Sealskin

“ Thin undressed sealskin makes the best harness, and is not so liable to chafe the neck of the animal. The trace attached to each dog is generally of stout sealskin thong cut three-eighths of an inch wide, and the corners are carefully pared until the trace in form resembles a hoop for a small keg. ”

“ My friend quickly learned by experience the logic of the Eskimo's argument.
Deerskin kulutuk and trousers are not easily purchased, though along any coast where seals are captured similar garments of sealskin may be procured, which, though not equal to deerskin garments, answer very well. The skin of the young harbor seal (the ranger seal) is best for the purpose, as skins of other species are too thick and heavy. When made of sealskin the upper garment is called a "netsek." ”

“ For all that has been written concerning the Seal Islands, many very intelligent people have the vaguest ideas of their position, size, and condition, and few women who own sealskin garments even know that the scientist’s name for the animal that first wears that fine pelt is Callorhinus ursinus, or are acquainted 301with any of the other remarkable facts and statistics concerning the sealskin of commerce. ”

“ As the value of sealskin is far more artificial than real, inasmuch [202] as there are few ladies who could not be quite warm enough without wearing it, it is to be hoped that as they become aware that almost every jacket represents a seal that has been skinned alive, they will cease to make these cruel purchases, and thus save millions of innocent and interesting creatures from perishing off the face of the earth. ”

“ Now arises a cry of surprise and all eyes are turned toward a hut out of which stalk two gigantic figures. They wear heavy boots; their legs are swelled out to a wonderful thickness with several pairs of breeches; the shoulders of each are covered by a woman’s over-jacket and the faces by tattooed masks of sealskins. In the right hand each carries the seal spear, on the back of each is an inflated buoy of sealskin, and in the left hand the scraper. ”

“ A piece of sealskin is affixed at each end and either tied in a knot over the head to hold the wood in position, or else a wider strip of skin is slit and one portion worn on the top of the head while the other fits the back of the head to prevent the goggles from falling off when the wearer stoops down. ”

“ The latter are skins of French or Belgian rabbits, which, under the name of 'electric' sealskins, have been put upon the market, and have been largely sold and used as substitutes for the genuine sealskin. It is said that only an expert can tell the difference between the finished coney and the genuine sealskin. ”

“ Not all kinds of work, however, are forbidden, for they are allowed to mend articles made of sealskin, but they must not make anything new. For instance, an old tent cover may be enlarged in order to build a larger hut, but it is not permitted to make a new one. Working on new deerskins is strictly forbidden. No skins of this kind obtained in summer may be prepared before the ice has formed and the first seal is caught with the harpoon. Later, as soon as the first walrus is caught, the work must stop again until the next fall. ”

“ When the time comes in spring for making sealskin clothes, the women must not sew on any piece of deerskin which has not yet been sewed, lest the seals take offense and desert the locality which has been selected for the spring seal hunt, to which all the people look forward with longing, that they may obtain a supply of food different from that which they have had during the long winter months. As there can be no harm in killing a deer at this season, the flesh may be used, but the skin must be cast away. ”

“ For walking on dry snow, the best boot-soles are made of sealskin which has been rolled up and allowed to "heat" and ferment a little before drying, so that the epidermis can be scraped off with the hair. This looks like cream-colored morocco and will not stand the least wetting. For walking on the rough sea-ice they prefer to have soles made of sealskin dressed with the hair on, and worn with the flesh-side out; but for their water-proof boots they use the thicker skin of the great bearded seal, or, if they can get it, of the white whale, dressed with oil. ”

“ If well dyed, a sealskin will never fade, spot with rain, nor mat together with dust, and it is even told that one London dyer put one of his sealskins in a tub and washed it with soap as a proof that they would lose neither lustre nor color by such treatment. ”

“ Both the otter and sealskin are salted dry,—that is to say, each skin is spread out flat, salt is sprinkled plentifully over the inside, and the skin is then rolled up with the hair outside, and tied up into a round bundle. The old fur seals are killed just as they are met with, and without any regard to the preservation of the stock. The sealers commonly call the females "claphatches," and the males "wigs;" the skin of the former is much the more valuable of the two. The sea lions (another species of seal) are seldom meddled with ”

“ This, I would contend, is hardly fair; for if its skin is really sealskin, the rabbit must, of necessity, be a seal, and, as such, ought to be harpooned from a boat, and not shot at with double-barrelled guns. It is absurd to talk of going out "sealing" in gaiters, with a terrier, for the pursuit of the seal is a marine operation, and concerned with ships and icebergs and whaling line. A sportsman, therefore, who goes out in quest of this valuable pelt should, in common regard for the proprieties, affect Arctic apparel ”

“ Doubtless during the early days of the pelagic sealing, for every seal taken there was another killed or fatally wounded, and never recovered. It is said that on one of the Russian islands, Tolstoi, the ground is covered with the bleached bones of "pups" for which there was no market value, the skin not reaching that maturity which makes its fur to be rized. Fashion's whims, too, have had much to do with the industry. The price of a sealskin coat that once could be bought for a few dollars now staggers the average man. ”

“ There is the best evidence that the poachers confine themselves almost entirely to this commercially-precious female portion of the herds. It is reported that, out of twenty-five thousand sealskins which resulted from the work of those engaged in this disgraceful traffic, not one male skin could be found. This may be easily understood, for the male seal is strong and alert, and no hunter can get within shooting distance of him, as he can generally escape from the fastest boat pursuing him. ”

“ One and all bore the same story—not a seal, not a wild duck, not even a rock pigeon anywhere.
"But it is a fine thing to be able to straighten one's back," says the Laird, who always seizes on the cheerful side; "and we have not given up hope of your getting the sealskin yet, Miss Mary—no, no. The Doctor says they are away hunting just now; when the tide gets low again they will come up on the rocks. So the best thing we can do is to spend plenty of time over our luncheon, and cross the island again in the afternoon. ”

“ Sealskins are a costly commodity, in more ways than one. More perilous than almost any other mentionable pursuit, seal-hunting is yearly exacting a greater penalty in human lives than it ever did before. ”

“ You and John Hanson are both young and have got your health and strength, and instead of buying sealskins, and velvets and furbelows, you had better be laying up for a rainy day. You have no more need for a sealskin cloak than a cat has for a catechism. ”

“ The skin is dried in the same way as the membrane. In the early part of spring, though it may still be very cold, a few choice young sealskins are dried on snow walls which face to the south. In order thoroughly to dry a sealskin one fine warm spring day is needed. If the Eskimo are greatly in need of skins they dry them in winter over the lamps. A frame is made of four poles, lashed together, according to the size of the skin. A thong passes through the slits along its edge and around the frame, keeping the skin well stretched. Thus it is placed over the lamps or near the roof of the hut. ”

“ For the supply of sealskin fur the markets of the world are at the present day all but entirely dependent upon the Bering Sea fisheries. The vast rookeries which at one time existed in the Southern hemisphere in Patagonia, in the Falkland Islands, in Kerguelen Land, and in numbers of islands in various parts of the Antarctic seas have been hunted nearly out of existence. Seals are practically unknown where three-quarters of a century ago they were to be counted by millions. ”

“ When the herds enter Bering Sea, about the end of June, nearly every female seal is with young. After the long voyage of two or three thousand miles through the heavy, boisterous waters of the North Pacific, they are naturally tired when they reach these breeding-grounds, and iii a condition in which they are an easy prey to the unscrupulous hunter. Even if every such female seal which is killed were secured, it is clear that two seal lives would be destroyed for the sake of a single sealskin. ”

“ We killed several thousands of these harmless creatures. It is indeed astonishing to notice with what eagerness the sailors enter into this pursuit, knocking down the seals with their clubs, stripping them of their skins, and pegging them out to dry or salting them down in casks with the utmost zeal and perseverance. At that time sealskins sold in London at a guinea each. We filled our little vessel and returned to Sydney. ”

“ The plans of the feasting houses, will be found in another place (p. 600) .
554 CLOTHING, DRESSING OF THE HAIR, AND TATTOOING.
The styles of clothing differ among the tribes of the Central Eskimo. In summer the outer garment is always made of sealskins, though the women wear deerskins almost the entire year. The sealskin clothing is made from the skins of Pagomys fœtidus, yearlings being used, and also from those of Callocephalus, if they can be obtained. The latter particularly are highly valued by the natives. ”

“ But it is estimated that the hunter secures only one out of three or four such seals killed in the open sea, and on this basis the enormous destruction of seal life by the poachers, in proportion to the sealskins which are furnished for the purposes of commerce through their operations, may be easily estimated. Every seal-skin placed upon the market by them represents the destruction of six or eight seals—an utterly unjustifiable inroad into the vitality of the herds, already small enough as a source of supply for the world. ”

“ Article XII It is agreed on the part of Russia that of the total number of sealskins taken annually upon the Commander Islands, or any other island or shores of the waters defined in Article I subject to the jurisdiction of Russia to which any seal herds hereafter resort, there shall be delivered at the Commander Islands at the end of each season fifteen per cent (15%) gross in number and value thereof to an authorized agent of the Canadian Government, and fifteen per cent (15%) gross in number and value thereof to an authorized agent of the Japanese Government ”

“ However, it is disagreeable work to dry the skins inside the huts, and, as they are much inferior to those which are dried on the ground, the Eskimo avoid it if they can. When so prepared the sealskins are only fit for covering tents, making bags, &c.; they are far too hard to be used for clothing, for which purpose the skin of yearlings is almost exclusively used. ”

“ The natives were delighted with even this partial assistance; but now they have no further concern about it at all, for several mules and carts render prompt and ample service.
The common or popular notion in regard to seal-skins is, that they are worn by those animals just as they appear when offered for sale; that the fur-seal swims about, exposing the same soft coat with which our ladies of fashion so delight to cover their tender [Pg 348] forms during inclement winter. This is a very great mistake; few skins are less attractive than a seal-skin is when it is taken from the creature. ”

“ It was Omnok, the hunter, with his terrible gun sliding right along beside him! He had learned how Little Brown Seal took his "cat" naps, and he was going to slip right up to him and kill him. He kept creeping up closer, closer, closer. But Little Brown Seal had made up his mind that it was one of his cousins, and so he didn't ask himself any more questions about it. He just kept on taking his little "cat" naps and waking up to look all around, this way and that way, but never paying any attention to [112] this stranger who was coming nearer all the time. ”

“ As for the personal appearance of the sealers, as they labour at the work of slaughter, they look the most ruffianly set of men in existence. They are dressed in the queerest caps and coats of various shapes, with smuggler-looking breeches and long boots; moustaches and beards are covered with a mass of frozen tobacco-juice, hoar-frost, and Seal’s blood. Their matted hair, gory, greasy, unwashed faces and hands, reek and smell with a strong taint of butchery. ”

“ True solitude should imply no fleas.
During the time that this large bottle-nosed seal was away, a small common one—the same that lies on the rock in this sea-pool every day from before it is uncovered to the flowing in of the tide—came and disported himself—as usual I had said, but it was not quite the same. He first began to dive and reappear, at regular intervals, as does the great one, and I soon found that he was behaving like him in all things, even to the standing on end in the water, like a peg-top, with his nose straight up in the air. ”