388 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



from the beginning of the season in May until its close, by the end of 

 July; but their vastly reduced numbers and the rigorous driving to 

 which this remnant is subjected have caused them to abandon the haul- 

 ing grounds of 1872-1874 entirely, with the solitary exception of that 

 sand beach under Middle Hill, English Bay, of St. Paul. They now haul 

 close into the rear of the breeding seals on the several rookery grounds 

 of both islands; hauling there, as I have said before, for shelter and 

 protection. 



When the old bulls first appear for the season at the rookery grounds 

 early in May of every year, as a rule only a few squads of holluschickie 

 accompany them. While these early bulls land promptly by the 4th to 

 the 6th of that month, and all of them arrive and laud by the close of 

 it, yet the holluschickie do not come ashore until the 15th or 20th of 

 May, as a rule ; sometimes a few days earlier and sometimes a few days 

 later. Only a few hundred of these young males land at any one place 

 or time as early as the 15th of May. 



But, after this date, rapidly after the 25th to the 31st of May, the hol- 

 luschickie of the largest growth, i. e., the 5, 4, 3, and many 2 year old 

 males, begin to haul. By the 14th to the 20th of June they then appear 

 in their finest form and number for the season, being joined now by the 

 half bulls, the 2 and 3-year olds and quite a number of yearling males. 

 By the 10th of July their numbers are beginning to largely increase, 

 owing to the influx at this time of that great body of the last year's pups 

 or yearlings. By the 20th of July the yearlings have put in their appear- 

 ance for the season in full force. Very few yearling females make their 

 appearance until the 15th of July, but by the 20th they literally swarmed 

 out, in 1872-1874, and mixed up completely with the young and older 

 males and females, as the rookeries relax their discipline and " pod" or 

 scatter out. 



By the 20th of July annually, therefore, the seals of all ages have 

 arrived that are to arrive. It was so in 1872 ; it was so last season, 

 1890. 



If it were true, as the idea of some sealers would have it, that the 

 young male seals all haul on the ground contiguous to the rookery 

 where they were born, it would be very puzzling to account for several 

 marked exceptions to that rule; but it is not true. Young male seals 

 born upon St. Paul Island have been repeatedly marked as they left for 

 the season, and these marked pups have been taken up in St. George 

 drives as yearlings, 2-year olds, and even 4-year olds, during the follow- 

 ing season or seasons. This experiment was repeatedly made by the 

 Eussians,' and has been made once by us. 



'It is entertaining to note in this connection that the Russians themselves, with 

 the object of testing this mooted query, during the later years of their possession of 

 the islands drove up a number of young males from Lukannon, cut off their ears, and 

 turned them out to sea again. The following season, when the droves came in from 

 the hauling grounds to the slaughtering fields, quite a number of those cropped seals 

 were in the drives : but, instead of being found all at one place — the place from 

 whence they were driven the year before — they were scattered examples of croppies 

 from every point on the island. The same experiment was again made by our people 

 in 1870 (the natives having told them of this prior undertaking) and they went also 

 to Lukannon, drove up 100 young males, cut off their left ears, and set them free in 

 turn. Of this number, during the summer of 1872, when I was there, the natives 

 found in their driving of 75,000 seals from the different hauling grounds of St. Paul 

 up to the village killing grounds, two on Novastoshnah rookery, 10 miles north of 

 Lukannon, and two or three from English Bay and Tolstoi rookeries, 6 miles west by 

 water; one or two were taken on St. George Island, 36 miles to the southeast, and 

 not one from Lukannon was found among those that were driven from there. Proba- 

 bly had all the young males on the two islands this season been examined, the rest 



