82 



FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



zapadnie. 



July 14, 1874. 

 The holhiscliickie that sjtort here on 

 the parade plateau, and indeed over all 

 the western extent of the English Bay 

 liauling grounds, have never been visited 

 by the nati\e8 for the purpose of select- 

 ing killing drives since 1872, inasmuch 

 as more seals than were wanted have 

 always been procured from Zoltoi, Lukan- 

 uon, and Lower Tolstoi points, which are 

 all very close to the village. 



July 4, 1872. 

 I stood on the Tolstoi sand dunes one 

 afternoon, toward the middle of .^uly, 

 and liad under my eyes in one straiglat 

 forward sweep from my feet to Zapadnie 

 1,500,000 seals 8}>read out on those haul- 

 ing (and breeding) grounds. Of those, I 

 estimated fully one-half at that time were 

 ])ups, yearlings, and hoUuscliickie. The 

 rookeries across the bay were plainly in 

 sight and so crowded that they looked 

 exactly as I have seen surfaces apjiear 

 ujjon which bees had swarmed in obedi- 

 ence to that din and racket made by the 

 watchful apiarian when he desires to hive 

 those restless honey makers. 



July 22, 1874. 

 * * * and a fair track for the hol- 

 luschickie, 500 feet wide, left clear, over 

 which they have traveled quite exten- 

 sively this season, some 20,000 to 25,000 

 of them, at least, lying out around the 

 old salt house to-day. 



polavina. 



July 20, 1874. 

 * * * Surmounting this lava bed is 

 a cap of ferrugineous cement and tufa, 

 from 3 to 10 feet in thickness, making a 

 reddish floor upon which the seals patter 

 in their restless, never-ceasing evolutions, 

 sleeping or waking on the land. It is as 

 great a single-yjarade plateau of polished 

 cement as that of the reef, but we are 

 unable from any point of observation to 

 appreciate it, inasmuch as we can not 

 standhigh enough to overlook it. * - ^ 

 The rookery itself occupies only a small 



zapadxie. 



July 3, 1890. 

 These drives at Zapadnie are made 

 Just as they are made at all the other rook- 

 eries this season — ^.just swe])! np from the 

 immediate skirts of the breeding seals, 

 cows, pups, and bulls. This njethod of 

 driving Avas not even suggested at any 

 time in 1872-1874. Such a proceeding 

 would have been voted abominable then; 

 it is still more so now. It sweeps everj' 

 young male seal that is 4, 3, and 2 years 

 old into death as soon as it hauls to-day. 

 Nothing escapes except that which old 

 age or extreme youth saves — or, in other 

 words, the high tax of $10.22 saves. 



July 9, 1890. 

 I went over to Zapadnie early this 

 morning with the natives and witnessed 

 their driving. Most of the s<;anty drive 

 was taken from the borders of Upper 

 Zapadnie rookery. The whole sweep of 

 Lower Zapadnie did not yield over 200 

 holluschickie, which had hauled in at 

 several places just upward above the 

 breeding seals. All that large space up 

 abo\ e tht! rookery on Lower Zapadnie 

 which was literally alive with trooping 

 platoons of holluschickie in 1872 is to-day 

 entirely vacant! not a seal on it, and the 

 natives ])eering over the high bluffs on 

 the south side of and to the westward of 

 the point trying to find a few seals skulk- 

 ing down there on the rocks awash. 

 Their eager search, with their backs 

 turned to this silent parade ground of 

 1872, made me decidedly thoughtful, 



July 18, 1890. 

 This last scrape made here to-day was 

 opened by the appearance of only 1,192 

 animals on the grounds after a rest of 

 nine days since the last drive from this 

 place; 115 of these 1,192, were old bulls, 

 all over G years, and the balance outside 

 of the catch (241) are yearlings, "runty" 

 2-year-olds, "bitten" 4-year-olds, and a 

 few 5-year-old ''wigs." Every 4-year-old 

 "wig" was taken — taken here, as at Pola- 

 vina yesterday, for the first time this 

 season — every "smooth" 4-year-old was 

 taken in the first drives, and now the 

 dregs are drawn also. 



polavixa. 



June 16, 1890. 

 I came aleng on foot to the village, 

 giving Polavina a survey down outside 

 so as to see the old and new seal grass on 

 that famous parade. It is somewhat too 

 soon to arrive at a conclusion, but what 

 I saw and noted causes surprise. Sup- 

 pose you had, fourteen or sixteen years 

 ago, been upon an eminence overlooking 

 a sheep j)asture or fold some three-fourths 

 of a mile in length and 1,.500 to 2,000 feet 

 in width, so filled with a herd or Hock of 

 sheep as to fairly cover the whole surface 



