ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 55 



select tlieir positions in the rookeries, where they remain during the 

 breeding season unless driven away by man or the superior strength 

 of their rivals who come later. They take neither food nor drink for 

 throe mouths, living entirely upon the absorption of their own blubber. 

 When they take to water at the end of the season they are reduced in 

 weight fully one-half. 



It has been frequently stated that the bulls, after making a recon- 

 noissance of the hauling grounds, depart and return again in the course 

 of a few days with large numbers of their kind, and at the first appear- 

 ance of these sentinels the natives extinguish their fires. Both of 

 these assertions are incorrect. When the bulls first land they will 

 weigh from 450 to 500 pounds. They are about G^ feet in length and 

 the greatest circumference from 5 to 6 feet. In ascertaining tlie weight 

 of seals I have exercised great care, and have never yet seen a fur seal 

 that would weigh even 600 pounds. 



The male matures in eight or nine years and not sooner. The dif- 

 ferent years of progression can be readily traced from one year up to 

 eight or nine; after that period I think it impossible to ascertain with 

 any degree of accuracy the true age of a seal. None but a full-grown 

 seal cau maintain a position in the rookeries, and when the breeding 

 season is over many of them take to the water to feed, and when return- 

 ing to land to rest they haul up on portions of the rookeries other than 

 the breeding grounds. The most desirable position for 



THE BREEDING GROUNDS 



appears to be loose belts of rocks which skirt the shore between high- 

 water mark and the base of the clifl's. These grounds vary in width; 

 generally they are from 25 to 100 feet, according to the formation of the 

 shore; but when they are insufficient for their wants and all the avail- 

 able space has been taken up, I have seen them haul up on the back 

 ground, sometimes scaling the sides of hills to the height of several 

 hundred feet and at an angle of 30 degrees. By the 10th or 15th of 

 June all the ground is occupied, each bull reserving for himself a space 

 of 9 or 10 feet square for his family. Very little contesting for position 

 takes place until the arrival of the females. They commence to haul 

 up about the middle of June, and continue to arrive until about the 10th 

 or 15th of July. The engagements at this time (when the females are 

 arriving) are very severe, often resulting in the death of one or both of 

 the antagonists, and sometimes in the death of the female, who is torn 

 in x>ieces by the bulls sooner than either would willingly yield her up to 

 the embraces of a rival. Both the bulls and females when they first 

 arrive are iu excellent condition. A female is about one-fourth the size 

 of a full-grown male. From the weights of several obtained in July, 

 1873, I found them to average 80 pounds; when advanced in years, 

 however, and they cease breeding, they become very fat and will then 

 weigh from 100 to 120 j)ounds. When they approach the shore they 

 are taken possession of by the bulls on the skirts of the rookery near 

 the water's edge. When she reaches the shore, these bulls (generally 

 the nearest one) will spring between her and the water and force her 

 into his harem, where she remains until his attention is attracted by 

 the coming of another female, and while he is endeavoring to secure the 

 new arrival the other deserts to his next neighbor, who is always upon 

 the alert for an opportunity of this kind to occur, and encourages the 

 desertion. By these repeated desertions from one harem to another the 

 entire rookery is filled. Sometimes in these desertions the female is 



