SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 197 



deiily thrusting their heads up through it seemed to afford them great 

 pleasure. Rolling over and over in the seaweed, their flippers becom 

 ing tangled in it, was also a pleasant enjoyment. They paid but little 

 attention to us and seemed almost indifferent as to how near we 

 approached so long as we did so quietly. This caused the hunters to 

 exclaim several times, "If we only had a gun we could kill them all." 

 Under the circumstances it was but natural that a gun should be the 

 uppermost thought in their minds. 



Early in the spring, both on the Northwest coast and off the coast 

 of Japan, seals are sometimes found which evince little signs of fear, 

 but after one day's shooting on the ground they become very wild and 

 mistrustful, and, like a crow and some laud animals, seem to scent a gun 

 in the air. On this particular occasion a kodak camera would have 

 given good results it was one opportunity of a thousand. 



The following day, 31st, seals were plentiful. The wind being light 

 during the previous night, our position had changed but little. 



On August 1, at a very early hour, the spears were brought forth and 

 the seal on them broken. While this was going on many remarks were 

 made in regard to the first day's trial. Some of the hunters were already 

 discouraged and were confident that they were only wasting time by 

 attempting to use spears; the thought of being obliged to adopt the 

 primitive weapon of the Si wash was indeed humiliating to them. A 

 few on board felt more hopeful and were willing to give the spear a fair 

 trial. Ever since leaving Unalaska the hunters had been practicing at 

 throwing the spear pole. Every piece of floating seaweed or other 

 object which came within range had been a target. On several occa- 

 sions the boats had been lowered and a supply of chips and small 

 pieces of wood taken along. These were thrown ahead of the boat as 

 targets to throw at. It was soon found that an object that could be 

 easily hit at a distance of 25 or 30 feet from the vessel was not so easily 

 reached from a boat, as the smallest wave would cause her to move just 

 enough to cause the pole to go wide of its mark. A day's practice 

 throwing from the boats had the effect of teaching the hunters the 

 various ways of holding the spear to make more sure of its hitting the 

 mark under the many conditions of sea and wind. All this time spear 

 throwing had been carried on with lifeless objects for a mark. The 

 opportunity was about to present itself to exhibit skill in throwing at 

 something that if missed the first time would not be likely to remain 

 stationary long enough to give the marksman another trial. A cool 

 head and steady nerves would be the special requirements to insure a 

 successful day's hunt should seals be plentiful. 



The 1st day of August did not prove a success, so far as sealing was 

 concerned, the weather being too foggy to send out the boats. Scat- 

 tering seals were observed all day, but they were all " travelers;" that 

 is, they were all moving in various directions. Our noon position was 

 latitude 56 11' north, longitude 172 OF west. The next day seals 

 were less numerous. None were observed in the forenoon ; in the after- 

 noon 12 were seen; all but one were traveling to the westward. This 

 individual was asleep; a boat was quickly lowered and the hunter on 

 watch was rowed toward it. Before the boat had covered half the dis- 



were not so plentiful as they were farther south. In the afternoon we 

 hove to and caught two cod in 65 fathoms of water. No more seal life 

 was observed until the after noon of the following day, when two sleep- 



