134 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



it is equally certain that the pup can not recognize its dam. I have 

 often seen pups attempt to suck cows promiscuously, yet no cow will 

 suckle any pup but her own. When five or six weeks old the pups begin 

 to run around and form bunches or u pods;" at seven to eight weeks 

 old they try the water at the edge, where, after paddling in the shallows, 

 they gradually learn to swim. After becoming expert swimmers they 

 continue to show a preference for land, where they generally remain if 

 not driven into the water by heavy rain or warm sunshine. They make 

 no eifort to secure sustenance of any sort beyond that furnished by 

 their dams. 



I have examined many pups at the food killings in November, and I 

 never found anything but milk in their stomachs. 



The young males or bachelors, whose skins are taken by the lessees, 

 begin to haul out in May, and they continue to haul out until late in 

 July, the older ones coming first and the younger ones later; and they 

 herd by themselves during May, June, and July, because were they 

 to approach the breeding grounds the bulls would drive them off or 

 destroy them. 



The bachelors of from 2 to 5 years old are the only seals driven or 

 killed on the seal islands by anyone or for any purpose, and the sensa- 

 tional stories told of how they are tortured on the drive have no founda- 

 tion in fact. When necessary to make a drive for skins from any given 

 rookery, the local agent of the lessees informs the Treasury agent, and 

 obtains his permission to make the drive. No seals are driven without 

 the consent of the Treasury agent in charge of the island. All being 

 ready, the native chief takes a squad of men to the hauling ground, 

 where the seals are quietly surrounded without disturbing the breeding 

 rookery, and they are then driven slowly along to the killing ground. 



Since the improved methods of 1879 there are no drives of greater 

 .length than 2J miles, and the majority of them do not exceed 1 mile. 

 So carefully and so slowly are the drives made, the men driving are 

 relieved every hour, because of the slow motion they get chilled on the 

 road. Arrived at the killing grounds, the seals are driven out from the 

 main body in "pods" of 20 or 30 at a time, and experienced men club 

 and kill the desirable ones, and allow all that remain to return at their 

 leisure to the adjacent waters. The most experienced men do the skin- 

 ning, and after them come the women and children, who carry off the 

 carcasses for food and the fat or blubber for winter fuel. 



In accordance with instructions from the Department, the Treasury 

 agent is always present at the killings, and he has full power and 

 authority to interfere in all cases where there is cruelty practiced or 

 attempted. 



All seals killed by the lessees for skins are killed between June 1 and 

 July 30, and generally the season closes on the 20th of July. 



After the regular season closes, in July, the natives kill, weekly, for 

 food, from 100 to 200 male seals whose skins are large enough to be 

 accepted as part of the next year's quota; and it is during these food 

 drives in August, September, and October that an occasional female is 

 accidentally killed. Being mixed with the bachelors at this time, some 

 females are driven and accidentally killed. The killing of a female is 

 the greatest crime known on the seal islands and is never done inten- 

 tionally. Of this I am most positive, for I know that every possible 

 precaution has been taken to guard against it, and I believe there have 

 not been 100 females killed on St. George Island since 1880, if I may 

 except some killed by poachers who were driven off before they secured 

 the skins of the seals they had killed. 



