IX.] THE HOLLUSCHACK. 203 



in seal life. Among ourselves, some careful statistician has, I 

 believe, conclusively proved that what is called the expectation of 

 life is considerably greater among the married than the unmarried. 

 Through the instrumentality of the Alaska Commercial Company 

 the same rule holds good for the unhappy fur seal. Nature, from 

 the lowest to the highest of its species, abounds, so naturalists 

 inform us, with " useless bachelors," but as one of the class myself, 

 I cannot help sympathising with the fate of the hollicschicki. Not 

 even the alternative of a wife is offered them, but they are tapped 

 on the head with little ceremony and converted into sealskin 

 jackets. The place of slaughter, where the unburied bodies of the 

 victims lay rotting in the damp air, aroused other feelings besides 

 those conveyed through the medium of the nose ; and bearing in 

 mind the coming reign of utilitarianism, I could not help con- 

 gratulating myself on the fact that man is not a fur-bearing 

 animal. 



The hoIluscJiack is, from his habit of life, unconsciously the 

 author of his own misfortunes. As I have already stated, the 

 playgrounds are always perfectly distinct from the breeding- 

 ground, and often lie at a considerable distance from them. It is 

 a rule, to which no exceptions are permitted, that the latter should 

 never be disturbed. Beyond the age of six years — the breeding- 

 age in short — the skin of the male fur seal is useless from a 

 commercial point of view, and that of the pup, even were it of the 

 best quality, is far too small to realise its highest value. The 

 cows are, of course, preserved with the greatest care, none being 

 ever permitted to be killed, and hence it happens that the 

 bachelors alone, and even among them only those of a certain age, 

 supply the skins that are annually taken for the European marl^et. 

 The method of killing them is simple, and is much facilitated by 

 the tameness and slow movements of the animal. Eunning quickly 

 between the playground and the sea the natives are able to cut off 

 the escape of as many as are wanted, and those thus separated are 

 driven slowly up to the killing -grounds. They are guided far 



