THE SEA-LION HUNT. 469 



it was not repeated. When the alarm was sprung, old Luka Mandirgan was leading the van, and 

 at that moment, down upon him, despite his wildly gesticulating arms ami shrill yelling, came a 

 squad of old bull "seevitchie." The native saw instantly that they were pointed for the water, 

 and, in his sound sense, turned to run from under, his tarbosar slipped upon a slimy rock awash, 

 he fell flat as a flounder, just as a dozen or more big sea-lions plunged over and onto his prostrate 

 form in the shallow water. In less time than this can be written the heavy pinnipeds had disap- 

 peared, while the bullet-like head of old Luka was quickly raised, and he trotted back to us with 

 an alternation of mirth and then chagrin in his voice ; he was not hurt in the least. 



BEHAVIOR op THE SEA-LIONS WHEN SURPRISED. !. at the moment of surprise, the brutes 

 are sleeping with their heads pointed toward the water, they rise up in fright and charge straight 

 on in that way directly over the men themselves; but if their heads have been resting at this 

 instant pointed landward, up they rise and follow that course just as desperately, and nothing will 

 turn them either one way or the other. Those sea-lions which charged for the water are lost, of 

 course; but the natives promptly follow up the land turned animals with a rare combination of 

 horrible noises and demoniacal gesticulations until the first -frenzied spurt and exertions of the 

 terrified creatures so completely exhaust them that they fall panting, gasping, prone upon the 

 earth, extended, in spite of their huge bulk and powerful muscles, helpless and at the mercy of 

 their cunning captors, who, however, instead of slaying them as they lie, gently rouse them up 

 again, and urge the herd along to the house in which they have been keeping this watch during 

 the several days past so as to be on hand in time to take advantage of such a night -in which to 

 make this effort. 



THE "CORRAL." Here, at this point, is a curious stage in the proceedings. The natives 

 drive up to that " Webster's " house the twenty-five or thirty or forty sea-lions, as the case may be, 

 which they have just captured they seldom get more at any one time and keep them in a corral 

 or pen right by the " barrabbora," on the flattened surface of a sand-ridge, in the following comical 

 manner: When they have huddled up the "pod," they thrust stakes down around it at intervals 

 of 10 to 30 feet, to which strips of cotton cloth are fluttering as flags, and a line or two of siuew- 

 rope, or thong of hide, is strung from pole to pole around the group, making a circular cage, as it 

 were. Within this flimsy circuit the stupid sea-lions are securely imprisoned, and. though they 

 are incessantly watched by two or three men, the whole period of caging and penning which I 

 observed, extending over nine or ten days and nights, passed without a single effort being made 

 by the "seevitchie" to break out of their frail inclosure; and it was passed by these animals not 

 in stupid quiescence, but in alert watchfulness, writhing, twisting, turning one upon and over the 

 other, so that they resembled to my fancy a handful of worms as they struggle to escape when 

 thrown upon a heated saucer. 



By this method of procedure, after the lapse usually of two or three weeks, a succession of 

 favorable nights will have occurred ; and the natives secure their full quota, which, as I have said 

 before, is expressed by a herd of two or three hundred of these animals. 



PREPARATION AND METHOD OF DRIVING TO THE VILLAGE. The complement filled, the 

 natives then prepare to drive their herd back to the village, over the grassy and mossy uplands 

 and intervening stretches of sand-dune tracts, fully 11 miles, preferring to take the trouble of prod- 

 ding the clumsy brutes, wayward and obstinate as they are, rather than to pack their heavy hides 

 in and out of boats; making, in this way, each sea-lion carry its own skin and blubber down to 

 the doors of their houses in the village. If the weather is normally wet and cold, this drive, or 

 caravan of lions, can be driven to the point of destination in five or six days ; but, should it he 



