230 THE SEALS. 



After the regular season closes, in July, the natives kill, weekly, for 

 food, from one to two hundred male seals whose 



L. A. Xoycs, p. 83. skins are large enough to be accepted as part of 

 the next year's quota. 



Thos. F. Byan, p. 174. The seals which are ''driven' 1 and killed are 

 bachelors between the age of 2 years and 5 years. 



As to the manner in which the 100,000 seals, which furnish the an- 

 imal quota of skins, are taken, Mr. Elliott says: 

 C.J. Williams, p. 544. " By reference to the habits of the fur-seal it is 

 plain that two-thirds of all the males that are born 

 (and they are equal in number to the females born) are never permitted 

 by the remaining third, strongest by natural selection, to land upon the 

 same ground with the females, which always herd together en masse. 

 Therefore, this great band of bachelor seals, or 'hollas chickie,' is com- 

 pelled, when it visits land, to live apart entirely, miles away frequently, 

 from the breeding grounds, and in this admirably perfect maimer of 

 nature are those seals which can be properly killed without injury to 

 the rookeries selected and held aside so that the natives can visit and 

 take them, as they would so many lings, without disturbing in the 

 slightest degree the peace and quiet of the breeding grounds w T here the 

 stock is perpetuated." 



DISTURBANCE OF BREEDING SEALS. 



Page 152 of The Case. 



At no time during 1801 was there other than the greatest care exer- 

 cised in protecting the breeding grounds fromin- 



J. Stanley Brown p. 12. trusion or molestation, precautions being taken 

 that to a novice would seem excessive; nor could 

 I find by the most diligent inquiry among the natives that there had 

 been any deviation from these rules since the American occupancy of 

 the islands, nor during that time had there been the killing of a female 

 seal save by the rarest accident. 



The " hauling grounds " of the young bachelors, which is usually 

 somewhat removed from the "breeding grounds," is the only portion of 

 a rookery upon which any intrusion is permitted. 



During the entire time I was upon the islands the most stringent 

 regulations were always enforced in relation to 

 Chas.Bryant,p.8. disturbing the rookeries in anyway. The use of 



firearms during the season tin 1 seals were upon the 

 islands was forbidden, and this was enforced by taking possession of 

 the guns of the natives or by removing the locks and retaining them 

 until the close of the season; also all dogs were, in 1800 or 1870, de- 

 stroyed on the islands, and no others were allowed to be brought here. 



There were, while I was on the islands, stringent rules enforced on 



the islands as to the use of firearms, making 



S.N.Buynitsky, p. 22. noises, approaching the rookeries, etc. In fact 



every precaution was taken that the seals on the 



islands might not be frightened. 



