140 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
flag set, indicating that she was homeward bound. The sight of this 
vessel put the Indians in high glee, for the season was now getting late 
and they were anxious to go home. 
On September 17 the weather was a repetition of that of the previous 
day. In the early part of the day we saw 9 seals cireling around in 
various directions and occasionally rolling and finning. Observing 
this number of seals from the vessel with a choppy sea running was a 
good indication thet under better conditions they would be found plen- 
tiful. Atnoon the weather showed signs of moderating, but the Indians 
could not be induced to venture out on account of a few squally looking 
clouds low on the horizon. At2 p.m. two white hunters started out, 
but after a two hours’ hunt they returned empty-handed. Only 4 seals 
had been seen, 3 finning and 1 asleep. At the time the boat left the 
vessel the water was comparatively clear, but about 3 miles to the 
northwest it came into very much discolored water, in which birds were 
plentiful and a few fish were seen jumping. 
* Early in the following morning, September 18, the canoes were low- 
ered, the wind being light from the southeast and the sea smooth. The 
barometer indicated no change, but in a short time the wind began to 
increase. No seals were observed either by the small boats or from the 
vessel during the day. 
On September 19 the weather was similar to that of the previous 
day. Four seals were seen, 2 asleep, the others traveling to the 
north-northeast. The former did not awake until the swash of the 
water from our bow struck them. In the evening we headed for Unimak 
Pass. As the season was now late it was thought inadvisable to remain 
longer in the sea. The condition for the last ten days had convinced 
the captain that little, if any, more sealing weather could be expected. 
ga Che next morning we sighted the schooner San Jose, which had made 
a catch of 600 skins. Her captain came on board and reported that 
until recently he had been hunting northwest of the Pribilof Islands. 
In that region seals were abundant, but the weather had been too stormy 
to operate. On September 13, in latitude 58° 30/ north, longitude 172° 
30’ west, several hundred seals had been observed, but the sea was 
too rough for lowering the boats. In the latter part of August the 
San Jose had hunted near Unimak Pass, but few seals were found there. 
At 10 a.m., the wind being light, 8 of the canoes were put over, but 
at 2 p.m. adense fog settled down. Ten seals were secured, 4 males 
and 6 females. They were all small, and their stomachs were empty. 
On this ground birds were plentiful and one orca was observed. At 
2.45 p.m. we continued on our course, and at 6 p.m. Cape Cheerful 
bore abeam about 15 miles. The next day we were off the northern 
entrance of Unimak Tass, four other sealers being in sight. In the 
evening we cleared the southern entrance of the Pass and shaped a 
course for Cape Flattery. On the morning of October 8 we anchored 
off Ucleuet, an Indian village situated on the north side of Barclay 
Sound, Vancouver Island, where most of our Indians belonged. We 
reached Victoria on October 8, having been twenty days on the passage 
home. 
OBSERVING SEALS. 
In sealing weather hunters do not wait until seals have been seen from 
the vessel before lowering the boats. They start out as early as possi- 
ble and search for them, as otherwise the catch of the entire fleet would 
be small. Very often when no seals are observed from the vessel’s deck 
the boats will be among bunches of them, only a mile or two away, and, 
on the other hand, it sometimes happens that when scattered seals are 
