing but pecuniary loss when the cargo goes upon the market, and where it is worlh only from 40 to 50 cents 

 retail, with a dull sale at that.* 



Fragile cnARACTER of fur-seal bones. — I looked at the fur-seal bones, and at first sight it seemed as 

 though a bone-factory migl-t be established there; but a little examination of the singularly light and xjorous osseous 

 structure of the CaUorhinits quickly stifled that enterprise. The skull and larger bones of the skeleton are more like 

 pasteboard than the bone which is so common to our minds. When dried out, the entire skeleton of a three-year-old 

 male will not weigh seven pounds; indeed, I am inclined to think it would be much less than that if thoroughly 

 kiln-dried, as after the fashion of the bone-mills. Therefore, although 100,000 of these skeletons bleach out and 

 are trodden down aimually, upon the Pribylov islands, yet they have not the standing for any commercial value 

 whatsoever, considering their distance and dii3Sculty of access from those impoverished fields where they might 

 serve our farmers as fertilizing elements. t 



Decay of seal carcasses. — Another singular and striking characteristic of the island of St. Paul, is the 

 fact that this immense slaughtering-field, upon which 75,000 to 90,000 fresh carcasses lie every season, sloughing 

 away into the sand beneath, does not cause any sickness among the people who live right over them, so to speak. 

 The cool, I'aw temperature, and strong winds, peculiar to the place, seem to iirevent any unhealthy eifect from the 

 fermentation of decay. The ElyViius and other grasses once more take heart and grow with magical vigor over 

 the unsightly sjiot, to which the sealing gang again return, repeating their bateau, which we have marked before, 

 upon this place, three years ago. In that way this strip of ground, seen on my map between the village, the 

 east landing, and the lagoon, contains the bones and the oil-drip[»ings and other fragments thereof, of more than 

 3,000,000 seals slain since 17SC thereon, while the slaughter-fields at Novastoshnah record the end of a million more. 



I remember well the unmitigated sensations of disgust that possessed me when I first landed, April 28, 1872, on 

 the Pribylov islf^nds, and passed up from the beach, at Lukannou, to the village, over the killing- grounds; though 

 there was a heavy coat of snow on the fields, yet each and every one of 75,000 decaying carcasses w-as there, and 

 bare,having burned, as it were, theii way out to the open air, polluting the same to a sad degree. I was laughed at 

 by the residents who noticed my facial contortions, and assured that this state of smell was nothing to what I should 

 soon experience when the frost and snow had fairly melted. They were correct ; the od< r along by the end of May 

 was terrific punishment to my olfactories, and continued so for several weeks until my sense of smell became blunted 



*Iii 1873, not having had any experience and not even knowing the views of the oil dealers themselves, I left the seal-islands 

 believing that if the special tax which was then laid upon each gallon of oil as it might be rendered was removed, that it wonld pay the 

 manufacturer, and in this way employ the natives, many days of the year otherwise idle, proiitably. The company assured me that as far 

 as its conduct in the m.atter was concerned, it would be perfectly willing to employ the natives in rendering fur-seal oil, and give them all 

 the i)rolit, not desiring itself to coin a single penny out of the whole transaction ; possibly this could be done if the special tax of 55 cents 

 l)er gallon was stricken off. The matter was then urged upon the Treasury Department, by myself, in October, 1873, and the tax was 

 repealed by (he department soon after. But it seems that I was entirely mistaken as to the quality and value of the oil itself. I made, 

 to satisfy myself, a very careful investigation of the subject in 1876, going personally to the leading dealers in whale aud seal oil of Xew 

 York city, and they were unanimous in their opposition to handling fur-seal oil, some of them saying that they would not touch it at any 

 price. I felt considerably chagrined, because had I known as much in 1873, 1 would have saved myself then, and my friends subsequently, 

 a good deal of unnecess.iry trouble aud iirofitless action. 



■ tThe bones of Callorhinus, though apparently strong, are surprisingly light and porous; indeed, they resemble those of Ares more than 

 those commonly credited to mammalia ; the osseous structure, however, of Phoca vitulina, the hair-seal which I examined there, side by side 

 with that of the fur-seal, was very much more solid and weighed, bone for bone of equal age, just about one-third more, the skull especially ; 

 also the shoulder-blades and the pelvic series. If the bones of the animals were not divested of their cartilaginous continuations and 

 connections, then the aggregate weight of the fur-seal is equal to its hairy-skinned relative; the entire skeleton of a three-year-old g 

 CaUoihhuis, completely divested by sea-tleas (Avqthipuda) of all flesh and fat, but with every ligamentary union aud articulation perfect 

 (the cartilaginous toe-ends all present), was just 8 pounds, and I have reason to believe that when it became air-dried and bleached it did 

 not weigh more than 4 or 5. The bones of the older seals are relatively very much heavier, but only relatively ; the frailness and fragility 

 is constant through life, though the skulls of the old males do thicken up on their crests and about the rami of their jaws very perceptibly. 



.Sea-lion bones are, however, normally strong and heavy; the bone of the fur-seal is evidently stout enough, but it is singularly light, 

 while the walrus, that dull, sluggish brute, has a massive osteological frame. I made these relative examinations more especially to 

 ascertain something which might pass for a correct estimate of what the bony waste on the killing-grounds of the Pribylov islaudj 

 amounted to annually, with a view of its possible utilization. The spongy bones of the whole 100,000 annually laid out would not render 

 accord;ug to my best judgment, 50 tons of dry bone-meal — an insignificant result and unworthy of further notice on these islands. 



