40 



eastern side of the peninsula early in the killing, had already made the circuit of 

 the Ivcef and were again hauled out on Zolotoi in time to be included in the second 

 herd driven in. 



"The blow with the club on the head renders the seal instantly unconscious, and 

 before the animal recovers it is bled by beinj;- stuck to the heart. The skin is at 

 once taken oH' and thrown ujjou the j;rass to cool, the carcasses being allowed to rot 

 on the held. The killing is under the immediate direction of the agent of the com- 

 pany and the native chief and iu the presence of the Treasury agent. By a judicious 

 division of the labor the various processes connected with the killing and skinning 

 of the seals go (m at once, and iu a few minutes after the last seal is clubbed the 

 skinning is completed. 



"The total number driven this morning was 1,908, of which number 1,059 were 

 rejected and 819 killed. Of the rejected seals 521 were too snuall and .^38 too large to 

 furnish skins of the requisite grade. 



"From what has been said of the carcass strewn roadways of the drives and the 

 terrible etU'ects of over-exertion on the seals, we were prepared to see greater evi- 

 dence of exhaustion and to see the animals droj) by the wayside to be killed and 

 skinned there. \ot a seal died by the way. and in half an hour the herd had appar- 

 ently entirely recovered from the effects of the drive. 



"Tlie morning, however, was favorable for driving, the fog continuing and 

 shutting out tlie suu. It is Avhen the sun shines or the morning i)rove8 close 

 and warm that the seals sulfer. The sun seldom appears during June and July 

 (the average for these mouths being less than a full day of sunshine iu ten years), 

 when the dri\iug is done, and little diCticulty is experienced." 



This ii'eef drive on St. Paul is the longest and severest drive !iow made on the 

 island. All the other drives are short, and with the exception of the drives from 

 Tolstoi and English Bay, where the drives pass over short stretches of sand, the 

 coursi 8 over which the seals are driven are level or slightly rolling and always 

 grass grown. 



On St. (Jeorge the drive from Staraja Artil is between 2 and :> miles in length, 

 with no diflicult places, and small i)onds at intervals, through which the seals are 

 driven and allowed to cool off. 



A DUIVK ON MEI>XI 1SL.\NI>. 



In order to a)ipreciate the comparative ease of the drives on the Pribilof Islands; 

 it is only necessary to contrast them with those on the Comnumder Islands. The fol- 

 lowing descri])tion of a drive Irom the rookery called Zapadni, on Medni (C'opper) 

 Island, is (|Uoted from Dr. Stejneger's report for 1895 on the fur seals of the Com- 

 mander Islands : 



" i'ho weather was just right for ducks an<l fur seals, and, conse(]uently, we started 

 out this morning at 6 a. m. in a drizzling rain. There was no helj) for it. The drive 

 could not be postponed, and as I was going to photograph, rain or no rain, the 

 cameras were taken along; the weather might possibly be better on the other side 

 of the island, l)ut it was not. 



"As indicated yesterday, all the rookeries had to be scraped in order to make even 

 a small drive, and since I could only be in one place ;it a time, I selected to go with 

 the party taking the drive at Zai)adni. Here altogether about 2.")() animals were 

 finally gatheied together and the driving started in \hree divisions. This could 

 easily be done, for there were certainly enough ])eop]e to attend to each division, 

 there being no less than 30 fuU-growu men and about half a dozen boys. What a 

 ditference from former days, when two men or boys were all that could be s])aied for 

 divisions of about 200 seals each I Most of the animals were killable bachelors, a 

 few feniiiles and undersized bachelors having been se]iarated out as the drixe went 

 on before the steep ascent was reached. Thus far I have only with certainty dis- 

 covered one fenuile driven across the mountain. 



"The road was very wet and slippery, botli from the long grass and the smooth 

 clay, which here forms the chief material covering the underlying rock, and the 

 ascent was, therefore, a very laborious one. The middle part of it is very steep, and 

 in one place ste])s ha\'e been cut in the ground so as to facilitate the ciinibing. The 

 altitude of the ])ass forming the highest point on this driv<- is about TCiO feet. 



"The seals soon commenced to give out, and the men resorted to all sorts of goad- 

 ing them on, short of killing, in order to get as many of the seals as possil)le alive 

 to th(^ killing ground at the village, since they wanted the meat badly. Only when 

 a seal could absolutely go no farther, after having been urged on by being poked and 

 beaten with sticks only then it was killed and skinned; Itut r.ot even then in all 

 cases, for, if it was a small and therefore ])articnlar]y tender animal, it was grabbed 

 by the hind legs and dragged along until some steej) declivity was reached, down 

 which it was then Hung. Vet a good many had to be killed along the road. Little 

 girls and still smaller ))oys arrived now with big skin bags on their backs to carry 



