THE SEA-LION HUNT. 467 



definite quality. It is a mixture of inferior teas. They are stacked into a heap and examined. If found inferior, 

 other black teas, as Campoy or Congo or such like, are mixed with it until it is considered merchantable Bohia, and 

 as nothing here is managed on a contracted scale, if the purchaser attends closely to liis interests and is a judge of 

 what he is receiving he is likely to be dealt liberally with, for I consider the Hong merchants as very honorable men. 

 There is seldom anything little or contracted with them. They are above it, and I think it due to their character to 

 say as a class of merchants no body of merchants of any country are more holiest or more honorable. They are above 

 little actions, but, as in all other countries, it is necessary that a man should attend to his own business and attend to 

 it closely. We received our teas from Ponqua. Our Boliia we complained of. He gave us Souchong to mix with it a 

 few baskets was of uo consequence. He allowed us to mix until we should have been dishonest not to have been satis- 

 lied. He was the man who bought our skins, to pay us in barter, and he complied with his contract in the most hon- 

 orable manner. Our silks we bought, from Yonqiia, who is in China street, and not a Hong merchant, but a very 

 honest, clever fellow. They have been frying to get him into the Hong, but he wishes to keep out of it. Ho therefore 

 is very private in his business, wishing the impression to be that he is able to do but little. He does a heavy busi- 

 ness in a very private manner. 



We commenced packing our Bohia tea. This was a very dirty, unpleasant business. We packed two hundred 

 chests a day, beginning at 4 o'clock in the morning, and had them finished and marked about noon. One man packs 

 one chest, treading it in with his feet. After the packing it is the custom to dine with the Hong merchant in his 

 hong, or store, for wo never visit, their houses. With the expectation that we will invite all our friends, a dinner is 

 accordingly provided in elegant English style. 



The Neptune completed taking in her cargo of teas, silks, and other Chinese products, and 

 sailed about January 1 for home, via Cape of Good Hope, arriving at New Haven July 11, 1799. 

 The shares of the sailors were about $1,200 each. 



4. THE SEA-LION HUNT. 



BY HENRY W. ELLIOTT. 

 1. CAPTUEE OF THE SEA-LION. 



While the greatest number of sea lions are captured on the Pribylov Islands every year, yet it 

 should be plainly understood that the hunting of these animals is not restricted to those islands 

 in Alaska by any means, as is so remarkable in the case of the fur-seal. On the contrary the sea- 

 lion is secured at many points between Attoo and Kadiak, and has been the means of making the 

 Aleuts of the Aleutian chain very independent as to the construction of their elegant sea-going 

 <; bidarkies " and " bidarrahs," which are simply necessary to their means of procuring a livelihood 

 by fishing and the chase of the sea otter. 



Unlike the method of the Pribylov natives, the Aleutians are obliged to employ their otter 

 spears and fire-arms when they seek the sea-lion, approaching the dozing animals either as they 

 sleep in the water or on the rocks awash, in their bidarkies with the wind well to leeward. Some- 

 times they manage to approach from the sea so cautiously as to stampede the astonished brutes 

 up ravines or over rolling moorlands, where they are easily shot and speared. Generally, however, 

 the natives secure only three or four out of the herd, the others escaping pell mell into the freedom 

 and shelter of the sea. 



The great intrinsic value, to the domestic service of the Aleuts rendered by the flesh, fat, 

 and sinews of this animal, together with its skin, arouses the natives of Saint Paul and Saint 

 George, who annually make a drive of " seevitchie," by which they capture, on the, former island, 

 two or three hundred, as the case may be, every year. On Saint George, driving is so much 

 more difficult, owing to the character of the land itself, that very few are secured there; but 

 at Saint Paul unexceptional advantages are found on Northeast Point for the capture of these 

 shy and wary brutes. The natives of Saint Paul, therefore, are depended upon to secure the 

 necessary number of skins required by both islands for their boats, &c. This capture of the sea- 



