342 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



As to the bachelors, such as were killable have been killed and counted, 30,000 in 

 all. There are some 5,000 bulls in active service, half as many idle bulls 6 years old 

 or more, and some 15,000, more or less, of half bulls, wigging 4-year-olds, and wigged 

 5-year-olds. Of these there are many specimens of splendid sealhood, robust and 

 strong, besides a number of lean and poor ones, hurt somehow cut by bulls, or with 

 buckshot concealed in their bodies. Then there are yearlings and 2-year-olds, 30,000 

 or more altogether; no one can guess how many, as they come and go at will. As to 

 the pups, there is one for each female thus far present on the rookeries. If exceptions 

 exist, they will pass away in a few days, for there are no barren cows. 



Perhaps the bachelors on Northeast Point do not roam back to the southern 

 rookeries. If not, one can roughly estimate the proportion of cows on this great 

 rookery by the known number of bachelors taken there. But this could not be 

 absolute. About Kitovi and Lagoon few old bachelors stay. Tolstoi has very many 

 and Lukanin more than its proportion compared with Kitovi. No drives are made 

 from the Lagoon at all. It is almost exclusively a residence region. 



JULY 27. 



Heavy wind and rain all day yesterday made it impossible to get upon the 

 rookeries. 



Mr. Lucas and Professor Thompson attended the killing at Tolstoi this morning. 

 Dr. Jordan visited Gorbatch rookery in the forenoon, and in company with Mr. Clark 

 and Mr. Lucas went to Lukanin and Kitovi in the afternoon. 



GORBATCH. 



There is not much going on at Gorbatch rookery to-day. Many seals are in the 

 sea and the water front is deserted. Pods of pups are paddling in sheltered pools of 

 water out of reach of the surf. This is the first time the pups have been seen by us 

 in the water. Many pups are asleep flat among the rocks. One dead pup, evidently 

 crushed, is seen; it has the placenta attached. 



A cow lies on the rock and calls her pup from below. She has a peculiar voice 

 and the pup comes for some distance. He can not get up to her and she is too lazy 

 to move. Though close to her she pays no attention to me. She seems to expect her 

 pup to do what is impossible climb up 10 feet of almost vertical rock. The pup's hair 

 parts in the wet, showing the skin; it feels uncomfortable. The cow finally climbs 

 down. When she gets down the bull makes a fuss. The wet weather makes him 

 cross. He begins teasing another cow, but soon goes to sleep. The cows make their 

 pups come to them. They hardly move an inch in search of them. The pup is allowed 

 to nurse by the sleepy cow and he looks perfectly happy. 



The white, half-albino 6-year-old bull is on the south end of Gorbatch close above 

 the earlier harems. He has a family now. He is a beauty, evidently just beginning 

 to feel his importance. It is a pleasure to see him on his first entrance into society. 

 May his tribe increase. It braces up his courage amazingly to have 4 cows to look 

 after, and it apparently does not make any difference to him that all the pups under 

 his charge are black. Old bulls rarely touch the little bachelors that are not wigged, 

 but are very savage with the wigged ones. 



On the steep wet incline at the western end of Gorbatch the animals slip and 

 slide about. When the bulls fight on the cinder slope they roll down it; even the 



