GG 



for one-tliird, at least, of their lives, without iiijuiy to them. If dur- 

 ing that period they were siiilieieutl}' fed, there seems to be no reason 

 to sn])i)ose thata visit to the sea eould not be entirely dispensed with. 

 Indeed, this is done in menageries tliat travel inland, where far-seals are 

 kept far years in good condition without once entering tlie sea. While 

 the sea is the i)laee where their food is sought and found, it is no more 

 the exclusive haunt for such imrposes than the wild mountains and 

 plains in America are for the nurture of cattle, and sheej), or swine, 

 or turkeys, or than the open Avaters of the sea are for the nurture of 

 ducks and geese that are classed as domestic animals. It can not 

 be the food or feeding grounds that distinguish between animals as 

 land or sea animals, or as being Avild or tame. 



In the case of all these animals the essential and controlling fact as 

 to their classification as land auinuils or as fishes is that they can only 

 have birth on the land, and are not fishes either in form, structure, 

 .instincts, habits, or the necessities of e:xistence. They can not breathe 

 beneath the water. 



If they are essentially land animals the question of their domesticity 

 is a very simple one. That fact depends upon their usefulness toman, 

 their inability to escape from his control, and the certainty and regu- 

 larity of the forces that operate to subject them to his absolute dis- 

 posal, lu these respects the seal has an adaptation and fitness for 

 domestic use that is not so obvious and so certain and easy of control 

 in any other animals. Domestication of other animals that are allowed 

 freedom to come or go at pleasure depends, in a large measure, on their 

 consent. In the case of the fur-seal, the nature of the animal and the 

 conditions of its existence through a series of years, and also of its 

 increase, coni]!el it periodically and Avitli certainty to submit itself to 

 the ])ower of those who own and occupy two small islands in Bering Sea. 

 A similar climate, similar shores and coasts, and the same food have 

 for many ages invited them to select other homes on the islands and 

 vshores of the same sea. They have never done so, and there is no 

 ground for the conjecture that they ever will. The Pribilof Islands bear 

 the marks of a long-continued residence of the seals in vast numbers 

 upon their shores. The rough rocks are worn smooth from their haul- 

 ing Over them. What are called the parade grounds of the hollus- 

 chickie are described as being large areas of sandy soil Avorn and com- 

 ])actcd to the snniothness of a floor. The carpet of fur and hair felted 

 together in the interstices of the rocks and in the sand could only have 



