276 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



number three and four, and so on, in the vicinity, seeing this high- 

 handed operation, all assail one another, especially number two, 

 and for a moment have a tremendous fight, perhaps lasting half 

 a minute or so, and during this commotion the little cow is gener- 

 ally moved, or moves, farther back from the water, two or three 

 stations more, where, when all gets quiet again, she usually remains 

 in peace. Her last lord and master, not having that exposure to 

 such diverting temptation as her first, gives her such care that she 

 not only is unable to leave, did she wish, but no other bull can seize 

 upon her : this is only a faint and (I fully appreciate it) wholly in- 

 adequate description of the hurly-burly and that method by which 

 the rookeries are filled up, from first to last, when the females ar- 

 riveit is only one instance of the many trials and tribulations 

 which both parties on the rookery subject themselves to, before the 

 harems are filled. * 



Far back, fifteen or twenty " see-catchie " stations deep from 

 the water-line, and sometimes more, but generally not over an 

 average of ten or fifteen, the cows crowd in at the close of the 



* When the females first come ashore there is no sign whatever of affec- 

 tion manifested between the sexes. The males are surly and morose, and 

 the females entirely indifferent to such reception. They are, however, sub- 

 jected to very harsh treatment sometimes in progress of battles between the 

 males for their possession, and a few of them are badly bitten and lacerated 

 every season. 



One of the cows that arrived at Nahspeel, St. Paul's Island, early in June, 

 1872, was treated to a mutilation in this manner, under my eyes. When she 

 had finally landed on the barren rocks of one of the numerous "seecatchie" 

 at the water-front of this small rookery, and while I was carefully making a 

 sketch of her graceful outlines, a rival bull, adjacent, reached out from his 

 station and seized her with his mouth at the nape of the neck, just as a cat 

 lifts a kitten. At the same instant, almost simultaneously, the old male that 

 was rightfully entitled to her charms, turned, and caught her in his teeth by 

 the skin of her posterior dorsal region. There she was, lifted and suspended 

 in mid-air, between the jaws of the furious rivals, until, in obedience to their 

 powerful struggles, the hide of her back gave way, and, as a ragged flap 

 of the raw skin more than six inches broad and a foot in length was torn 

 up and from her spine, she passed, with a rush, into the possession of the bull 

 which had covetously seized her. She uttered no cry during this barbarous 

 treatment, nor did she, when settled again, turn to her torn and bleeding 

 wound to notice it in any way whatsoever that I could observe. 



I may add here that I never saw the seals under such, or any circumstances, 

 lick or nurse their wounds as dogs or cats do ; but, when severe inflammation 

 takes place, they seek the water, disappearing promptly from scrutiny. 



