492 WILD ANIMALS. 



The oil and skin of these seals being valuable commercial com- 

 modities, they are slaughtered in a most wanton and reckless fashion 

 annually, old and young, male and female all falling victims to the 

 men engaged in these fisheries, and the total annihilation of the 

 Newfoundland seals has been threatened in consequence. In 1868, 

 445,000, or $1,000,000 worth of seals, were brought back by the 

 Newfoundland fi.shers, and in 1872 one steamer alone caught 

 32,000, the largest number that anyone vessel had ever procured. 



When taken in the spring of the year, which is the time at 

 which the animals are in good condition and fat, a full-grown seal 

 will yield from eight to twelve gallons of oil, and a small one from 

 four to five gallons. The oil, which has to be extracted before 

 putrefaction commences, is beautifully transparent, quite free 

 from offensive odour, and not unpleasant in its taste. 



In the minds of those members of the public who have not given 

 the matter much attention there exists some confusion regarding 

 that beautiful and highly-valued fur which is called " Sealskin," 

 and used by ladies -in nearly every part of the civilized world for 

 their jackets or " sacques," and in the colder regions by men for 

 coats, gauntlets, and caps. Many people, being simply guided by 

 its name, think it is the skin of the common seal, that is, of the 

 true or earless species, but this is not the case. This miscon- 

 ception is also partially due to the same name being given to two 

 completely separate articles of trade. 



The skin of the seals just described, which are killed annually 

 so recklessly and in such vast numbers on the coast of Newfound- 

 land and other places, have short bristly hair which has but little 

 beauty about it, and although it is occasionally dressed with the 

 hair on and used for garments, and was formerly largely used for 

 trunk coverings, this skin is as a rule only now used for tanning. 

 The hide, when converted into " patent leather," is found to be 

 of a remarkably soft and fine quality, and therefore admirably 

 adapted for boots, shoes, and bags. It is rather a singular thing 

 that Pliny should have been aware of the soft qualities of this 

 leather, for he recommends people afflicted with gout to wear 

 shoes made of the sea-calf's (seal) skin, and that they should rub 

 themselves with the animal's fat or oil. 



