Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 4.djvu/161

Rh original color of the fur varies from black, through brownish red to ash-colored; and the dyer gives it whatever tint the market requires. The skins have long hairs, black, brown, or gray, which are taken out before the fur is in a condition to use. The number of seals of all kinds, now taken yearly, is not far from 1,000,000.



A few years ago, a large number of skins, of what was then called in Britain the common fur-seal of commerce, was obtained from the islands of the Southern Ocean. Instead of taking a moderate number, and allowing the supply to be kept up, those engaged in the business made an indiscriminate slaughter of the animals, and in a few years



nearly exterminated them. In South Shetland, it was estimated that they killed 320,000; in the Island of Desolation, or Kerguelen, more than 1,000,000; and in South Georgia 1,200,000. The fur of this seal is