180 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



tension. It appears also, from information obtained on this subject, 

 that in warm weather seals, during a drive, occasionally pass into a 

 state of violent spasmodic activity, wliicli is aimlessly maintained till 

 death ensues. Under such circumstances, drives have not infrequently 

 had to be abandoned. 



705. On St. Paul Island, the longest drives now practised are those 

 from Polavina to the vicinity of the salt-house near Ilocky Point, and 

 from Tolstoi to the vilhige killing grounds. These are about equal in 

 length, and each not much less than two miles. On St. George, the 

 longest drives are from the Great Eastern liookery and from Starry 

 Arteel Rookery to the village killing grounds, each being about three 

 miles in length, the time occupied in driving being from four to six 

 hours, according to tlie weather. Under the Russian regime much 

 longer drives were made, and in the curtailment of these a very con- 

 siderable imi)rovement has been effected, but the essentially injurious 

 features of the drive remain the same. 



706. On Behring Island, of the Commander group, tlie drives are 

 short, the longest being about one and a half miles, from the South 

 Rookery. On Copper Island, on the contrary, the drives generally 

 extend across the island, and are from three to four miles long, very 

 rough, and crossing one or more intervening steep ridges. These 

 drives must be much more trying to the seals than any now made 

 upon the Pribyloff Islands, and are, in fact, only rendered possible by 

 extreme caution on the part of the drivers, and by the expenditure of 

 much time. 



707. If it were possible to drive only those seals which it is intended 

 to kill, little exception could be taken to the method of driving in the 

 absence of any better method, but the mingling of seals of varied ages 

 upon the hauling grounds from which the drives are taken, even under 

 the original and more favourable conditions of former years, renders it 

 necessary to drive to the killing place many seals either too young or 

 too old to be killed. It is sometimes possible to "cut out" from the 

 drives many of these unnecessary individuals en route, and great care 

 is exercised in this respect on the Commander Islands, though little 

 appears to have been practised on the Pribyloff Islands. 



708. It admits of no dispute that a very considerable impairment of 

 the vital energy of seals thus driven, and eventually turned away from 

 the killing grounds, occurs, altogether apart from the certainty that a 

 proportion of such seals receive actual physical injuries of one kind or 

 another, but this appeared to have been recognized on the Pribyloff 

 Islands only within the past two or three years. The circumstance 



which has called particular attention to this source of injury to 

 122 seal life is the greatly increased proportion of ineligible seals 



which have now to be driven up in company with the diminish- 

 ing quota of " killables." It is unnecessary to quote authorities at 

 length on this subject, but a single citation from Mr. Gofif's Report of 

 1890 will be sufficient to show its general character. Mr. Goff writes: 



We opened tlie season by a drive from Reef rookery, and turned away ov,er 83|per 

 cent, when we should have turned away about 15 per cent, of the seals drTven, and 

 we closed the season by turning away 86 per cent., a fact which proves to every 

 impartial mind that we were redriving the yearlings, and considering the number 

 of skins obtained, that it was impossible to secure the number allowed by the lease, 

 that we were merely torturing the young seals, injuring the future life and vitality 

 of the breeding rookeries, to the detriment of the lessees, natives and Governmeiut.* 



709. In other words, many of the seals turned from the killing ground 

 on one occasion, return eventually to the hauling-grounds, and may 



* Senate, Ex. Doc. No. 49, 5l8t Congress, 2nd Session, p. 4. 



