HABITS. 273 



the whole herd, when, with much roaring and bellowing, the 

 whole mass begins to move, gradually extending itself in a 

 long irregular line in open order, each animal lumbering along 

 as best it can. By shouting and waving flags at the rear and 

 on the flanks of the herd, they are kept moving until it is neces- 

 sary to halt them again for rest. Seen when thus moving in a 

 long irregular line, the slow heaving motion of their bodies and 

 the swaying of their long flexible necks give a grotesque 

 appearance to the scene and suggest anything but a herd of 

 Lions. The island, being composed of volcanic rock, is full of 

 subterranean fissures covered thinly with soil and vegetation, 

 and the earth so resounds with the noise of the tread of the 

 Sea Lions that the sound may be heard to the distance of two 

 miles. The approach of a herd to the village is always an occa- 

 sion of interest and excitement to all of the inhabitants, who 

 go out en masse to meet them and escort them to the slaughter- 

 ing ground, where they are allowed to rest and cool before they 

 are killed. 



"The Sea Lions are too formidable to be killed with clubs 

 like the Fur Seals. When all is ready for the slaughter the 

 herd is started up a sloping hillside ; the hunters follow, armed 

 with rifles, and shoot the full-grown males from behind, the 

 back of the skull being the only part a ball can penetrate. 

 After all of these have been killed, the head of the column is 

 checked and turned back so that the animals become massed 

 together, and piled on each other five or six deep. In this way 

 those below are held by those above while the hunters, armed 

 with short lances, watch their opportunity to rush up to the 

 struggling mass and thrust their lances into some vital part of 

 the doomed beasts. This is attended with some danger to the 

 hunters, who sometimes receive serious wounds from being hit 

 with the lances that the Sea Lions, in their death agonies, seize 

 in their mouths and wrench from the hands of the hunters. 



u Nearly every part of these animals is valuable to the natives, 

 but they have no commercial value outside of Alaska. Their 

 skins are indispensable to the Sea Otter hunters of the Aleutian 

 Islands, for the covering of their canoes in which they hunt 

 these animals. The natives also use them for covering their large 

 boats used in loading and unloading vessels. . . . Its flesh 

 is preferred for food to that of the Fur Seal, that of the full-grown 

 animal being finer in texture, lighter in color, and of a sweeter 

 Misc. Pub. No. 12 18 



