THE PUPS. 103 



the buffeting" of the Avaves it could not surAave Aquatic birth 



impossible. 



such an anchor. No pup could be born in the 

 water and live."^ To these unqualified state- 

 ments of experts and scientists are added those 

 of a large number of Indians and seal hunters 

 along the American coast, and an instance which 

 took place during the Russian occupation puts 

 the impossibility of pelagic birth beyond ques- 

 tion. The following is an extract from a letter 

 dated June 20, 1859, by the manager of St. 

 Paul Island addressed to the chief manager, and 

 inclosed in a letter dated May 13, 1860, from 

 Capt. Ivan Vassilievitch Furuhelm to the board 

 of administration of the Russian American 

 Company: 



"The female seals came this year in May at 

 the usual time after the 'sekatches' had landed. 

 Only a few had come ashore when, with a strong 

 northwest wind, the ice came from the north. It 

 closed around the islands and was kept there by 

 the wind for thirteen days. The ice was much 

 broken and was kept in motion by the sea. 



"It is an actual fact, most gracious sir, that the 

 females could not reach the shore through the ice. 

 Some of the Aleuts went out as far as it was safe 

 to go on tlie larger pieces of ice and they saw 

 the water full of seals. When the northv/est 



i Vol. II, p. 15; Article by Dr. Allen, Part III, Vol. I, p. 406. 



