KXI'KDITION TO POINT BAKIKMV, ALASKA. 97 



seen close inshore, especially where there is open water between the shore and the "land floe" or 

 " barrier." 



The Eskimos pursue them in their vmiaks with the riilc and walnUhharpOOQ provided willi ;i 

 (-hurt, line and seal-skin floats, but did not capture many during our stay at the .station. The skins 

 are very highly prized for making wMii'rt/c-eovers, as they make a very fine and durable hide which 

 is beautifully white. It takes six good-sized ug'ru-skins to cover one umiak. The hide is also used 

 for making walrus-lines and also for boot-soles when whitewhale skin cannot be obtained. 



11. HISTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA (Zimm.)*Gill. 



EIBBON SEAL (Kaixo'Uii). 



This is the first record of this species north of Bering Strait, but it can hardly be con- 

 sidered as anything more than a straggler of somewhat regular occurrence at Point Barrow. 



It is, however, well known to the natives, who call it by a name which bears a striking resem- 

 blance to the names " Karolnk '" and " Kioluk," which the natives of Pond's Bay and Cumberland 

 Inlet apply to Plioca grccnlandica, which animal would hardly be distinguished from this species 

 by the Eskimos. 



The only individual \ve saw was a finely marked male, taken in a seal-net close to the village 

 at Cape Smythe, November 21, 1881. Unfortunately, we knew nothing of the capture until sev- 

 eral days afterward, when the hunter brought the skin over for sale. He had mutilated it by cut- 

 ting off the nose and flippers, and we were unable to procure the skull. 



We heard of no more till the end of November, 1882, when a native reported that he had 

 killed one at a breathing hole, but that it was carried away by the current. None were seen at 

 any of the great catches of Plioca foctida during the winter of 1882, although all the natives, both 

 at Cape Smythe and Point Barrow, were especially on the lookout for them. 



This species must be more abundant than is generally supposed on the Siberian coast of 

 Bering Sea. Their skins are frequently to be seen among the seal-skin clothing worn by the- 

 American whalemen, which is procured at Plover Bay, Indian Point, and other places on the 

 Siberian coast. 



12. ODOB.2ENUS OBESTJS (HI.) Allen. 



PACIFIC WALKUS (AibtciiJc). 



Walruses are of rather frequent occurrence off Point Barrow during the season of open or 

 partially open water, but are never very abundant. 



' In the spring of 1882, one or two were reported by the natives as early as the end of May, out 

 at the '' lead '" of open water, but in 1883 they were very much later. We heard of none until July 

 3, when many old bulls were reported to be traveling up to the northeast at the " lead.' 1 



During the summer herds are occasionally seen swimming among the broken ice outside of 

 the barrier, or asleep on a large cake. 



They were quite plenty during the month of September, 1882, when there was much heavy 

 loose ice from one to three miles off shore, 7noviug rapidly with the current to the northeast. 

 Many herds and solitary walruses floated up past the station on cakes of ice. We saw none 

 returning, and none were seen or reported after September 28. 



They were rather more plenty outside the land-floe in 1883 than they had been the preceding 

 season, and the Eskimos had taken about a dozen up to the middle of August, pursuing them 

 with the rifle and harpoon in their itmiaks. 



During the autumn of 1881 the ice was a very long distance off from the shore, and conse- 

 quently there were no walruses. On October 17, while the sea was still open, three walruses came 

 swimming in towards the land close to the station. They appeared fatigued, as if they had come a 

 long distance, and evidently wished to land on the beach, but were frightened away by the natives. 



The whalemen complain very much of the increasing scarcity of walrus on their usual walrus- 

 hunting grounds, the ice-field just north of Bering Strait. Where they rrere formerly accustomed 

 to get a hundred walrus a day by shooting on the ice, they now consider eighteen a good day's 

 H. Ex. 41 13 



