ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 59 



of tlie entire drive — some bein^ too small aud others too old and large. 

 The killed are then skinned, with the blubber on tlie pelt, and spread 

 on the ground to cool, with the Heshy side down. The entire drive is 

 disposed of in this manner. After they have all been killed, the blub- 

 ber is removed fiom the pelt and the skin is taken to the salt house, 

 each mau skinning and cleaning about fifty per day. 



Upon the following morning the skins are counted by the chief, the 

 agent of the company, and the Government officer, and are laid down 

 in kenches or bins, with alternate layers of salt thickly spread over 

 them, and are allowed to remain in this condition from six to eight 

 days. They are then taken up, sprinkled with fresh salt, and rolled 

 into bundles of two each and secured by strong cords. In this condi- 

 tion they are shipped to market. 



« 



THE DEPARTURE OF THE SEALS. 



The old bulls are the first to leave the island in the fall, the migra- 

 tion southward commencing about the latter part of September and 

 the first of October. From this time the number of seals gradually 

 decreases until all have disappeared. The young pups aud their 

 mothers are the last to leave (with the exception of a few old bulls that 

 remain behind to protect the females), which is sometimes as late as 

 the middle of December. 



THE HOME OF THE SEALS. 



I have heard it frequently stated that the movements of the seal and 

 its haunts after leaving the island are mysterious; and many theories 

 are given tending to show that they are scattered over the vast waters 

 of the Pacific Ocean, feeding and roaming at will, without any banded 

 organization. 



While I was stationed at Sitka as deputy collector of customs, and 

 subsequently an officer of a vessel plying along the shores of British 

 Columbia and Alaska, I had many opportunities of ac([uiring from the 

 natives and by personal observation many facts tending to convince me 

 that the favorite haunts of this animal are the shores of British Colum- 

 bia and lower Alaska. As they feed upon fish, and, like other animals, 

 require a certain amount of rest and slee]), the numerous bays and 

 inlets of still water which indent those shores seem to me peculiarly 

 ada])ted to the wants of those animals when they leave the islands. 

 As the fish upon which they live are more abundant in shallow than 

 in deep water, the theory that they seek the deep waters of the Pacific 

 would seem to me without foundation. Another reason why they pre- 

 fer these shallow waters is that they are less liable to come in contact 

 with their formidable enemy, the "killer," a name — and it would seem 

 an appropriate one — given to it by seafaring men. These animals are a 

 species of whale measuring from 30 to 40 feet in length. They have 

 a long fin on the back, and when swimming near the surface this fin 

 appears well out of water. They frequent the shores of the Pribilof 

 Islands in October and Novemberand destroy a great number of the 

 seals. In support of this assertion I would state that in the year 1868 

 Mr. E. Norton, while on St. Paul Island, observed a killer chasing seals, 

 swimming with such force that he ran aground and was unable to get 

 off. When the tide went out Mr. Norton cut it open and found three 

 seals in its stomach. 



It is very evident that many seals fall a prey to voracious animals; 

 otherwise their increase would be greater. In my opinion, the destruc- 

 tion of the seal in the water is equal to the number taken on the land. 



