The Driccn. 



On the morning of the 1.0th July, i company with Dr. Jordan, Judge Crow ley 

 Captain Moser and Lieutenant Garrett of ^ he " Albatross," Dr. Stejneger, Mr. Lucas, and 

 Mr. Clark, I witnessed the entire conduct of a drive from Reef Rookery. This drive is 

 minutely and accurately described by Dr. Jordan in his preliminary Report (pp. 38-40). 

 The points which I especially noted at the time, and which may be here recapitulated in 

 brief, were the silence, orderliness, and absence of haste with which the whole proceedings 

 were conducted ; the care taken in sorting out, as the drive progressed, the largest of the 

 half-bulls included in it ; the much greater ease with which the younger seals travelled over 

 the ground than their older and heavier brethren ; and, lastly, the ease with which the herd 

 travelled over the harder and rougher portions of the ground, compared with the labour 

 involved in crossing a short stretch of sand at Zoltoi. Before traversing the latter, 

 arduous, though apparently unimportant, part of the journey, the herd was allowed to 

 rest and cool for 10 minutes. The difference was quite enougii to show that distance in 

 itself is (within reasonable limits) an unimportant cause of fatigue and hardship compared 

 with the character of the ground traversed, and, furthermore, that the ground which 

 seemed to the novice the most arduous was far from being so, for the seals clambered 

 actively and with ease over great boulders and high angular masses of broken rock, while 

 they panted with fatigue over a level stretch of sand. 



1 could see absolutely nothing to find fault with in the drive. The route is the 

 most fatiguing now made use of on the islands, but 1 could discover no great hardship, 

 and certainly no cruelty, involved. The seals certainly puffed and blew, and sweated and 

 steamed; they stopped every now and then to rest, and panted, as Dr. Jordan says, "like 

 dogs," but a moment after they went on again briskly. The signs of distress were less 

 painful than I have often witnessed in a flock of sheep on a hot and dusty road, and 

 .1 have seen drovers show less jegard for the comfort of their sheep. No seal died or was 

 injured by the way ; they came to the end of their journey all in good condition, and 

 when the killing was over, those that were permitted to escape betook themselves 

 straight and quickly to the sea. 



We left the village at 2 A.M., and the drive commenced immediately thereafter at 

 Zoltoi Sands. The seals driven from there and from the bay opposite were guided by three 

 men straight to the village killing-ground, where they waited till the drive was over, about 

 5 o'clock. It was 3 o'clock when \ve reached the end of the reef, and the seals there 

 were gathered together and started on their way by half-past. About 1,300 seals were 

 included in the drive and driven in two batches, one of which readied the killing-ground about 

 5 o'clock, the other about a quarter to 6. On reaching the killing-ground they were first 

 turned into the shallow lake by its side and afterwards rounded up on the grass ; 1,919 

 seals in all were driven up to the killing-ground ; of these, 849 were killed, and 1,070 

 rejected, :i22 as too small, and MS as too large (according to my figures), besides the 

 small number of still larger ones that were turned away in the course of the drive. The 

 percentage killed on the ground was, therefore, only 44'3 of those driven up. The 

 killing was concluded by about 10 o'clock, an interval for breakfast intervening. 



A week before, on the 9th July, I had attended, not a whole drive, but the last 

 portion of one and tbe subsequent killing, at Zapadnie, St. George, and I append my notes 

 made on the spot. 



Leaving the village at 5 A.M., in company with Mr. J. Judge and Colonel Murray, 

 we arrived on the ground shortly before 7 A.M. AV'e found the pack of bachelor seals that 

 had been driven on the previous evening from the hauling-grounds gathered together on 

 rising ground near the watchman's hut. We walked down the hill to another hut, used by 

 the Company's officers, at a distance of about half-a-mile, or rather more, and were there 

 met by the Company's agent, Captain Daniel Webster. We had scarcely arrived there 

 when the seals, driven by a couple of boys, arrived too, having covered the distance with 

 no sign cf exertion in less time than ourselves. 



The killing-gang consisted of nineteen men and lads, three of whom carried wooden 

 clubs tj feet long. The seals were kept back a couple oi' hundred yards from the shore, 

 and allowed to come forward in batches or packs to the killing-ground between the main 

 batch and the sea. Captain Webster, club in hand, pointed out to the men what seals in 

 each pack were to be slaughtered. 



I counted in each batch the seals killed, and those rejected as too young or too old, 

 as follows : 



