114 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



watcli them and see bow near we could a[)pioacli without disturbing 

 them. We soon learned that they were unusually tame, as we ap- 

 proached near enough to touch one with a spear ])ole. They showed 

 little signs of tear notwithstanding that we were within MO feet of them 

 for fully live minutes. Diving under the seaweed and suddenly thrust- 

 ing their heads up through it seemed to afford them great pleasure. 

 They paid but little attention to us and seemed almost indifferent as to 

 how near we ajiproached, so long as we did so quietly. This caused 

 the hunters to exclaim several times, "If we only had a gun we could 

 kill them all." Under the circumstances itwas'^but natural that the 

 thought of a gun should be upi)ermost in their minds. Early in the 

 spring, both on the Northwest coast and otf the coast of Jajjan, seals are 

 sometimes found which evince little signs of fear, but after (me day's 

 shooting on the ground they become very wild and nustrustful, and, like 

 a crow and some land aninuds, seem to scent a gun in tlie air. 



The following day, July 31, seals were plentiful. The wind being- 

 light during the previous night, our position had changed but little. 



On August 1, at a veiy early hour, the spears were brought Ibrth 

 and the seal on them broken. While this was going on many renuirks 

 were made in regard to the first day's trial. Some of the hunters were 

 already discouraged, and were c(uitident that they were only wasting 

 time by attempting to use spears. The thought of being obliged to 

 adopt the primitive weapon of the Iiulian was indeed humiliating to 

 them. A few on board felt more hopeful and were willing to give the 

 spear a fair trial. ENer since leaving Unalaska the hunters had been 

 practicing at throwing the spear pole. Every piece of floating seaweed 

 or other object which came within range had been a target. On several 

 occasions the boats had been lowered and a supply of chips and small 

 pieces of wood taken along. These were thrown ahead of the boat as 

 targets to throw at. It was soon ibund that an object that could be 

 readily hit at a distance of 2') or .K) feet from the vessel was not so 

 easily reached from a boat, as the smallest wave would cause the latter 

 to move Just enough to make the pole go wide of its mark. A day's 

 practice in throwing from the boats had the effect of teaching the 

 hunters the various ways of holding the spear to make more sure of 

 its hitting the uuuk under the many conditions of sea and wind. All 

 this time spear throwing had been carried on with lifeless objects for a 

 mark. The opportunity was about to present itself of exhibiting skill 

 in throwing at something which, if missed the first time, would not be 

 likely to remain stationary long enough to give the marksnurn another 

 trial. A cool head and steady nerves would be the si)ecial requirements 

 to insure a successful day's hunt should seals be plentiful. 



The first day of August did not jirove a success so far as sealing was 

 concerned, the weather being too foggy to send out the boats. Scatter- 

 ing seals were observed all day, but they were all "travelers"; that is, 

 they were all moving in various directions. Our noon position was lati- 

 tude 50° 11' north, longitude 172'^ 01' west. The next day seals were 

 less numerous. None were observed in the forenoon; in the afternoon 

 12 were seen, of which all but 1 were traveling to the westward. This 

 individual was asleej); a boat was quickly lowered and the hunter on 

 watch was rowed toward it. Before the boat had covered half the dis- 

 tance the seal showed signs of waking and shortly after becoming aware 

 of approaching danger it disappeared. Our noon jiosition on this day 

 was latitude 57° 21' north, longitude 173° 4G' west. Seals here were 

 not so plentiful as they were farther south. In the afternoon we hove 

 to and caught 2 cod in 65 fathoms of water. No more seal life was 



