DRIVING. 245 



what are known as the " bachelors," to wit, those young males which 

 have not arrived at the dignity of being the heads of harems, haul out 

 of the sea and gather upon the shores separate and apart from the 

 breeding rookeries, so that the driving for killing purposes could then 

 be readily done without interfering with the breeding rookeries. Thus 

 a wise deference on the part of man to the habits of this systematic 

 race of animals can be turned to valuable account and nature be made 

 to reinforce commerce in her work. 



The young males, bom 13 to 5 years old, whose skins are taken by the 

 lessees, begin to haul out on land in May and 

 they continue to haul out till July. They herd by ,/. c. Redpath, p. 149. 

 themselves during the months of May, June, and 



July, and they do this because, during the breeding season, they dare 

 not approach the breeding rookeries or the bulls would destroy them. 

 Being thus debarred from a position on the breeding rookeries or from 

 intermingling with the cows, they herd together on the hauling grounds, 

 where they are easily approached and surrounded by the natives, who 

 drive them to the killing grounds without disturbing the breeding 

 rookeries. * * * 



The regular killing season for skins under the lease begins on June 

 1st and ends practically on the last of July; and during this period the 

 first-class Alaskan fur- seal skius are taken. The seals are driven from 

 the hauling to the killing grounds by experienced natives under the 

 orders of the native chief, and the constant aim and object of all con- 

 cerned is to exercise the greatest care in driving, so that the animals 

 may not be injured or abused in any manner. 



As the regulations require the lessees to pay for every skin taken 

 from seals killed by the orders of their local agents, and as the skin of 

 an overheated seal is valueless, it is only reasonable to suppose that 

 they would be the last men living to encourage or allow their employes 

 to overdrive or in any manner injure the seals. I know that the orders 

 given to me as local agent were always of the most p< >sit i ve and emphatic 

 kind on this point, and they were always obeyed to the letter. Instead 

 of overdriving or neglecting the seals the lessees have endeavored to 

 do everything in their power to shorten the distances between the haul- 

 ing and killing grounds, or between the hauling grounds and the salt 

 house. 



All driving is done when the weather is cool and moist, aud when 

 the condition of the weather demands it, the drives 

 are made in the cool of the night; and in no case j. c. Redpath, p. 150. 

 are seals driven at a higher rate of speed than 



about half a mile an hour. So carefully is the driving done that it has 

 been found necessary to dividethe native drivers into several "watches," 

 which relieve each other on the road, because, the pace being so slow, 

 the men get cold. 



I am further satisfied after my two years' experience that the driv- 

 ing of male seals to the killing grounds by the 

 natives could be of no possible injury to seal life t. f. Ryan, p. 175. 

 on the islands.- 



While on St. George Island I attended nearly every killing of the 

 bachelor seals (which are the ones taken for their 

 skins) and also many drives. 1 very frequently b. F. So-ilner, p. 89. 

 went over the ground where a drive had. been 



