NEWFOUNDLAND BEALB.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 1350, 12 June 1907, Page 8

NEWFOUNDLAND SEALS.

Sealing is not the trade it used to be ir tl o eyes of the average Newfoundlander. In the old days of wooden shipsas many as 8000 men would "go to the ice" in the season, working on a basis of equal division of profits between crew and owner. In those days crews would make as much as £60 a man in three weeks; now £3 or £4 a week is considered good pay, although there are only:3000 or 4000 men, engaged. in the industry. The headquarters of the fishery are in the straits of Belle Isle, and the seals may be found north of Belle Isle, off the coast of Labrador, or south as far as White Bay. The great herds, numbering between 100,000 and £00,000 seajs, lie, old and young together, scattered over a space of about 50 square miles. The best and keenestr eyed hunters amongst the crew are always in the crow's nest at the top of the mast, equipped with the besi field glasses that money can buy. Very often t^e seals are met with in the night, and the vicinity of the "main jam," as the herd is called, is first made known }>y the cries of the young seals. At dawn every man is over the side and the work of killing commences. Old and voting are killed by a smart tap on the nose.. The pelt, with four or five inches of the interior fat, is taken off in very workmanlike fashion, known locally us "skulping." Four, five, or six skin 3 are then tied together by the tow rope, head foremost, with the hair' underneath. This is known as a tow, and, if the men |are close to their ship, it is at once taken ob board. Often, however, the sealers are long distances away. Four or five thousand, and sometimes as many as 10,000 seals, are killed seven to ten miles away from the steamer. The course then followed is to select some solid patches of ice rather higher than the ordinary ice-field, and to these: all the seals are hauled and gathered together in lots of from vSOOv 500 to 5000. A gaff is then stuck down in the ice and flags are displayed about every pen. This "penning" gives rise to numerous disputes and constant lawsuits. In addition to the flags as distinguishing marks, the, men, in their own rude way, cut letters on the fat of the seals.