BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 201 



21.— REPORT OF INVESTIGATION'S AT NEAH RAY, WASH., RESPECT- 

 ING THE HABITS OF FIB SEALS OF THAT VICINITY, AND TO 

 ARRANGE FOR PROCURING SPECIMENS OF SKELETONS OF 

 CETACEA. 



By JAMES G. SWAN. 



I left Port Townseud, Wash., on the 26th of March, 1883, for Neah 

 Bay, at the entrance of the Strait of Fnca ; and arrived there the next 

 morning, the distance being about one hundred miles. My object was 

 to make arrangements for procuring skeletons of marine mammals, such 

 as whales, orca or killer, porpoises, etc., and to study as far as practica- 

 ble the habits of the fur seals of Cape Flattery, in order to ascertain in 

 what respect, if any, they differ from the fur seals of the Pribloff Islands, 

 Alaska. 



I had been informed that the Indians had towed the carcass of a large 

 sulphur-bottom whale, Sibhaldius sidfureus Cope, into the mouth of a 

 small stream, a few miles east of N'eah Bay, where it had grounded at 

 high water, and at the lowest run of tides was entirely exposed. 



The Indians had removed the blubber and flesh and had left the 

 bones, but had cut the lower jaw in pieces to extract the oil, and had 

 injured the skull so that the skeleton is not perfect. The weather be- 

 ing boisterous, and the tides not running low in the daytime, I did not 

 have opportunity to examine the bones, but was assured by the Indians 

 that the salt water and marine animals had cleaned them so that they 

 are perfectly white — a statement of which I took advantage by pointing 

 out to the Indians how easily they can clean the skeleton of an orca, by 

 towing the body into some rocky cove, where it would not be buried in 

 sand, and leaving it for a few months in the salt water. As the Makah 

 Indians kill the orca during the summer months, particularly in the 

 vicinity of Flattery Bocks, I think 1 may be able to secure a good 

 specimen this summer. 



The sealing schooners being all in port I took the opportunity to ask 

 questious of both white men and Indians, and have reduced their an- 

 swers to writing, as nearly as practicable in the language used by each 

 person. 



March 28. Went to the trading store of William Gallick to make in- 

 quiry about the habits of fur^eals. Mr. E. Gallick, trader, says: •'! 

 have been engaged in trading here for fur seal skins for about six years. 

 It is the general impression and belief among the sealers, both white 

 men and Indians, that the fur seals do have pups in the ocean. Some 

 persons say they go north to the Pribloff Islands, but others think these 

 seals come from the south and do not go into the Bering Sea at all. I 

 have shipped fur seal skins to London where they brought a better price 

 than those from the Pribloff Islands ; the fur is longer on the Cape Flat- 

 tery seals and of better color. I have no means of information where 



