1G0 3IARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
water until later, and many have to be forced in by the parents. Once in, how- 
ever, they soon love to sport in it. The young are taught to swim by the old 
males on their return from feeding. 
"By the last of October, the seals begin to leave the islands in small compa- 
nies, the males going last, and by themselves. In November, the young seals (as I 
was informed by the natives, my own observations ending in August) stop to rest a 
few days on the Aleutian Islands, and at Ounalaska the natives obtain several hun- 
dred skins annually. 
"Manner of Killing the Seals. — It will be recollected that I have described 
the younger seals as spreading out on the slopes above the rookeries to rest at 
night. A party of men approach these places armed with clubs, and quietly creep 
between the seals and the shore. When ready, the men start up with a shout at a 
given signal, and drive the seals inland in a body. When at a sufficient distance 
from the rookery, they halt to screen the flock of as many as possible that are too 
old for killing, only those that are two and three years old yielding prime skins ; 
the fur of those older is too coarse to be marketable. The screening is done by 
driving the seals slowly forward in a curve; the older, sullenly holding back, force 
the more timid forward, when the men, opening their ranks, let them pass through 
and return to the shore. The remainder of the flock is then driven to the killing- 
ground, though still containing many too old to be of value. 
"It is necessary to drive the flock some distance from the breeding-ground, 
as the smell of the blood and the carcasses disturbs the seals. Another object is, 
to make the seals carry their own skins to the salt -house; hence it is sometimes 
necessary to drive them six or seven miles. The driving has to be conducted with 
great care, as the violent exertion causes the seals to heat rapidly, and, if heated 
beyond a certain degree, the fur is loosened, and the skin becomes valueless. In 
a cool day they may be driven one mile and a half per hour with safety. When 
arrived at the killing -ground, a few boys are employed to keep them from strag- 
gling, and they are thus left to rest and cool. Then from seventy to one hundred 
are separated from the flock, surrounded, and driven on each other, so that they 
confine themselves by treading on each other's flippers. Those desired for killing 
are then easily selected, and quickly dispatched ' by a blow on the nose. When 
these are killed, the remainder are allowed to go to the nearest water, whence 
they immediately return to the place from which they were driven. This operation 
is repeated until the whole flock is disposed of. The work of skinning is per- 
formed by all the men on the island, and everyone participating in it is allowed 
to share in the proceeds. 
