360 REPORTS OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



SEAL KILLING ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Possibility of ro- In reference to the latter it can be positively 



strictiou. 



affirmed that it can be entirely controlled by 

 man. The sex and age of the seals killed may 

 be fixed by regulation and the number to be 

 taken definitel}^ determined in advance. In fact, 

 it is difficult to imagine any operation of a 

 similar character more perfectly controllable than 

 this. Not only can the character of seal to be 

 killed be rigorously prescribed, but the killing 

 can be conducted in such a manner as to be least 

 harmful to the remaining jDortion of the herds, 

 and that freedom from disturbance durino- the 

 breeding season which is so essential to the life 

 of the seal can be assured, 

 killed'.' ' The only seals killed at the seal islands are 



nonbreeding males (under five or six years of 

 age, called ^lolluschickie'). They come up on 

 the rookeries aj^art from the breeding seals, and 

 large numbers are present by the latter part of 

 May or first week in June, after which they 

 constantly pass back and forth from the water to 

 Driving. fj^e liauliug gTouiids. They are driven from the 



hauling grounds to the killing grounds by the 

 native Aleuts, who have been trained in this work 

 from generation to generation.- Here the seals 

 are divided into little groujis. Those selected as 

 of suitable size are killed by a bloAv on the head 



