HABITS. 267 



several days ; therefore a throng of villagers, it is said, sets out 

 prepared with everything needful for the campaign. As the 

 work of driving goes on only at night, the day is passed in 

 sleeping and cooking their food by smoldering tires of drift- 

 wood and seal-fat, sheltered by their umbrellas, or a sort of 

 tent contrived by spreading blankets and garments over whales' 

 ribs in lieu of tent-poles never forgetting in their repast the 

 fragrant c/w, which is quaffed in numberless cups from the 

 steaming sam-o-var. At length, the whole troop of animals 

 being assembled, a flash of umbrellas here and there, with the 

 call of the herdsmen, brings all into a moving phalanx. But 

 the time for driving must be either at night, after the dew is 

 fallen, or upon a dark, misty, or rainy day ; as the thick mat of 

 grass that covers the land must be wet, in order that the ani- 

 mals may easily slip along in their vaulting gait over the green 

 road to their place of execution. Under the most favorable 

 circumstances, the march does not exceed six miles in the 

 twenty-four hours ; and it being a distance of four leagues or 

 more to the village, three days and nights, or more, are spent 

 before they arrive at the slaughtering-place. There they are 

 allowed to remain quiet for a day or two, to cool their blood, 

 which becomes much heated by the tedious journey; after 

 which they are killed by shooting. The dead animals are then 

 skinned, and their hides packed in tiers until fermented suf- 

 ficiently to start the hair, when they are stretched on frames to 

 dry, and eventually become the covering or planking for the 

 Aleutian baidarkas and laidarras. The fat is taken off and 

 used for fuel, or the oil is rendered to burn in their lamps. The 

 flesh is cut in thin pieces from the carcass, laid in the open air 

 to dry, and becomes a choice article of food. The sinews are 

 extracted, and afterward twisted into thread. The lining of the 

 animal's throat is put through a course of tanning, and then 

 made into boots, the soles of which are the under covering of 

 the Sea Lion's fin-like feet. The intestines are carefully taken 

 out, cleaned, blown up, stretched to dry, then tanned, and 

 worked into water-proof clothing. The stomach is emptied of 

 its contents, turned inside out, then inflated and dried for oil- 

 bottles, or is used as a receptacle for the preserved meat ; and 

 what remains of the once formidable and curious animal is 

 only a mutilated skeleton." 



Captain Scammon adds the following respecting their cap- 

 ture on the Asiatic coast : "Crossing Behring and the Okhotsk 



