HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1892-4-28, Page 3T11B`SEALS'OF ALASKA.
Seine or the fllietitoda by Which a nensark
' able lnilustry is Carried os,.
If the temporary agreement for protecting'
the seals of Alaska, known as the '° med is
vivendi," isnot renewed the whole fleet of
sealerswill enter Behring sea next July and
make war upon the Pribylov herd. To snake
this crusade appreciated it isnecossary to ex-
plain the astonishingly scientific system of
slaughter adopted by the pelagic sealers.
Suppose that there were a single great herd
of 1,000,000 valuable fur. bearing beasts which
traveled continually over a kite -shaped track
many thousands of miles in circuit on the
great plains of the west. Iahagine that
these animals devoted eight months in every
year to travering this route, never varying
from it, so that their entire company was
always sure to be at a given point on the
road at a certain date, though halting to-
gether in an isolated spot for four months
annually to breed and rear their young.
How long would it bo before the greedy
Minters would have wiped them all out? If
the latter were permitted to surround them
at their breeding place a single season would
suffice for their extermination.
The herd -there is only one—leaves the
Pribylov Islands about November 10 each
year to spend the winter in warmer waters.
Passing southward through the Aleutian
chain and out of Bering sea the animals
swim fil-a segutheasterly direction toward
Santa Barbara, about 400 miles south of San
Francisco, on the Pacific coast. There they
turn and go northward—nearly a million.
strong hugging the coast into Bering sea,
reaching the Pribylov Islands again by July
10. Upon those lonely rooks they breed
and nurse their young for four months, at
the end of which time the pups are
weaned and big enough to accompany the
annual migration. The track they follow is
never varied from and eauh week in the
year finds them at the same stage of their
route, so that no difficulty in discovering
the herd is experienced by the hunters who
pursue the poor beasts relentlessly month
after month, killing, killing, killing, until
they get back into Kering sea again and are
safe for a while. No present project for
putting a stop to this is entertained. The
"modus vivendi" and the seizures of vessels
have merely related to the exclusion of the
pelagic sealers from Bering sea itself, whore
they are anxious to go and wipe out the
whole breeding herd while it is assembled
ontwo small islands, thus making an end
of the species at once and "for good,"
Before explaining in detail the remark-
ably effective method by which this result
would be accomplished some very interest -
Ing points may bo mentioned respecting the
extraordinary business of pelagic sealing.
For the pursuit of this industry small
schooners of from forty to sixty tons are
equipped. Each such vessel starts out on a
voyage with three or four months'provisions
a quantity of salt, a supply of repeating
rifles and fifteen or twenty men. Usually
the crew includes a few Indians from Van-
eouver'sIsland and Neeah bay, Washington.
The schooner sails out into the path of the
herd of seals. She has no trouble in discov-
ering when the right point is reached by the
popping up on all sides in the water of the
annuals' heads. Then she lies to, unless the
weather is too rough, and lowers into the
sea a number of small dories.
Each boat is occupied by two men. One
of them sits in the bow, with a Winalhester
rifle or fowling piece loaded with buckshot
across his lap, while the other rows. The
effort is to extend from the vessel a line of
from seven to ten dories, which shall be
within hail °Iseach other, so that they can
find their way, back in case of a fog or storm.
'Having taken their positions, they wait t for
the chance of n seal's head popping up with-
in range. The animals, while traveling,
only appear on the surface at the intervals
necessary for breathing, take a quick and
cautious look around and immediately dive
again to swim and fish. They do all their
swimming and fishing under water.
When thehu iter sees a head pop up, if he
is quick enough, he may have time to asin
and fire before the seal has taken an instan-
taneous survey of him and dived. Usually,
when the animal comes up close alongside
the boat, its fright is so great that it disap-
pears too suddenly for a shot, but if it pops
up at a distance of fifty or oue hundred
yardsperhaps it may pause for two or three
seconds and afford an opportunity to the
marksman. At best the aim is necessarily
very uncertain. Inasmuch as both boat and
seal aro tossing about in the lumpy water.
No matter whether it is hit or not the
weal disappears instantly. If killed out-
right it sinks, but if the marksman by
keeping bis eye on the spot where the car-
cass went under can so direct the boat as to
get there quickly enough he may be able to
see the body of the animal going down in
the crystal-clear water. In that case he
whips out his gaff pole and fishes it up. To
succeed in this however, he must arrive in
time at the exact point where the game
sank, since it is only from just above
that it will be visible through the choppy
waves, which show not a bubble for a Guide.
A dead seal will sink from six to ten feet
while a skiff is rowed fifty yards. There is
more skill in finding the prey after it is Mt
than in shooting it. Supposing that the seal
is slightly or mortally wounded it dives or
awims away, in most cases to perish later.
If merely stunned, it flounders about on the
surface and is easily taken ; but that seldom
occurs. From this brief description some
notion can be formed of the enormous waste
of life in this kind of hunting, which accor-
ding to the testimony of the dealers them-
selves, destroys fifteen animals for every
ono secured. (
After a few'days the herd thus intercept-
ed by the schooner will have passed by.
This is discovered from the fact that no more
heads of seals are seen popping up in the
water. Have the unfortunate beasts at
length made their escape from this preda-
tory vessel? By no means. She simply
spreads her canvas to the breeze, sails 60 or
100 miles, overhauls the animals and pro-
eends as before. So it continues week after
week, month after month, until they have
.been pursued to Bering Sea, into which
some bold poachers follow them, lying off
the Pribylov Islands lathe fog which hard-
ly ever lifts and shooting the breeding
Mothers that venture out into the ocean
In 1886 there were seven vessels engaged in
• the sealing industry on the northwest coast..
There were twenty-two in 1887, thirty-three
in 1899, forty-five in 1890, and one hundred
and ten last summer. This year there will
be about 125 schooners in the business.. All
nfthese, craft and more than 2, 000 Canadian,,
American Japanese and Indian hunters aro
devoted to the indiscriminate slaughter of
this herd of valuable creatures, which are
to -day almost 90 per cent females. They
are at this writing passing up the coast by
Vancouver'e'=Islana. Of those which ate
now being killed S0porcent. are heavy wi ih
anborn young.
By July 10 the entire herd will be on the
two islands in Bering sea, breeding and
sursh.% their young. The pups are all born
by July 20, and up to November 10 the
nether seals are constantly going out to the
...teen fishing linksfor food.. They nurse
their offspring at intervals ;of from one to
four days, and travel in search of fish, 50 to
300 miles away froni'the islands. Tho fleet
entering Bering sea in July, would draw a
cordon around the islands, practically anni-
hilate all the mothers before the helpless
young are weaned in November, ,nd leave
the infant seals to starve by myriads on the
rocks. While not literally extermining the
Species the result of this, it is argued, would.
be to destroy the sealing industry forever.
True, the pelagic sealers would ruin their
own business, but they belong to a class of
people who care only for today and do not
look forward to theinorrow.
The Indian hunters carried by the sailing
vessels take an important part in the chase.
They are turned loose on days when calm
weather has succeeded a storm. At such
times the seals, which have been so tossed
about in the water as to have had no sleep
for a considerable period, indulge in the
luxury of sound naps on the ocean billows,
lying on their backs at the surface with only
their noses and "heels" showing. Thus
rocked in the cradle of the deep they peace-
fully repose, doubt] essly enjoying pleasan
dreams, while the savage in his canoe ap-
proaches silently from the leeward. When
within striking distance the hunter drives
a toggle -headed spear into the unconscious
animal, drags the prey up to the boat and
knocks it on the head. This method of
slaughter, though not loss indiscriminate
than that adopted by the white men, has
the advantage that uo seal that is struck is
lost.
The pelagic sealers have asserted that the
breed of seals hunted off the Straits of Fuca
and Vancouver's Island is not the sane as
that of the Pribylov Islands, and that the
Alaskan seals frequent more or less the
Russian seal islands on the other side of
Bering sea, seals from the latter, known as
the Commander Islands, sometimes joining
the Pribylov herd, As a matter of fact,
every seal which journeys through the
eastern waters of the north Pacific was born
and bred on the Pribylov Islands. Never
within historic times have the animals
composing the Pribylov herd " hauled
out" to breed anywhere else then. on these
islands, which they doubtless selected be-
cause they were uninhabited, not being
discovered until 1786, while the mainland
and the islands of the Aleutian chain were
overrun very anciently by savage man.
That no Russian seal was ever taken on the
Pribylov Islands, or vice versa, is proved
by the records of market sales of the
skins in London. The Russian pelts are
readily distinguishable from the Alaskan,
being much lighter in color. Presumably
the warmer water about the Commander
Islands, temperature being about ten de-
grees higher, has made the difference in the
course of generations. The Russian skins
are only worth about half as much as the
Alaskan.
The herd which breeds upon the. Com-
mander Islands is about as large numerically
as the Pribylov herd at present, comprising
somewhat less than 1,000,000 individuals.
It spends the winter in the Japan sea and
in the neighborhood of the Kurile Islands.
Thus farbeenany
it has not attacked toex-
tent
tent by pelagic sealers, simply because thei r
attention has been centered upon the more
valeabie Alaskan animals. However, as
soon as the Pribylov herd has been wiped
out, the Russian seals will bo attacked.
Russia claims no jurisdiction over Bering
sea beyond three miles from shore, and she
can only save her seals by joining the United
States and Great Britain in the internation-
al agreement which constitutes the only
hope for the preservation of these useful
creatures. If a ton -mile or thirty -mile
zone of protection can be established, there
is no reason why a zone of 300 or 500 rniles
should not bo maintained. Such an agree-
ment once made, the seals would be saved.
Some notion of the rapidity with which they
are being exterminated can be got from the
report of United States Commissioner
Elliott, wlho in 1874 counted 3,000,000 seals
on the Pribylov Islands. In 1890 he found
there only 959,000 old and young. In 1874
there were 1,200,000 "bachelor seals "—
males under six years old, which aro not
allowed by the bulls t000me upon the breed -
oaks. A liberal estima to in 1890 placed the
number of bachelors at 100,000.
The life of a seal hunter is as dangerous
and exposed a calling as human ingenuity
has ever devised. In the north Pacific the
skies are nearly always overcast and gales
blow continually. Fogs settle down with-
out a moment's warning, not to rise again,
perhaps, for days or weeks. Yet from the
deck of a schooner two men will launch a
small dory,•with only a keg of water and a
bag of hard tack, and pull out to windward
into the ocean waste, so as to be just in
sight of the vessel or within hailing distance
of a boat between themselves and the vessel,
taking their chance of getting back safely.
Very often they aro lost. Death in its most
frightful form—from thirst is the fate always
to be looked forward to as more than pos.
Bible by the pelagic sealer. The fog sudden-
ly descends like a curtain, damp and im-
penetrable to the strained vision ; the an-
swering hail comes not. It is 1 he old story,
so oft repeated. Two human beings adrift
in a skiff, lost in a desert of stormy waters.
No hope that is worth mentioning exists for
then. What use to row when all is blind-
ness and there is no guide tosteer by. Days
of agony on short allowance of water, then
madness and finally—.
But why pursue the horror further. - No
ono who has never sailed upon those wind -
ht
swept seas nor stared into those frightful
fogs can realize the risks which are taken
every day of their lives by these hunters or
understand, in view of the small reward
they receive, why they pursue such an oc-
cupation. The gunner is paid for the skins
he gets from $2.50 to $5 a piece, according
to size and quality. The boat puller is paid
from 40 cents to $1 a skin, though sometimes
be works for $30 a month. Ten skins make
a very big day's catch, and to get so many
the hunter will usually expend from 150 to
200 cartridges. That would signify about
$40 for the hunter, whose labor is highly
skilled, and ,,$4 for the puller. The owner
of the vessel provides ammunition. Indians
have their own spears and canoes. They
get the same prices for skins as the white
men, but do not secure so many
When the skins have been fetched aboard
they are rubbed with plenty of salt to pre-
serve them. Enough of the fat is left upon
them to hold the salt. This fat has an ex-
traordinarily offensive odor. The smell is
not only disagreeable, bust it has a certain
sickening quality which turns the stomach
of any one who is not accustomed to it.
'When officers board a sailing schoouer their
first proceeding is almost invariably to • go
to the rail of the vessel and relinquish
whatever they have eaten recently with an
abandon which appears to signify that they
have no further use for it whatever.
DEEMINQ AND.' HIS LAST V1OTIhi.
Evidence that ]Ills Wife Had Decided to
Leave 1iliu Before She was Murdered.
A despatch from Melbourne says that evi-
dence has, been discovered going to show
that the murdered Mrs. Deeming,. formerly
Miss Mather, intended to leave her hus-
band just before she was murdered and • go
back to England. Mr. MOHail, an owner
of property in Melbourne, says that a week
before Christmas a lady wha lied a gentle
and refined manner applied to him for a furn-
ished cottage, which she proposed to oc-
cupy. She explained that she was unable.
to give any references, es she had only ar-
rived from England in the Kaiser Wilhelm
II. a few days before, and was a perfect
stranger in the colony. Since her arrival
she had quarielled with her husband, and
had determined to return to England, but
she wished to take advantage of the oppor-
tunity to see Melbourne, as she had saved
enough money to make a short stay and pay
her passage home.
Being very favorably impressed .with tho
woman's manner and appearance, Mr. Mc -
Hail agreed to dispense with references, and
expressed his willingness to let the cottage.
The lady left, promising to write to him in
a day or two. But this she failed to do, and
shortly after Mr. McHail met her walking
alone, and looking very downcast, in Swan-
ton street, the street in which the jail is
situated, and frons which, no doubt the
prisoner took his latest alias. Mr. Mellish
stopped her and inquired whether she had
decided to take the house. She replied in
the affirmative, but while they were convers-
ing a man wearing an angry scowl approach.
ed and beckoned to the lady, who started
nervously and went away with him.
ltlr. M°Hail was so struck with this inci-
dent that he took particular notice of the
new -comer, and observed especially that he
had very cruel -looking eyes. When he
saw Deeming's picture he at once declared
that the had no difficulty in identifying it as
that of the man in question. The descrip-
tion of the lady which he has furnished to
the police also corresponds with that of
Mrs. Deeming, Mr, Meldail .never saw her
again, but ho saw the man on two subsequent
occasions—;+ace alone and once walking
with a tall woman.
A telegram from Halifax says :—Deeming
was in Halifax a few years ago on alleged
gold mining business. He showed a gentle-
man whom he met here a letter ho had re-
ceived from Kato Edowes, one of the women
who was subsequently murdered in White-
chapel. The letter revealed a motive for
the murder of the girl. Deemiug went
under two or more aliases in Canada, one
of which was Ruel. He impressed those he
met as being a thoroughly conscteuceless
wretch, and soma of the stories told by hint
allowed that he was capable of perpetrating
any deviltry.
Arafioial Heat.
A lady, who lives on Austin avenue sent
her colored servant Matildy to the grocery
s tore to'getaloaf of bread for breakfast,wllich
was ready. Metildy„ got back pretty soon
with the bread, and `as the lady of the house
took it, she remarked:
"This is nice, fresh bread. It S warm
yet from the oven," .
"Dat ain't what makes it hot," in terrupt-
ed Matildy.
"What dors make it warm ?"
"I put de bread under my arm, and run
de whole way from de bakery. Dat's what
warmed it up so."
"The bread got cool before .the lady did,
.when she heard this explanation."
The Wedding Finger.
How many women who fondly love the
golden symbol of their wedding vow know
why they wear it on the third finger of the
left hand ? That particular digit was
chosen because it was believed by the Egyp-
tians to be counected by a slender nerve
with the heart itself. And these ancient
worshippers of Isis held this finger sacred to
Apollo and the sun, and therefore gold was
the metal chosen for the ring.
The abundance of rhubarb that will soon
be in market calls fresh attention to the
value of this herb, both as a pie -
plant and .for stewing as well as for
rhubarb wino. The best way of cooking
rhubarb is to wash the stalks, cut them in
small pieces without peeling them and throw
them in an earthen pipkin with about two
tablespoonfuls of water to every bunch of
rhubarb. Let them cook slowly in the pip-
kin after also adding about a cup of sugar
to a bunch of rhubarb. Tho sager will
draw the juice oat of the rhubarb and when
this is accomplished the pot should be pull-
ed forward gradually and the rhubarb
stewed till tender. Taste of it and adtl
more sugar if it is needed. This makes a
rids red sauce and is far ric 1 er than when
the rhubarb is peeled. For pies, line a
platter with rich crust, egg it with the white
'of an egg, fill it with fresh pie -plant, cut in
pieces, add a cup of sugar, and half a tea.
spoonful of butter. Cover it with a verythiu,
rich crust and bake it for about one hour.
When the pies are done sprinkle them with
powdered sugar, Leave the oven door open
for fifteen minutes after the pies are sprinkl-
ed with sugar, and before they are taken
out.
The Smallest Human Being.
The most remarkable atom of humanity
that has ever attained his or her majority
y
bore the poetic name of Lucia %crate, and
hailed from Mexico. he was born in the
above named country January 2,1863 ; died
January 28, 1890, at Truckee, Cal. When
on exhibition in this country from 1883 to
1885 and again from 1887 to the time of her
death, she weighed, according to the most
reliable estimates between eight and nine
pounds; generally advertised as weighing
but four pounds and nine ounces. Luria,
like most Mexican girls of good family, was
betrothed while still in her cradle. As her
affianced grew to bo a strapping follow of
130 pounds, Lucia's parents watched over
their midget offspring, reluctantly admit-
ting to each other that sooner or later the
unequal match must be declared ".off" for-
ever. It is said by those in position to
know that years after, when the big Mexi-
can and the midget wonder had given up all
hopes of ever being joined by the hymeniai
ties, the heroic lover corresponded with the
little freak and helped. to relieve the tedium
of many of the long hours when she was on
the stage in a strange land. While on ex-
hibition here in Philadelphia, Lucia thought
she saw the face of her lover in the throng
which daily crowded around her. This
mistake caused her many days of sorrow.
Her time off the stage for two weeks after
the little episode was spent in bemoanins
her fate and praying to be allowed the
stature and avoirdupois of other girls of
her age.
After her tour of the principal American
cities she returned to her home in Mexico,
and for two years enjoyed the semi -oriental
climate of her native city on a scale as
grand as her abbreviated proportions would
admit.
Witnin a year and a half she returned
to the United States to finish her harvest of
dollars ; caught cold while crossing the
mountains from the Mississippi Valley to
the Pacific Coast, and died at Truckee,
Cal., after a short illness, aged 27 years and
26 days. Taken all in all she was the most
wonderful specimen of humanity known
since the dawn of history.
Great excitement has been caused among
the lower classes in Delhi by rumours circu-
lated by religious fanatics that the British
Government had appointed secret agents to
kidnap seven boys who are -to be offered as
a sacrifice to thewater deity upon the site
of the projected reservoir: The authorities
are taking all precautions to prevent all out-
break.
The Beautihtl Side of Life.
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that
two-thirds of all that makes it "beautiful
to be alive " consists in cup -offerings of
water. Not an hour of life's journey but
is rendered easier by their freshening or
harder by their absence. Why? Because
moat of us are burden -bearers of one sort or
another; because to most of us a large part
of the journey is a dull and trivial trudge;
because there is much dust upon the road,
and not so many bad places as probably we
think, yet many common places; and it is
load and dust and stretches of the common
place that make one thirsty: If the feeling
on our shoulders were of wings instead of
load; if oa Moudays, "in some good cause
not our own," we were marching singing to
a battle, and on Saturdays were coming
back victorious, then the greetings on
the way would make leas difference to us.
But, as it is, we crave the roadside recogni-
tions which give praise for the good deed
attempted, pity for' the hard luck and
the fall, a hand -lift now and then to
ease the burden's chafe, and now and then a
word of sympathy in the step -step -stepping
that takes us through the dust. And this
is all that most of us wait to give, for we,
too, ate here on business. You cannot step
my Journey for me, cannot carry me on your
back, cannot do me great service; but it
makes a world of difference to me whether I
do my Tart in the world with or without
these little helps which.fellow-travellers ex-
change. "I am busy, Johnnie, and can't
help it," said the father, writing away,
when the little fellow hurt his finger. "Yes,
you could --you might have said "Oh 1" sob-
bed Johnnie. There's a Johnnie in tears in-
side all of us upon occasions. The old
Quaker was right: "I expect to pass
through this life but once. If there is any
kindness or any good thing I can do to my
fellow -beings,, let me do it now. I shall
pass this way but once."
When Baby was sick, we rave her Castoria.
When she was a Child, she cried for Castoria.
When she became bliss, she clung to Castoria
When she had Children, she gave there Castoria
No man has come to true greatness who
has not felt in some degree that his life be-
longs to his race, and that what God gives
him he gives him for mankind. --(Phillips
Brooks.
Children Cry for Pitcher's Castoria
otocturs
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Can osNeHARw 'D. O.k City.
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Late Paster Bloomingdale Reformed Church.
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For several years I have recommended
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Malts.
EDWIN F. I'dnmEs, M. D.,
"The -Winthrop," 125th Street and 7th AWN,
New York City..
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