104 BULLETIN OF THE 



Manner of Killing the Seals. — It will be recollected that I have de- 

 scribed the younger seals as spreading out on the slopes above the 

 rookeries to rest at night. A party of men approach these places armed 

 with clubs of hard wood, and quietly creep between the seals and the 

 shore. "When ready the men start up with a shout at a given signal, and 

 drive the seals inland in a body. When at a sufficient distance from 

 the rookery, they halt to screen the flock of as many as possible that 

 are too old for killing, only those that are two and three years old yield- 

 ing prime skins ; the fur of those older is too coarse to be market- 

 able. The screening is done by driving the seals slowly forward in a 

 curve ; the older, sullenly holding back, force the more timid forward, 

 when the men opening their ranks let them pass through and return 

 to the shore. The remainder of the flock is then driven to the killing- 

 ground, though still containing many too old to be of value. 



It is necessary to drive the flock some distance from the breeding- 

 ground, as the. smell of the blood and the carcasses disturbs the seals. 

 Another object is to make the seal carry his own skin to the salt-house, 

 and it is hence sometimes necessary to drive them six or seven miles. 

 The driving has to be conducted with great care, as the violent exer- 

 tion causes the* seals to heat rapidly, and if heated beyond a certain 

 degree the fur is loosened and the skin becomes valueless. In a cool 

 day they may be driven one mile and a half per hour with safety. 

 They travel by lifting themselves from the ground on their fore legs, 

 and hitching their body after them with a kind of sideways, loping gal- 

 lop. When arrived at the killing-ground a few boys are employed to 

 keep them from straggling, and they are thus left to rest and cool. 

 Then a small number, from seventy to one hundred, are separated from 

 the flock, surrounded and driven on each other, so that they confine 

 themselves by treading on each other's flippers. Those desired for 

 killing are then easily selected and quickly killed by a light blow on 

 the nose from a hard wooden club. When these are killed, those left 

 as unfit are allowed to go to the nearest water, whence they imme- 

 diately return to the place from which they were driven. This 

 operation is repeated until the whole flock is disposed of, providing 

 there is time to skin and take care of them all before putrefaction 



uralist's Library," — an excellent compilation from previous authors. The more impor- 

 tant of the recent papers treating of the habits and other characters of the cared seals 

 have already been cited in the historical " Resume" of the present paper. — J. A. A.] 



