114 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
watch them and see how near we could approach without disturbing 
them. We soon learned that they were unusually tame, as we ap- 
proached near enough to touch one with a spear pole. They showed 
little signs of fear notwithstanding that we were within 30 feet of them 
for fully five minutes. Diving under the seaweed and suddenly thrust- 
ing their heads up through it seemed to afford them great pleasure. 
They paid but little attention to us and seemed almost indifferent as to 
how near we approached, so long as we did so quietly. This caused 
the hunters to exclaim several times, ‘If we only had a gun we could 
kill them all.” Under the circumstances it was but natural that the 
thought of a gun should be uppermost in their minds. Early in the 
spring, both on the Northwest coast and off the coast of Japan, seals are 
sometimes found which evince little signs of fear, but after one day’s 
shooting on the ground they become very wild and mistrustful, and, like 
a crow and some land animals, seem to scent a gun in the air. 
The following day, July ai seals were plentiful. The wind being 
light during the previous night, our position had changed but little. 
“On August 1, at a very early hour, the spears were brought forth 
and the seal on them broken. While this was going on many remarks 
were made in regard to the first day’s trial. Some of the hunters were 
already discouraged, and were confident that they were only wasting 
time by attempting to use spears. The thought of being obliged to 
adopt the primitive weapon of the Indian was indeed humiliating to 
them. <A few on board felt more hopeful and were willing to give the 
spear a fair trial. Ever since leaving Unalaska the hunters had been 
practicing at throwing the spear pole. Every piece of floating seaweed 
or other object which came within range had been a target. On several 
occasions the boats had been lowered and a supply of chips and small 
pieces of wood taken along. These were thrown ahead of the boat as 
targets to throw at. It was Boon found that an object that could be 
readily hit at a distance of 25 or 30 feet from the vessel was not so 
easily reached from a boat, as the smallest wave would cause the latter 
to move just enough to make the pole go wide of its mark. <A day’s 
practice in throwing from the boats had the effect of teaching the 
hunters the various ways of holding the spear to make more sure of 
its hitting the mark under the many conditions of sea and wind. All 
this time spear throwing had been carried on with lifeless objects for a 
mark. ‘The opportunity was about to present itself of exhibiting skill 
in throwing at something which, if missed the first time, would not be 
likely to remain stationary long enough to give the marksman another 
trial. A cool head and steady nerves would be the special requirements 
to insure a successful day’s hunt should seals be plentiful. 
The first day of August did not prove a success so far as sealing was 
concerned, the weather being too foggy to send out the boats. Scatter- 
ing seals were observed all day, but they were all ‘‘ travelers”; that is, 
they were all moving in various directions. Our noon position was lati- 
tude 56° 11’ north, longitude 172° 01’ west. The next day seals were 
less numerous. None were observed in the forenoon; in the afternoon 
12 were seen, of which all but 1 were traveling to the westward. This 
individual was asleep; a boat was quickly lowered and the hunter on 
watch was rowed toward it. Before the boat had covered half the dis- 
tance the seal showed signs of waking and shortly after becoming aware 
of approaching danger it disappeared. Our noon position on this day 
was latitude 5:° 21’ north, longitude 175° 46’ west. Seals here were 
not so plentiful as they were farther south. In the afternoon we hove 
to and caught 2 cod in 65 fathoms of water. No more seal life was 
