FISHERIES AND SEAL-HUNTING. 93 



enced as they are, follow the fishing-boats for long distances, and seem to 

 take special pleasure in hearing the fishermen whistle or sing. It is an 

 interesting spectacle to see the young seals lying on their back, sleep- 

 ing peaceably while being rocked by the waves, and throwing up from 

 time to time small jets of water by breathing. 



The seals love the cold; and, in the summer, they seek the deep sea, 

 leaving it in the autumn for their favorite place of abode, the north- 

 eastern basin of the Caspian Sea, which is the portion first covered with 

 ice, and where the ice breaks up latest. Numerous herds of seals gather 

 on pieces of floating ice, to rest or to pair. The pairing-season lasts 

 from the end of December till January 10. The female every year gives 

 birth to one young one, seldom to two. The young have a shining 

 white, silky fur ; but after ten days it becomes coarse and turns gray. 

 Then the tender solicitude of the mother ceases ; for the little one has 

 to go into the water and swim. Seals that are one year old have gray 

 fur speckled with black spots. 



The seal is hunted also on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, at 

 the mouths of the Volga and the Ural, and in its southern part, espe- 

 cially on the islands of the Gulf of Apchdron. 



The principal meeting-places of seal-hunters are on the seven islands sit- 

 uated north of the Peninsula of Mangyshlak, called the " Seals' Islands," 

 on account of the large number of these animals found there. Other 

 islands also abound in phocse. Thus there have been years when about 

 40,000 seals were killed on the island of Peshnoi, before the mouths of 

 the Ural ; and, in 1846, 1,300 were killed in one night. 



The seals are hunted in three different ways : they are killed with 

 clubs on the islands where they gather ; or they are shot with guns ; or 

 they are caught iu nets. 



The first-mentioned way is the graudest, and yields the best results. 



The great meeting-place of the huntsmen is Koulali, the largest of 

 the seal islands, having a length of thirty-five "versts," (about twenty 

 miles,) and a breadth of three "versts," (about one and two-thirds miles.) 

 The hunters, who winter there every year, have built wooden houses, 

 huts, and sheds on this island. The fishing-authorities at Astrachan 

 send every year one of their officers to Koulali to superintend the chase 

 and the hunters, where he remains from October till the middle of May. 

 On account of the bustle and noise, the seals have deserted this island 

 for a number of years, and selected, for their place of gathering, the 

 islands of Sviato'i and Podgorno'i. 



In the spring and autumn, the seals seek the shore to rest in the sun, 

 one herd arriving after the other. Scarcely has the first settled, when 

 a second comes yelling and showing their teeth to drive it away, followed 

 soon by a third, to which it in turn has to yield its place ; so that the 

 last herd arriving always drives the first farther back on the coast. The 

 invasion terminates by the arrival of some isolated stragglers. 



Now is the time for the hunters to commence the chase. They care- 



