ORDEll V. THE CAUXIVOKA. 197 



former are used for clothing and ornament by the IJussians, Chinese, and 

 other nations, and the hitter yield a fur which exceeds in value all others 

 that have been broiiglit into the market. Many seals supply nothing but 

 hair, whilst others, ia different j)roi)iirtions, produce both the hair, and 

 luiderncath it a soft and downy fnr. The majority are to be considered merely 

 hair-skins, similar to those of bears and sables ; and of these some are excel- 

 lent in their kind, and arc much sought after. But the fur-skins are the 

 most highly prized. The time has been when these skins were sold for five 

 or six dollars apiece in China , and the present price in Europe averages 

 from eight to ten dollars per skin. The number brought from New (icorgia 

 alone cannot be estimated at less than twelve hundred thousand ; the Island 

 of Desolation has been equally producti\ e ; and in addition to the vast sums 

 of money, which these creatures have produced, it is calculated that several 

 thousand tons of shipping have annually been employed in the traffic. 



The Americans and English have monopolized almost exclusively the 

 business of seal-fishing in the .Southern oceans, and em[)loy tjiercin a large 

 number of vessels, varying from two hundred and fifty to three hundred 

 tons' burden. They are strongly built, and have each six boats, like those 

 of the whalers, together with a small vessel of forty tons, which is put in 

 rer^uisitiou when they reach the scene of their operations. The ercw con- 

 sists of about twenty-four hands. The ship is usually moored in some 

 secure haven or bay, and partially unrigged, whilst the furnaces and appa- 

 ratus re([uired for making the oil are placed on shore. The little cutter is 

 then rigged and manned with about half the crew, who sail around the 

 neighboring islands, and send a few hands when they see seals, or where 

 they wish to watch for them. This vessel can hold about two hundred of 

 them, cut up, which \\ill } ield nearly one luuulred barrels of oil. The 

 expedition frequently lasts for three years, and in the midst of unheard-of pri- 

 vations and dangers. Some of tjie crew are sometimes left on distant, barren 

 spots, and others being driven off by storms, are left to perish, and drag 

 out for years a most precarious and wretched existence. 



Seal-fishing is successfidly prosecuted on the coast of Xewfoundland. 

 This island intercepts many innnense fields of ice, which, in the spring, 

 move south from the Arctic Sea. " The interior parts, with the openings or 

 lakes interspersed, remain serene and unbroken, and form the transitory abodes 

 of myriads of seals. In the month of ]\Iarch, upwards of three hundred 

 small vessels, fitted out for the seal-fishery, are extricated from the icy har- 

 bors on the east coast of Xewfoundland; the fields are now all in motion, 

 and the vessels plunge directly into the edges of such as appear to have seals 

 upon them ; the crews, armed with heavy bludgeons, there land, and in the 

 course of a few weeks destroy nearly three hundred thousand of these aui- 



