216 FUR FACTS 



valuable than those of the old bulls, and their carcasses are used 

 for food by the native esquimaux. As a matter of fact the pelts of 

 the old bulls have no value for fur purposes. It is only the young 

 seal, either male or female, whose pelts are suitable to be dressed and 

 dyed and made into fur garments. Therefore, only young seals up 

 to about three years old as a rule are taken for their pelts, although 

 at times they are taken when they are much older. However, the 

 finer pelts come from the young seals. Some authorities claim that 

 the old bull meets the cows at the water's edge to welcome them back 

 home, and oftentimes terrible battles are fought between the bulls 

 for the females. Other authorities claim that the female herself 

 selects her own station and chooses the harem which she is to enter. 

 However, after once making her choice, she is certainly compelled to 

 remain there, and the old bull will stand for no trifling. One authority 

 claims to have seen as high as seventy females in one harem. Shortly 

 after their arrival at the islands the females bring forth their young 

 and the cows go to sea to seek food, which is largely fish, and return 

 to nurse their offspring every few hours, gradually lengthening their 

 stay into days and sometimes weeks before they return. When the 

 pups are about four or five weeks old they begin to stir around and 

 get acquainted with one another, forming into crowds and running 

 in companies, at first inclining towards the middle of the island, but 

 afterwards, as they advance in age and strength, they direct their 

 steps towards the deep, where they paddle around in the shallow 

 water until little by little they learn to swim. About the first of 

 August the harems break up and the different sections mingle together 

 indiscriminately. 



When the old bulls first land on the island in May they are as 

 fat and as round as a barrel and sleek and glossy. But after four 

 months residence on land defending his harem, when he never takes 

 food or drink during all that time, he becomes so poor, gaunt and 

 weak, that it is with the utmost difficulty that he crawls into the sea 

 when he leaves, which is usually late in August or early in September, 

 to make his annual trip down through the Behring sea and the 

 Northern Pacific Ocean. The females do not leave until about the 

 first of November, and the pups leave about the middle of November, 

 the yearlings, both male and female, the first half of December. As 

 stated before the pup seal when born can not swim. If he is dropped 

 into the water his head, which is heavy, will immediately sink, and 

 suffocation is only a matter of a few minutes. The pup cannot live 

 in the water until it is about six weeks old, and then begins to try 



