Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 4.djvu/162

150 of a uniform brownish-white color above, and of a somewhat deep brown beneath. The fur-skin of this valuable animal is prepared in a peculiar manner. The long hair which conceals the fur is first removed, by heating the skin, and then carding it with a large wooden knife. The fur then appears in all its perfection, and was formerly much used in Europe for linings and borders of cloaks and mantles, for caps, etc.



But by far the most valuable fur that passes under the name of seal is that of the sea otter, or Alaska seal, which, while it has the habits of the seal, forms a connecting link between it and the otter. A large portion of this fur is obtained from two islands, St. Paul and St. George, in latitude about 56½° north, in the Sea of Behring or Kamtchatka, [sic] about 250 miles northwest of the peninsula of Alaska. These islands were sold by Russia to the United States as a part of