446 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



the seals injured them so that they did not breed well. He laughed and said, " Men 

 have to work hard, too, sometimes." 



When asked if it would not be better to kill the seals near the hauling grounds 

 for example, those from Tolstoi on the flat just back of the hauling ground and those 

 from the lleef on the parade ground he said the smell would drive the seals away. 

 When asked why the seals from the Lagoon did not go away when the killing ground 

 was just across the narrow channel or why the bulls did not abandon their favorite 

 place on Zoltoi Sands within a few yards of the present village killing ground, he said 

 they were only females and bulls and they did not care, but with holostiaki it was 

 different. They were timid and would take to the water if the smell troubled them. 



He then said what was the use of disturbing the seals all summer, as we were 

 doing. He was told that the pelagic sealers would get all the seals anyhow unless 

 something was done to stop them and that it was necessary to find out what could be 

 done about it. 



He did not seem to understand about or take much stock in pelagic sealing. 

 Shortly afterwards he said that it was the running about the rookeries that made the 

 seals scarce this year. He said that all the natives think much harm has been done 

 this year by so many men running about. He said that the seals smell the track of a 

 man as a dog does. Wherever one has been the bachelor will not come there again. 

 In his estimation the holostiaki will be more scarce and timid next year. The men will 

 have to go into the water to get the killable seals and keep them from running away. 



When asked if he did not think that pelagic sealing had something to do with 

 making the seals scarce he did not say anything to indicate that he understood what 

 pelagic sealing meant, but talked always about the timidity of the bachelor seals and 

 how they were getting more and more afraid of men. Evidently the ideas of the 

 natives are purely local and of little value. The very fact that the bachelors return 

 almost immediately to the hauling grounds from which they are driven is sufficient 

 answer for all this. 



MR. LUCAS'S NOTES ON GORBATCH. 



Two more dead pups are on the " slide," making 10 which have died since August 

 15. The last 2 have died since Sunday, one of them being noted then as in a bad way. 

 Two or 3 more pups are beginning to show signs of starvation, and will probably die 

 within a week. Where there is so much travel back and forth as here the bodies 

 rapidly take on a time-worn look. To day there are 140 living pups near the head of 

 the "slide" in a space of about 40 by 120 feet. 



From the scarcity of bachelors of late it would seem that now if ever the pelagic 

 sealers should be obtaining the largest proportion of male seals. 



TOLSTOI. 



I visited Tolstoi in the afternoon. I dissected one starved pup and took his train. 

 Many starving pups lie about and the death rate from now on will be pretty large. I 

 wake a starving pup and he coughs and is vicious as if fully fed. He runs away and 

 in the first 50 feet falls four times. He does not open his eyes wide, nor do other 

 starvelings. I think we will find many of these pups where the thick pods are now 

 lying. A 2-year-old seal strays up into the road near Ice House Lake. Hurries away 

 when he sees me, and two hours later is seen in the middle of the Lagoon. 



