240 THE SEALS. 



At daybreak, about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, the chief calls a 

 sufficient number ot'meu, usually from six to twelve, and leads them to 

 the designated bench. They approach the hauling ground as noise- 

 lessly as possible, keeping to the leaward of the seals until a point is 

 reached \\ hence the "run " is to be made, when, at the word, all move 

 at the top of their speed along the vd'^ of the surf and take intervals, 

 like a skirmish line of soldiers, between the seals and the water, at 

 the same time making such demonstrations by swinging the arms, 

 nourishing caps and coats, or beating hones or sticks together as to 

 alarm the animals and cause them to rush inland. The drove is quickly 

 collected and brought together in one mass. When it has moved a 

 short distance from the water it becomes perfectly manageable and is 

 then divided into detachments of 500 to 1,000 seals; each detachment 

 is placed by the chief in charge of a trusty man, who, aided by two 

 assistants, one on each hank and himself in the rear, brings his drove 

 along toward the killing grounds at a speed varying from a lew rods to a 

 mile an hour, in accordance as the weather may be hot and dry or moist 

 and cook If the chief is efficient and properly instructed, the seals are 

 at the killing ground by 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning, and are given 

 an hour or two to rest and cool before the gang turns oat after break- 

 fast for the day's work. 



The longest drive made during recent years is that from English Bay 

 to the village on St. Paul Island, about 2.\ miles. * * * 



In driving, advantage is taken of every snowbank, small lake, or 

 stretch of marshy ground to rest and cool the drove; and if very hot 

 and dry or the sun breaks out, it is kept in a cool place until the con- 

 ditions change. Sometimes the practice of driving the seals in the 

 afternoon and evening of the day before they are to be killed has been 

 followed. In this case one herdsman through the night is sufficient to 

 prevent their escaping. 



The fur-seals do not travel on the land with that ease of locomotion 

 characteristic of purely land animals, hut on the other hand, they move 

 with great freedom compared with other species of seals. Their 

 enforced action on the drive is, as a rule, but little more violent than 

 they voluntarily take upon the rookeries when moving up and down 

 the slopes and playing with each other. 



There are generally in each drive a few bulls, full grown or nearly so, 

 tor. large tor killing, and occasionally a dwarf or sickly seal and rarely 

 a female, all of which are segregated from the mass as soon as possible 

 and left behind to find their way hack to the water. Much depends in 

 driving upon the good judgment of the man in charge as to when and 

 how long they should he allowed to rest, and in keeping the herd spread 

 out so as to prevent the animals from huddling together and crowding. 

 With proper management, the loss from driving is but a fraction of 1 

 per cent, and nearly all are skinned and the skins counted as a part of 

 the annual quota. The animals that are found unfit for killing and are 

 allowed to return to the water to he repeatedly driven later in the sea- 

 son, suffer, in my opinion, no injury. I have seen it stated by theorists 

 with little or no practical experience, that the exertions to which the 

 seals are subjected on the drives is unusual and excessive; and they 

 infer that it must injure the animal's reproductive usefulness. With 

 more extended observation and experience they would discover that 

 such is not the case. The best practical illustration of this tart is found 

 on Copper Island of the Commander group where, for the past twenty 

 years or more, it has been customary to drive nearly all the seals over 

 a very rough mountain trail across the island, and to practice the sania 



