INVESTIGATION" OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 603 



This is an interesting experiment on the effect of salt upon skins from which all blub- 

 ber was removed before salting. These skins when salted green, however, were dry, 

 i. e., carried no moisture other than the animal juices, whereas after salting they were 

 dripping wet from the water in the bottom of the kench where they had been salted. 

 The result, nevertheless, would indicate that the greatest loss in weight through salt" 

 ing occurs from the blubber adhering to the skins, and not from the skins themselves. 



The net results of all these experiments is to show conclusively that sealskins do 

 not gain weight in salt, but on the contrary lose weight through the action of the salt 

 on them. Were it possible to have all skins taken off the carcass with a uniform 

 thickness of blubber adhering, to have them at the time of salting each carry the 

 same amount of moisture, and to have each absorb the same amount of moisture 

 while in salt, it is certain that each skin would show the same percentage of loss in 

 weight through salting. It is impossible, however, to have these conditions uniform. 

 If the day be dry, the fur on the skin will be dry, and will be salted without moisture 

 other than that furnished by the natural animal juices in the pelt. If the seals on 

 such a day are "dipped " in a pond before killing, as often occurs, or if rain be falling 

 at the time of killing, the skins will reach the salt house with varying quantities of 

 moisture and be salted in such condition. When afterwards the skins are weighed 

 out of salt, the differing amounts of moisture in them undoubtedly will affect accord- 

 ingly the percentage of loss in weight. 



It must be understood, also, that moisture, both from that carried in the fur, if the 

 fur be wet when salted, and that extracted from the pelt itself by the action of the 

 salt, is expressed from the skins in salt by the pressure of the skins above when salted in 

 the kench and when in the pile known as the book. Water always is found on the floors 

 of kenches, and those skins at the bottom are immersed in it. Likewise, there is 

 always seepage from the book of liquid from the upper skins which saturates those 

 skins salted below them. When these wet skins are weighed out of salt they must of 

 necessity weigh more, because of the presence of this moisture, than those from which 

 the moisture has been extracted, thereby causing a variation in the percentage of loss 

 in weight through salting. 



It must be remembered, furthermore, that probably no two skinners skin seals 

 alike. Some skinners unknowingly leave more blubber on than do others. Some 

 leave a uniformly thin layer of blubber over the entire skin, and others, because of a 

 relative lack of skill, will leave irregular patches of blubber of varying thickness. 

 Others, because of an eccentric manner of holding the skinning knife, will shave the 

 skin closely with the point, but will leave the blubber much thicker toward the haft. 

 If the skin carries blubber of equal thickness over its whole surface, necessarily the 

 action of the salt will be uniform over the entire skin. If, on the other hand, the 

 skin contains blubber in areas of uneven thickness, or if it carries blubber on some 

 portions and no blubber on other portions, the action of the salt will be unequal in 

 effect, because salt can not penetrate a thick mass of blubber as quickly as a thin 

 layer. 



So also, new salt, which contains many fine particles as well as the coarse grains, 

 will act more quickly and effectively upon skins than will old salt. The smaller 

 particles in the new more readily dissolve and form solution; besides, the old salt has 

 become more or less coated with grease from previous contact with skins; the smaller 

 particles have been dissolved for the same reason, leaving only the larger grains, 

 which dissolve less readily. These, and perhaps all other elements, operate to change 

 or vary the percentage of loss of weight from sealskins through salting. That these 

 skins almost invariably do show a loss of weight through the action of salt on them 

 is remarkable in view of the many factors which operate to influence the weight. 



If a test must be applied by which the work of killing seals on the islands is to be 

 checked, that test should be by weighing the skins as heretofore, and not by measur- 

 ing the skins, as h is been suggested. The test of weight can be applied immediately 

 after the animal has been killed and skinned, and thereby a close connection can be 

 kept in the minds of the workmen between the size of the animals taken and the 

 weights of their skins. On the other hand, it has been shown that no test of the size 

 of the skins which is worthy of consideration can be taken until at least five days 

 after the animals have been driven, slaughtered, and skinned. If the killing gang 

 must wait five days before knowing whether the seals taken on any date are taken 

 conformably to regulations, or the contrary, it is submitted that the information, 

 when finally obtained, will lose much of its value. 



These tests are useful, not so much in instructing the sealers as to their duties, but 

 in convincing others that the work of the sealers is in conformity with regulations. 

 Assume, for example, that the regulations prescribe the killing of 2-year-olds only, 

 It is obvious that whatever test is prescribed, whether by the weight or size of skins,. 



