58 



TESTIMONY 



until the kencli is full. Here tliey lie from five to seven days and are 

 then sliaken out, any curled edges are unrolled and salted, and the skins 

 axe folded with a small quantity of salt between the folds, and again 

 piled to complete the curing process. A few days l-^ter they are once 

 more puUed apart and spread out, sprinkled with a handful of salt and 

 rolled and tied in compact, cylindrical bundles containing two skins 

 each, flesh sides together. In this shape they are lightered from the 

 warehouses to the vessel in the skin boats built by the natives, and 

 shipped to San Francisco, were they are packed in casks holding from 

 fifty to sixty skins each, and forwarded to London via New York, by 

 railroad and steamer. 



The practice of salting the skins was followed to some extent by the 

 Eussians during the last few years prior to the cession of Alaska to 

 the United States, and in nearly every particular the management of 

 the sealeries by the Americans is the same as that pursued by the Rus- 

 sians during the last years of their occupation. Since about 1835 the 



female seals have been invariably spared, and if the 

 since Tsssf^ spared gealcrics are to yield the best returns in future, the wise 



system under which they have been heretofore pro- 

 tected must be rigidly maintained. The habits of the animals are such, 

 in the separation of breeders from nonbreeders when on shore, that this 

 can be easily accomplished; yet the fact should not be lost sight of that 

 both breeders and nonbreeders are, in the course of every season, com- 

 pletely in the power of the occupants of the islands, and the entire herd 

 may be slaughtered to the immediate advantage of their possessors, if, 

 by reason of international complications, or any other cause, it is found 

 desirable to exterminate them. 

 Many improvements were introduced by the Americans upon Eussian 



methods, more particularly in systematizing the work 

 tj^mericSir*'''''''^*' ^^po^ til© slaughter grounds, in providing convenient 



buildings in which to salt and bundle the skins, and in 

 furnishing means for transporting them from the field to the salt houses 

 and thence to the vessels; but the management of the rookeries as re- 

 gards their preservation and growth has varied very little since 1835 

 or 1840, when the Eussians awoke to the fact that all of the females and 

 a proper proportion of the males should be spared. 



The age at which the male seal should be killed for his skin to best 



meet the present demands of the market, is 3 and 

 seSXffiekmi^JL ^ years old. It is, of course, as with other animals, 



impossible to say in every case just how old a seal is, 

 but in the large majority of cases an experienced seal-killer will deter- 

 mine with accuracy from the size of the animal, the growth of hair upon 

 the neck, and the length and size of the canine teeth. 



The average Aveight and length of the different sizes and ages may 

 be generally stated about as follows: 



Length. Weight. 



At t ime of hirth 



A 1 1 year old 



At 2 years old 



At 8 years old, male 



At 3 years old, female, nearly fuU-gTown 



At 4 years old, male 



At 4 years old, female, full-grown 



At 5 "yoais old, male 



At 6 years old, male, nearly full-gro^vll .. 

 At full adult age, male 



Pounds, 

 7 

 39 



