78 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



from tlio beginning of the season in May nntil its close, by tbe end of 

 July; but their vastly reduced numbers and the rigorous driving to 

 wliicli this remnant is subjected have caused them to abandon the haul- 

 ing grounds of 1872-1874 entirely, with the solitary exception of that 

 sand beach under jMiddle Hill, English Bay, of St. Paul. They now haul 

 close into the rear of the breeding seals on the several rookery grounds 

 of both islands; hauling there, as I have said before, for shelter and 

 protection. 



When the old bulls first appear for the season at the rookery grounds 

 early in May of every year, as a rule only a few squads of holluschickie 

 accompany them. While these early bulls land promptly by the 4th to 

 the 6th of that month, and all of them arrive and land by the close of 

 it, yet the holluschickie do not come ashore until the loth or 2(Hh of 

 May, as a rule; sometimes a few days earlier and sometimes a few days 

 later. Oidy a few hundred of these young males land at anyone place 

 or time as early as the 15th of May. 



But, after this date, rapidly after the 25th to the 31st of jMay, the hol- 

 luschickie of the largest growth, i. e., the 5, 4, 3, and many 2 j^ear old 

 males, begin to haul. By the 14th to the 20th of June they then appear 

 in their finest form and number for the season, being joined now by the 

 half bulls, the 2 and 3 year olds and quite a number of yearling males. 

 By the 10th of July their nunibers are beginning to largely increase, 

 owing to the influx at this time of that great body of the last year's i)ups 

 or yearlings. By the 20th of July the yearlings have put in their ai)i)ear- 

 ance for the season in full force. Very few yearling females make their 

 appearance until the 15th of July, but by the 20th they literally swarmed 

 out, in 1872-1874, and mixed up completely with the young and older 

 males and females, as the rookeries relax their discipline and "pod" or 

 scatter out. 



By the 20th of July annually, therefore, the seals of all ages have 

 arrived that are to arrive. It was so in 1872; it was so last season, 

 1890. 



If it were true, as the idea of some sealers would have it, that the 

 young male seals all haul on the ground contiguous to the rookery 

 where they were born, it would be very puzzling to account for several 

 marked exceptions to that rule; but it is not true. Young male seals 

 born upon St. Paul Island have been repeatedly marked as they left for 

 the season, and these marked pups have been taken up in St. George 

 drives as yearlings, 2-year olds, and even 4-year olds, during the follow- 

 ing season or seasons. This experiment was repeatedly made by the 

 Russians,' and has been made once by us. 



'It is entertaining to note in this connection that the Russians themselves, with 

 the ob.iect of testing this mooted query, during the later years of their possession of 

 the islands drove up a number of young males from Lukaunon, cut oti' their ears, and 

 turned them out to sea again. The following season, when the droves came in from 

 the hauliug grounds to the shiughteriug fields, quite a number of those cropped seals 

 were in the drives : but, instead of being found all at one place — the place from 

 whence they were driven the year before — they were scattered examples of croppies 

 from every point on tbe island. The sameex])erimout w;is again made by our people 

 in 1870 (the natives having told them of this jirior undertaking) and they went also 

 to Lukannou, drove up 100 young males, cut off tbeir left ears, and set them free in 

 turn. Of tills number, during tlie suiumer of 1S72, when I was there, the natives 

 found in their driving of 7.5,000 seals from the different hauling grounds of St. Paul 

 up to the village killing grounds, two on Novastoshnah rookery, 10 miles north of 

 Lukannou, and two or three Irom English Bay and Tolstoi rookeries, (> miles west by 

 water; one or two were taken on St. George Island, 36 miles to the southeast, and 

 not one from Lukannou was found among those tliat were driven from there. Proba- 

 bly had all the young males on the two islau<l8 this season been examined, the rest 



