DRIVING. 239 



at or about 6 o'clock at night and driving all night reached the village 

 at from 6 to 8 o'clock next morning. 



Half a mile in one hour was about the rate of speed on such drives 

 in favorable weather and 1 do not know of any drives of over two miles 

 where we ever went at a greater speed. * * * 



The seals are never driven at a greater speed than one mile in three 

 hours; and the men who do the driving have to relieve each other on 

 the road because they travel so slowly they get very cold. 



In a very large drive a small seal may be smothered, but that does 

 not injure the skin, which is taken and salted and counted to the lessees ; 

 and t\m greatest number I ever saw die on the drive was twenty out of 

 a drive of about nine thousand seals, and the twenty skins were good 

 and were accepted as u first-class." 



While I was on the islands I attended nearly every "drive" of the 

 bachelor seals from the hauling grounds to the 

 killing grounds, and these "drives" were con- AUal P. Loud, p. 38. 

 ducted by the natives with great care, and no seals 



were killed by overdriving, plenty of time being always given them to 

 rest and cool off. A few were smothered by tin? seals climbing over 

 each other when wet, but the number was very inconsiderable, being a 

 fraction of 1 per cent of those driven, and did not to any extent affect 

 the seal lite on the islands. The greatest care was always taken to 

 avoid overdriving both by the Government officers and employes of the 

 lessees. 



That during my experience I have watched carefully the driving of 

 the bachelors from the hauling grounds to the kill- 

 ing grounds; that there has never been any varia- n. H. Mclntyre, p. 45. 

 tiou in the methods of driving; that the pre- 

 vention of injury to the seals from driving was kept constantly in mind 

 and the greatest care exercised that no such injury occurred; that the 

 number of seals killed by overdriving or by smothering was very incon- 

 siderable at all times, and that said seals so killed could not make any 

 appreciable difference in the number of seals who breed and haul upon 

 the said islands; that up to 1882 there was no difficulty in procuring 

 the required number of killable seals. 



The drove was frequently allowed to rest, and whenever practicable 

 driven through some of the numerous ponds, or 

 across marshes, to keep them cool. Generally the n. H. Mclnti/re, p. 49. 

 loss of life from the u drive" was very small, 



amounting, after the first two or three years, to only a fraction of 1 per 

 cent of the number killed. And nearly all that perished* on the road 

 were skinned, and the pelts counted in our annual quota. 



In describing the habits of the seals it has already been pointed out 

 that the "bachelors," or killable seals, haul out 

 upon the land separate and apart from the breed- H - H - Mrfntyre,p. 54. 

 ing rookeries, and it follows that they may be herded together and 

 driven in from the beaches to the killing grounds without in the least 

 disturbing the breeding seals. During the killing season, beginning 

 the 1st of June, or as soon as the seals arrive thereafter, it is custom- 

 ary for the superintendent to ascertain the day before a drive is to be 

 made where the killable seals lie, and to instruct the chief in the even- 

 ing in regard to phe work for the following day. 



