Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Seals For Fur

Jochelson, W.(1966). History, Ethnology and Anthropology of the Aleut. The Netherlands: Anthropological Publications.

I thought it was interesting that the Aleut people killed seals for fur. They started off doing it as a way of life. They would use every part of the seal then as time went on they were slaved by the Russians to kill them so they could sell the fur.
Old males, females, and puppies are left alone. The male seals between two and five are driven to a good place for capture. They are clubbed on the head until they are senseless and then their throats are cut and they are skinned. The Aleuts cut off the meat and either salt it or dry it for food for the winter. When the skins were all cut off, they were weighed. The skin had to be between eight and nine pounds, if it weighed more or less they knew that the wrong aged animal was killed. The skins were salted and dried for about two weeks. The skins then got sent to London to be dyed and cured in the markets.

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