INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 635 



instead of the blubber being laid over the skin in a uniform layer 

 there are stretches where, for example, there would be no blubber 

 at all left, while on others there might be the thickness of a quarter 

 of an inch, or thereabouts. In other words, the blubber is left on 

 there in layers unevenly. 



Then again we found that the younger men make a practice of leav- 

 ing a little more blabber on the skin than the older men do because 

 of the relative inexperience of skinning of the younger fellows and 

 the greater liability of cutting the skin which is more or less of a 

 crime on the islands or an admission of inefficiency. To be sure that 

 the pelt will not be injured as the result of their skinning, some of 

 these young fellows or, in fact, all of the young men, when they 

 begin the practice of skinning leave more blubber on the skin than 

 the older ones would. The older men, on the other hand, endeavor 

 to, and do as a matter of fact, leave a uniform and thin layer of blub- 

 ber on the skin, which blubber is necessary, I might state, for the 

 proper curing of the skin. 



Mr. McGuire. You may state to the committee, if you will, just 

 how your skinners are arranged and describe the skinning of an 

 animal just as it was done under your or others' instruction. 



Mr. Lembkey. The sealing gang, as we call the native workmen on 

 the islands, is divided into various classes — clubbers, stickers, a gang 

 we call rippers and fiipperers, and another gang we call the skinners. 



Mr. McGuire. Tell us just what each does. 



Mr. Lembkey. The clubbers, of course, separate the seals from 

 tie main drive in pods of about 50, bring them up to the place where it 

 is desired to kill them 



Mr. McGuire (interposing). Are those clubbers experts as to 

 wh it seals should be killed? 



Mr. Lembkey. They are. 



Mr. McGuire. And selected because they are experts? 



Mr. Lembkey. They are selected, from men who have had expe- 

 rience. That is a job which involves more or less hard work. Most 

 of them prefer to do the skinning. As a general rule the clubbing 

 falls upon the strongest men. 



Mr. McGuire. To do the clubbing? 



Mr. Lembkey. All the men have had considerable practice at 

 clubbing. 



These clubbers knock down such seals as are desired to be killed 

 and dismiss those that are ineligible for killing, and after their dis- 

 missal lay out the carcasses knocked down in some regular form so 

 that the men behind them who must take off the skin can handle 

 them in an expeditious manner. 



Mr. Bruckner. Do the seals fight back, Mr. Lembkey? 



Mr. Lembkey. They are quite active in that regard; yes. During 

 the clubbing it is necessary for a man to be more or less agile in get- 

 ting i round. 



As soon as these seals are hauled back or laid out, as we call it, by 

 the clubbing gang, they are taken charge of by the stickers. 



Mr. McGuire. What do they do ? 



Mr. Lembkey. They are the youngest men in the gang, men 16 

 and 17 years of age, performing their apprenticeship, in the art of 

 sealing. They bleed the seal to death, thereby insuring that he is 



