THE SEALS. 161 



for seventeen years on the island, adds: ''The Overririvingaiui 



redriviug. 



man is not ahve who ever saw a six or seven 

 year old bull impotent." ^ The killing grounds 

 are located near the M^ater, so that those seals 

 whose skins are unmarketable can readily and 

 with little exertion return to that element; they 

 are also established as near the hauling grounds 

 as is possible without having the odor from the 

 carcasses disturb the breeding seals.^ If it were 

 not for this unavoidable cause of disturbance 

 attendant upon the killing and skinning of the 

 animals, driving in any form would not be 

 necessary, but as it is, the killing must take place 

 at some distance from tlie hauling and breeding 

 grounds, which compels a certain amount of 

 diiving. 



The improvement over the Russian methods is o^^Sussiln meth* 

 marked in this particular, for in 1873^ horses and^^^' or taking, 

 mules were introduced by the lessees to transport 

 the skins to the salt houses, previous to which 

 time all this labor had been done by the natives, 

 who were the sole beasts of burden on the 

 islands;* and, therefore, the killing grounds were 

 located much nearer to the hauling grounds than 



iVol. II, p. 151. 



2 J. H. Moulton, Vol. 11, p. 72; Daniel Webster, Vol. II, p. 182. 



3 Charles Bryant, Vol. II, p. 8. 



< Letter from Chief Manager Fiirnhelm to the Board of Adminis- 

 ]tration of the Russian American Company, dated July 16, 1863. 



2716 21 



