456 THE FUR SEALS OP THE PlilBILOF ISLANDS. 



possible. Pups branded in the middle of October would run no risk of dying of 

 starvation. They would be stronger at that time and better able to stand the 

 handling. On the other hand, the pup will then be getting his gray hair, and the hair 

 burned off in branding would leave him bare all winter. Further, the weather is 

 severer and the time shorter for his recovery from any temporary effects of the 

 burning. If the brand is applied before the gray hair comes in, all hair merely 

 burned off' would be replaced by the new coat and the scar would be < uly a small 

 matter. 



Two 2-year-old females were caught in one pod of pups and branded. They 

 proved difficult to manage. A noose attached to a pole was placed about their heads 

 and twisted tight, the pole being pointed and held into the ground. This controlled 

 the animal's head. Another man held the hind flippers. The seals, however, bit the 

 pole viciously and cut their mouths, making them bleed profusely. The branding of 

 the older seals does not seem to be a very feasible thing, at least with present 

 appliances, and the beast is an extremely hard one to manage. 



SORTING THE PUPS. 



The seat of operations was moved at noon to a more convenient place above the 

 cliffs at Lukauin. The greatest difficulty is experienced in driving up the pups. They 

 hide under the stones and can not be got out except one by one by the flippers. When 

 in the open ground they all endeavor to get into the same place at the same time, 

 causing danger of smothering. When one starts all start. Apparently none have 

 been injured thus far. 



When the male pups are separated from the pod they persist in coming back to it, 

 and bite so savagely that they are constantly putting the natives to rout, who have 

 a wholesome dread of their teeth. An improvement in handling the pups would be a 

 small portable yard that could be thrown about the pod, with a stone in the middle 

 about which they could crowd without crowding on one another. Then when a pup 

 was taken out he could not get back. But of course if branding is to be done on a 

 large scale it will be necessary to provide more elaborate apparatus. Judging from 

 the difficulties in handling these few pups, one wonders what was the result when the 

 5,000 pups were annually sorted out for natives' food. The very fact that these were 

 so handled, however, shows that there is no insurmountable obstacle in the way. 



From the edge of Lukanin Cliff 4 of the branded pups in the earliest pods can be 

 seen on the rocks, where they have come out after swimming around the point, a 

 distance of about a third of a mile. One of the branded 2-year-olds is lying beside 

 them. She is evidently out of sorts with herself. 



The pups branded on the top of the cliff have been driven from a runway leading 

 up from the beach below. The first 4 released from branding go directly down to the 

 water on the other side of the cliff. The next 2 return to the place from which they 

 came and lie down in a pod of pups that could not be routed out from among the rocks. 

 One little fellow goes to the point of the cliff and acts as if he would walk right over. 

 He stops and turns round. Afterwards he becomes frightened and backs over the 

 cliff, dropping to the hard ground below, from which he rebounds like a ball. Without 

 any ado he goes oft to the water. 



