CONSERVATION IN LABRADOR 



fate that befell the buffalo awaits the seal. In 

 addition to this waste, many thousands of the 

 seal-pelts are lost annually by the breaking- 

 up of the ice before they can be placed on 

 board the sealers. This is expected; chances 

 must be taken, for the slaughtering competi- 

 tion is keen. Even in the shore fisheries the 

 meat is often wasted, or, if saved, is given to 

 the dogs. As I have said, it is a meat of pleas- 

 ant flavor, tender, and of great food-value 

 for human consumption. Stores of seal-steaks 

 packed in snow for the winter, and drawn on 

 from time to time, would supply plenty of ex- 

 cellent proteid food and prevent beri-beri and 

 scurvy along the coast. 



The uncertainty and waste in the trapping 

 of fur-bearing animals is a strong argument 

 in favor of the raising of these animals in 

 captivity. The climate is well adapted to the 

 purpose, and the fur, in consequence, is of 

 the best quality. The starting of a black fox 

 ranch is expensive. Even if a poor man is for- 

 tunate enough to catch a black fox alive, he 

 cannot afford to run the risk of its loss in cap- 

 tivity, and must sell it as soon as possible. 

 There is, however, a profit in the raising of red 



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