408 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



lion is the ouly serious business which the people have on Saint Paul; it is a labor of great care, 

 industry, and some physical risk for the Aleutian hunters. A curious, though doubtless authentic, 

 story was told me in this connection, illustrative of the strength and energy of the sea-lion bull 

 when at bay. Many years ago (1847), on Saint Paul Island, a drive of September sea-lions was 

 brought down to the village in the usual style; but when the natives assembled to kill them, on 

 account of the great scarcity, at that time, of powder on the island, it was voted best to lance the 

 old males also, as well as the iemales, rather than shoot them. in the customary style. The people 

 had hardly set to work at the task when one of their number, a small, elderly, though tough, able- 

 bodied Aleut, while thrusting his lance into the " life" of a large bull, was suddenly seen to fall on 

 his back, directly under the huge brute's head; instantly the powerful jaws of the "seevitchie" 

 closed upon the waistband, apparently, of the native, and, lifting the yelling man aloft, as a cat 

 would a kitten, the sea-lion shook and threw him high into the air, away over the heads of his 

 associates, who had rushed up to the rescue. Leo marinus was quickly destroyed by a dozen furi- 

 ous spear-thrusts, but in its clenched jaws were the tattered fragments of Ivan's trousers, an 

 unimpeachable evidence of the poor fellow's emasculation. 



By reference to my sketch map of Northeast Point fur-seal rookery on a previous page, the 

 observer will notice a peculiar neck or boot-shaped point, which I have designated as Sea-Lion 

 Neck. This area is a spot upon which a large number of sea-lions are always to be found during 

 the season. As they are so shy, and sure to take to water upon the appearance or presence of a 

 man near by, the natives adopt this plan: 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE DRIVE. Along by the middle or end of September, as late sometimes 

 as November, and after the fur-seal rookeries have broken up for the season, fifteen or twenty of 

 the very best men in the village are selected, by one of their chiefs, for a sea-lion rendezvous at 

 Northeast Point. They go up there with their provisions, tea and sugar, blankets, &c., and make 

 themselves at home in the "barrabbora" and houses, which I have located on the sketch-map of 

 Novastoshnah, prepared to stay, if necessary, a month, or until they shall get the whole drove 

 of two or three hundred sea-lions together. 



METHODS OF DRIVING SEA-LIONS. The '' seevitchie," as the natives call these animals, can 

 not be approached successfully by daylight, so these hunters lay by, in this house of Webster's, 

 until a favorable night comes along one in which the moon is partially obscured by drifting clouds, 

 and the wind blows over them from the rookery where the sea-lions lie. Such an opportunity being 

 afforded, they step down to the beach at low water, and proceed to creep flat on all-fours over the 

 surf beaten sand and bowlders up to the dozing herd, and between it and the high-watermark 

 where it rests. In this way, a .small body of natives, crawling along in Indian file, may pass unno- 

 ticed by the sea-lion sentries, which doubtless, in the uncertain light, see but confound the forms 

 of their human enemies with those of seals. When the creeping Aleuts have all reached the strip 

 of beach that is left bare by ebb-tide, which is between the water and the unsuspecting animals, at 

 a given signal from their crawling leader they all at once leap to their feet, shout, yell, brandishing 

 their arms, and firing off pistols, while the astonished and terrified lions roar and flounder in all 

 directions. 



The natives appreciate this peculiarity of the sea-lion very keenly, for good and sufficient 

 cause, though none of them have ever been badly injured in driving or "springing the alarm." I 

 camped with them for six successive nights in September, 1872, in order to witness the whole pro- 

 cedure. During the several drives made while I was with them I saw but one exciting incident ; 

 everything went off in the orthodox manner, as described in the text above. The exceptional 

 incident occurred during the first drive of the first night, and rendered the natives so cautious that 



