AMPHIBIAN MILLIONS. 297 



I stood on the Tolstoi sand-dunes one afternoon, toward the middle 

 of July, and had under my eyes, in a straightforward sweep from 

 my feet to Zapadnie, a million and a half of seals spread out on 

 those hauling-grounds. Of these I estimated that fully one-half, at 

 that time, were pups, yearlings, and " holluschickie." The rookeries 

 across the bay, though plainly in sight, were so crowded that they 

 looked exactly as I have seen surfaces appear upon which bees had 

 swarmed in obedience to that din and racket made by the watchful 

 apiarian when he desires to secure a hive of restless honey-makers. 



The great majority of yearlings and "holluschickie" are an- 

 nually hauled out, scattered thickly over the sand-beach and upland 

 hauling-grounds which lie between the rookeries on St. Paul 

 Island. At St. George there is nothing of this extensive display to 

 be seen, for here is only a tithe of the seal-life occupying St. Paul, 

 and no opportunity whatever is afforded for an amphibious parade. 



Descend with me from this sand-dune elevation of Tolstoi, and 

 walk into that drove of " holluschickie " below us. We can do it. 

 You do not notice much confusion or dismay as we go in among 

 them. They simply open out before us and close in behind our 

 tracks, stirring, crowding to the right and left as we go, twelve or 

 twenty feet away from us on each side. Look at this small flock of 

 yearlings some one, others two, and even three years old which 

 are coughing and spitting around us now, staring up in our faces 

 in amazement as we walk ahead. They struggle a few rods out of 

 our reach, and then come together again behind us, showing no 

 further sign or notice of ourselves. You could not walk into a 

 drove of hogs at Chicago without exciting as much confusion and 

 arousing an infinitely more disagreeable tumult ; and as for sheep on 

 the plains, they would stampede far quicker. Wild animals, in- 

 deed ! You can now readily understand how easy it is for two or 

 three men, early in the morning, to come where we are, turn aside 

 from this vast herd in front of and around us two or three thousand 

 of the best examples, and drive them back, up, and over to the vil- 

 lage. That is the way they get the seals. There is no "hunting," 

 no " chasing," no "capturing" of fur-seals on these islands. 



While the young male seals undoubtedly have the power of 

 going for lengthy intervals without food, they, like the female seals 

 on the breeding grounds, certainly do not maintain any long fasting 

 periods on land. Their coming and going from the shore is fre- 

 quent and irregular, largely influenced by the exact condition of 



