THE PUPS. 101 



if not rescued."^ The fact that they are unable inability to 



swim. 



to swim is further evidenced by their manifest 

 dread of the water. Mr. J. Stanley Brown, a 

 scientist detailed by the United States Govern- 

 ment to investigate seal life on the Pribilof 

 Islands, says: "The pups are afraid of the 

 water; they have to learn to swim by repeated 

 effort, and even wlien able to maintain themselves 

 in the quiet waters will rush in frantic and ludi- 

 crous haste away from an approaching wave."^ 

 Capt. Bryant, Treasury agent in cliarge of the 

 Pribilof Islands froui 1869 to 1877, and who 

 previous to that had been a whaling captain in 

 Bering Sea, says: "They run back terrified 

 wlienever a wave comes in."^ IJe is supported 

 in this statement by Mr. Samuel Falconer,"* Gen. 

 Scribner,^ and Mr. Wardman, who have been 

 Treasury agents on the Pribilof Islands, the 

 latter adding that "young pups can not be 

 driven into the water by man, and when I tried 

 to drive them in before they had learned to 

 swim, they would immediately run back from 

 the water.^ 



» Vol. II, p. 72. 



2 Vol. II, p. 16. 



3 Vol. II, p. 5. 

 *Vol. II, p. 164. 

 * Vol. II, p. 89. 

 e Vol. II, p. 178. 



