Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/812

* SEAL. ''34 nize at least two and pciliaps ihri'c species. In size the male is very luucli larjicr than the fe- male, the ditreronoe beinj,' tspeeially noticeable in weight. A fullfiiown male is about 80 inches in length and weighs rather less tiian 400 i)Ounds, while the female is only about 48 indies long and weighs less than 80 pounds. The color is considerably atlectcd by age, the length of time the seal has been out of water, and the amount of dirt on the fur, but in general the adults are dark gray, with a more or less chestnut or seal- brown cast. The young are black above and brownish-gray beneath, but when tlnce months old have assumed the steel-gray pelage of year- lings. At this stage they are nearly white be- neath and the sexes are "alike. With increased age the white lower parts become grayish ; the female assumes the adult aspect a little more slowly. The pelage in all the fur-otaries con- sists of the ordinary outer coat of 'water-hair,' and a dense, soft under fur. To prepare a pelt for use as "fur' the water-hair is removed and the under fur is cleaned. On account of their ex- ceptional warmth, softness, and beautj-, sealskins liave long been in great demand, and the wanton destruction of breeding females, literallj' by the millions, in the nineteenth century, so depleted the seal herds that the supply is always less than the demand. The high prices thus con- stantly obtainable have led to the continued ex- istence of ,1 considerable Meet of vessels which hunt and slaughter seals, wherever they can find them, regardless of age or sex. Ever since the discovery of the Pribilof Islands in 1786, the competition for the skins of the seals breeding there and elsewhere in the North Pacific has been so keen that the animals have been in imminent danger of extermination. The organization of the Kussian-American Company in 1799, how- ever, improved conditions somewhat, as the kill- ing of the seals was legally restricted to the employees of a single corporation, which had the greatest interest in the maintenance of the herd. At first the slaughter was indiscriminate as to age or sex, bvit regulations protecting the fe- males and young were soon made, so that when the Pribilof fur-seal herd came under the control of the United States in 1867, it was in a pros- perous condition. Since then it has been sadly depleted. For a discussion of the Alaskan seal question, see Sealing. The great evil of pelagic sealing lies in the fact that the nursing mothers wander far in search of food, while the males do not take food during the breeding season, but remain on the islands. Consequently practically all the seals taken by pelagic sealers are nursing females, the death of which ordinarily results in the starva- tion of the pups. There can be no doubt that pelagic sealing is suicidal, the catch showing an annual decrease since 1894, while it is probable that the profits to each vessel engaged in it are extremely small. Recent calculations based on the mo.st trustworthy figures indicate that the Pribilof herd of breeding seals did not in 1903 exceed 60.000 females, and unless remedial meas- ures be devised and enforced the early extinction of the herd is probable. The terms used in reference to the fur-otaries present a curious anomaly. The animal so gen- erally called 'fur-seal' is properly a sea-bear, and very probably more nearly related to the bears than to the true seals. The male is called a SEALING. •bull' and the female a 'cow,' but the young one is a "pup,' which if a male becomes a 'l)aclielor.' The 'cows,' moreover, are gathered in 'harems' on a 'rookery' and, to cap the climax, the cap- ture of these mammals is commonly designated as a 'fishery'! For full particulars, in every detail, regarding the fur-seal and the sealing industry, consult the remarkable four volumes issued by the United States Treasury Department in 1899, designated Report of Fur Seal Investigations. SEA -LEOPARD. A seal (Ogmorhinus lep- toiii/j') of the monk-seal group, widely distrib- uted in the southern oceans. It grows to he ten feet long and is the largest of the southern hair- seals, excepting the elephant-seal ( q.v. ) . It takes its name from its spotted gray -and -white coat. SEALING. An important industry, chiefly of Alaska, notable for the international complica- tions to which it has given rise. The .-Vlaskan seal fishery is the most valuable of its kind in the world, and was one of the chief considera- tions that induced the United States to purchase Alaska from Paissia in 1867. It has afforded considerable revenue to the United .States by the lease of the privilege of taking seals, in fact an amount in excess of the price paid for Alaska, and gives employment to large numbers of na- tives. From 1870 to 1890 the seal fisheries, 'care- fully guarded and preserved.' yielded 100.000 skins a year. The company to which the admin- istration of the fisheries was intrusted by a lease from the Government paid a rental of .$50,000 per annum and in addition thereto .$2.62 '^ per skin for the total number taken. The skins were transported to London to be dressed and pre- pared for the markets of the world, and the busi- ness had grown so large that the earnings of English laborers since the acquisition of Alaska by the United States had amounted liy 1890 to $12,000,000. Then came the depredations of Canadian vessels with their indiscriminate slaughter of the seals, so that the Government was compelled to reduce by 40 per cent, the num- ber that could be taken, while the actual number taken came to be far short of the number al- lowed. During the breeding season the colony of seals have a habit of crossing from their fixed habita- tion on the Alaskan shore to the Pribilof Islands, alsn the property of the United States, for the purpose of producing and rearing their young. In making this passage they cross a portion of the Bering Sea, which is considerably more than three miles outside of either shore, and therefore beyond the usual limit of jurisdiction recognized as belonging to any particular nation. Begin- ning in about 1886, it became the practice of cer- tain Canadian vessels to intercept the passing seals while beyond the three-mile limit and shoot them in the water, often killing lioth male and female. As a result of this ruthless course it became evident that the fisheries were in a fair way to be wantonly destroyed together with the resulting industries so A-aluable both to the United States and Great Britain. As soon as these depredations became known to the Government of the t'nited States, during the first admin- istration of President Cleveland, a proposal was made to the Government of Great Britain that a convention be entered into between the two