INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 601 



flipper and tied to the skin in the flipper hole, from which place it was not thereafter 

 removed. This insured the identification of the skin with the weights and measure- 

 ments made before skinning. The length of each animal from tip of nose to root of 

 tail was then ascertained by means of a steel tape laid along the middle of the back. 

 The girth was next ascertained by drawing the tape around the animal just back of 

 the fore flippers. The weight of the entire animal was then ascertained, after which 

 it was bled to death. 



^"hen dead, the usual incisions were made preparatory to removing the skin from 

 the carcass, as follows: One incision along the belly from the jaw to the anus; an- 

 other, a circular incision, beginning at the jaw completely around the head and as 

 close to the eyes as possible; another circular incision beginning at the anus around 

 the posterior end of the body, completely denuding that portion of the body of fur 

 and leaving the entire tail appended to the skin, and also cuts around each fore flipper 

 near the elbow, just beyond the fur. 



After the circular incision was made about the head, the length of the "mask, " as 

 is termed the fur remaining on the animal after it has been skinned, was ascertained. 

 This was done by laying a steel tape on the back of the head on the same line on which 

 the length of the animal was ascertained, and measuring the mask from the circular 

 incision to the tip of the nose. By these means were ascertained the length and width 

 of the pelt while on the animal, and the length of the area of the fur left on the animal 

 after the skin was removed. If no changes occurred in the size of the skin through 

 the operation of removing the pelt, or through salting, it would follow that the length 

 of the skin should equal the total length of the animal from tip of nose to root of tail, 

 after deducting the length of that portion of the skin left on the head by the skinners. 

 The width of the skin should equal the girth of the animal. 



It should be recalled that the measurement of the animal was taken to root of the 

 tail, and that the root of the tail, as well as the tail itself, was removed with the skin. 

 In computing what should be the normal length of the skin after removal, therefore, 

 no deduction should be made on account of any supposed portion of the pelt left on the 

 posterior end of the animal, as no skin with fur on it remains on that portion of the 

 carcass after skinning. 



After weighing the animals in the field and measuring them, as before sta,ted, the 

 carcasses were skinned and the skins taken to the salt house. There each skin was 

 weighed and the weights so taken arranged serially according to the numbers borne 

 by the tags affixed to each skin. 



Before salting these skins, however, an effort was made to arrive at something ap- 

 proaching the true dimensions of these green skins. The proper method of obtaining 

 these data, if any proper method existed, had been discussed previously by Messrs. 

 Marsh, George A. Clark, and Lembkey. Knowing the elastic and pliable nature of a 

 green sealskin, it was believed that no method could be devised of obtaining the di- 

 mensions of such a skin which would in any way compare consistently with the di- 

 mensions of the same skin after it was salted. On this point all were agreed. It was 

 hoped, however, that although the green and salt dimensions never could be corre- 

 lated satisfactorily, perhaps some method could be devised for measuring the green 

 skins, which, used upon all alike, might have some value. It was suggested that each 

 green skin be held up by its tail against a pole graduated with inches or centimeters, 

 until its other end barely touched the ground, and its length as shown recorded. The 

 skin, in this manner, would be stretched merely by its own weight, and the length 

 obtained be a fair, or at least a somewhat reliable, indication of its size and also its 

 age. 



It was also suggested that the quantity of blubber on the skin would be a vital ele- 

 ment in using this method, and would influence the length greatly, without regard to 

 the age of the animal. For example, if two seals of exactly the same size were skinned, 

 one with only a small quantity of blubber on the skin and the other with a large quan- 

 tity of blubber, the heavily blubbered skin would be the longer when measured by 

 the method suggested, and therefore appear as the skin of a larger animal because the 

 weight of the blubber would stretch it farther. It was then suggested that a fair attempt 

 could be made to arrive at the size of a skin when in a green state by having the men 

 lay each green skin in the kench for salting, and in that state, just before salt was 

 thrown upon it, to measure the skin for length and breadth, without any further 

 attempt to straighten it out. This method seemed by far the most sensible in attempt- 

 ing to measure green skins, and it was tried. 



Accordingly, before these skins were salted, but after each was laid in the kench by 

 the native workmen preparatory to having salt thrown upon it, it was measured by 

 laying a steel tape across its greatest length and width as it lay. The number on the 

 tag which each skin bore was noted also, and the measurements arranged in accord- 

 ance with these numbers. No instructions were given to the men as to how to lay the 



