Hunting at High Altitudes 



feet in length, with an average girth of eleven feet. 

 The largest specimen of the Northern elephant 

 seal previously recorded as actually measured was 

 "twenty-two feet long from tip to tip, and yielded 

 210 gallons of oil." The adult female that we 

 killed was nearly eleven feet long. Some of the 

 females with young pups appeared to be slightly 

 longer, but we could not measure them and would 

 not kill them. There were numerous immature 

 males about the size of the adult female, and many 

 animals of intermediate sizes between these and the 

 new-born pups. Animals of the yearling size were 

 distinctly more numerous than those of other sizes. 

 The new-born pups, being dusky black, were dis- 

 tinguishable in color from the yearlings. 



The skin of the adult male is exceedingly heavy, 

 being nearly an inch thick about the forepart of 

 the neck. Our knives dulled so rapidly in skinning 

 them that it was found necessary to have a grind- 

 stone sent ashore and to keep two men busy at the 

 task of sharpening. The carcasses were so heavy 

 that it required all the strength of half a dozen 

 men to turn them over, with the aid of a rope and 

 hand-holes cut in the skin. In some places we 

 found the blubber to be about four inches thick. 



Unless actually teased by members of our party, 

 the old animals did not attempt to leave the beach, 



412 



