116 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
and the time of starting, a fair afternoon’s work was done, 19 seals 
being landed on deck by 8.30 p.m. Fifteen of the number were females 
and 4 males. Only 6 had food in their stomachs. Every hunter 
reported seals numerous, about half of the number being asleep. 
They slept in bunches of 6 and 8, and when aroused from their slum- 
ber were very tame, but owing to the inexperience of the hunters with 
spears in a comparatively rough sea, the successful throws were few 
and far between. Had the hunters been provided with shotguns, 
instead of spears, it is safe to say that a hundred or more seals would 
have been nearer the day’s catch. During the absence of the boats a 
large number of traveling seals had been seen from the vessel, and also 
an occasional “sleeper.” One of the latter was observed close aboard 
a little on our lee. It evidently was sleeping soundly, for neither the 
slatting of the sails nor the blowing of the fog horn had the effect of 
awakening it, and it was only when the scent of the vessel reached it that 
it showed signs of life. After being fully aroused it did not exhibit any 
great signs of alarm, but played about not far off for sometime. It 
seldom happens that a seal will show such indifference to its surround- 
ings as thisone. The captain and mate said they had never in all their 
experience seen a seal sotame. The general opinion on board was that 
it was due to there being no firearms used or hunting allowed in Bering 
Sea for the past few years that caused the seals thus far observed to 
show so little fear of man. 
The largest catch during any one day was taken on August 7. The 
day commenced with a gentle breeze from the south and a smooth sea. 
A light fog hung low over the water, which prevented the boats from 
being seen more than 20 yards. At 8 a.m. the last boat shoved off, and 
they did not appear again until evening. The noon position of the 
vessel. was latitude 58° 30’ north, longitude 173° 56’ west. In the 
forenoon hand-line fishing was carried on. The depth of water here was 
60 fathoms. Six good-sized cod were caught in quick succession; 2 
males and 4 females. Their stomachs were well filled with food. In 
the stomach of a large female was found an octopus which had recently 
been swallowed, as its skin showed no discoloration. Cod were abun- 
dant, and we could have filled the decks in a day’s fishing with a single 
line. Their abundance may have been the cause of seals being plen- 
tiful in this region. In the evening the boats all returned nearly at the 
same time, bringing in 54 seals, 30 of which were females. Twenty- 
four of the number had food in their stomachs. The material, how- 
ever, was finely masticated and hard to identify, but a portion of it 
looked very much like the flesh of cod. If this supposition is correct, 
the question arises, Did the seals dive to the bottom in 60 fathoms and 
bring their prey to the surface? Asa rule cod are found very close to 
the bottom, especially in deep water, and it is not probable that they 
were at or near the surface here. The most satisfactory evidence the 
writer ever had that seals are deep divers was obtained two years ago 
on the Fairweather Ground, a large bank off the coast of Alaska, while 
on a cruise in the revenue cutter Corwin. We were about to return to 
the ship, at the end of a successful afternoon’s hunt, when a large male 
seal suddenly came up close to our canoe—not over 30 feet away—with 
a very large red rockfish in its mouth, which it immediately proceeded 
to devour. The fish was alive, and could plainly be seen struggling in 
the seal’s mouth. Our position at the time was some 75 or 80 miles off- 
shore from Yakutat Bay. We had no means of ascertaining the depth 
of water, but it could not have been much less than 100 fathoms. The 
red rockfish, like the cod, also generally swims close to the bottom, 
