ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



149 



travel twice and thrice as easy and as fast as the old males, which, by 

 reason of their immense avoirdupois, are incapable of moving ahead 

 more than a few rods at a time, when they are completely checked bj^ 

 sheer loss of breath, thougli the vanguard of the females allures them 

 strongly on; but when an old sea lion feels his wind coming short he 

 is sure to stop, sullenly and surlily turning upon the drivers, not to 

 move again until his lungs are clear. 



In this method and manner of conduction the natives stretch the 

 herd out in extended file, or as a caravan, over the line of march, 

 and as the old bulls pause to savagely survey the field and catch tlieir 

 breath, showing their wicked teeth, the drivers have to exercise every 

 art and all their ingenuity in arousing them to fresli efforts. This 

 they do b}^ clapping boards and bones together, firing fusees, and wav- 

 ing flags; and, of late, and best of all, the blue gingham umbrella 

 repeatedly opened and (Closed in the face of an old bull has been a 

 more effective starter than all the other known artifices or savage 

 expedients of the natives.' 



Arrival of the drive at the village.— The i)rocession of sea 

 lions managed in tliis strange manner daj^ and night — for the natives 

 never let up — is finally brought to rest within a stone's throw of the 

 village, which has pleasurablj^ anticipated for days and for weeks its 

 arrival, and rejoices in its appearance. The men get out tlieir old 

 rifles and large sea-lion lances and shai'ijen their knives, while tlie 



' The curious behavior of the sea lions in the Bi|? Lake, when they are en route 

 and driven from Novastoshnah to the village, deserves mention. After the drove 

 gets over tlie sand dunes and beach between Webster's house and the extreme 

 northeastern head of the lake, a halt is called and the drove '"penned "" on the 

 bank there; then, when the sea lions are well rested, they are started up, and pell 

 mell into the water; two natives, in a baidarka, keep them from turning out from 

 shore into the broad bosom of Meesulkmahnee, while another baidarka paddles in 

 their rear and follows their swift passage right down the eastern shore. In this 

 method of procedure the drive carries itself nearly two miles by water in less than 

 twenty minutes from the time the sea lions are first turned in, at the north end, to 

 the moment when they are driven out at the southeastern elbow of the Big Pond. 

 The shallowness of the water here accounts probablj' for the strange failure of the 

 sea lions to regain their liberty, and so retards their swimming as to enable the 

 baidarka , with two men , to keep abreast of their leaders easily . as they plunge ahead; 

 and. "as one goes, so go all sheep," it is not necessary to pay attentioji to those 

 which straggle l)ehind in the wake; they are stirred up by the second baidarka, 

 and none make the least attempt to diverge from the ti'ack which the swifter 

 mark out in advance; if they did, they could escape "scot free '" in any one of the 

 twenty minutes of this aquatic passage. 



By consulting the map of St. Paul it will be observed that in a direct line 

 between the village and Northeast Point there are (juite a number of small lakes, 

 including tliis large one of Meesulkmahnee; into all these ponds the sea lion drove 

 is successively driven: this interposition of fresh water at such frequent intervals 

 serves to shorten tlie time of the journey fully ten days in warmish weather and 

 at least four or five under the best of climatic conditions. 



This track between Webster's house and the village killing grounds is strewn 

 with the bones of Eiimefopias. They will drop in their tracks, now and then, 

 even when carefully driven, from cerebral or spinal congestion, principally; and 

 when they are hurried the mortality en route is very great. The natives when 

 driving them keep them going day and night alike, but give them frequent rest- 

 ing spells after every spurt ahead. The old bulls flouncler along for a hundred 

 yards or so, then sullenly halt to regain breath, five or ten minutes being allowed 

 them; then they are stirred up again, and so on, hour after hour, until the tedious 

 transit is completed. 



The younger sea lions, and the cows which are in the drove, carry themselves 

 easily far ahead of the bulls, and being thus always in the van. serve unconsciously 

 to stimulate and coax the heavy males to travel. Otherwise, I do not believe that 

 a band of old bulls, exclusively, could be driven down over this long road suc- 

 cessfully. 



