THOUSAND OF SEALS.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 124, 26 May 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

THOUSAND OF SEALS.

A Great Catch on t_.e _lev.£oui_.Gland

and Labrador Coasts.

A St John (Newfoundland) despatch of April 6 says : —Sealskins will probably be cheap nexb season, much cheaper than eve,, before, if the catch on the Newfound, land and Labrador coasts is any indication of tho abundance of the animals from which the fur is obtained. The sealing season has been most, successful, and the catchers are in great glee over the fortunes they are making in the industry. Everybody has gono bo cabching seals—women, old men, priests, boys and even girls. Partridge Point has always been the objective point of many of the sealing parties, but never in its history have so many seals been taken as this year. Thus far 43,000 seals havo been knocked in the head. An east Wind has been blowing incessantly for over six weeks, and ice fills all the bayl on the coast. Sealing steamers, loaded unti there wasn't room aboard for. another animal, hovered about the 3dges.of the ice off the coast for.days, waitinsr an opportunity to land their cargoes and go off again for another. The ice being pressed in upon the land, the seals were brought within reach of the people on shore, and Notre Dame and White Bays were filled with them. It is estimated the catch in these two bays alone was 100,000 seals. They were all taken by the people on shore. Men, women and children swarm among the hummocks of the pack-ice along the shores, killing seals. Widow Walsh, a famous character in Notre Dame Bay, is reported to have killed.and brought ashore thirty-eight seals in one day. The parish priest, who tried his luck, captured, killed and bi ought ashore forty, seals in the same time, and it is no uncommon thing to hear of children who killed and dragged ashore from five to fifteen of the animals between sunrise and sunset. ■