116 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



and the time of starting", a fair afternoon's work was done, 19 seals 

 beings landed on deck by 8.30 p. ni. Fifteen of the number were females 

 and 4: males. Only G Lad f(;od in their stomachs. Every hunter 

 reported seals numerous, about Lalf of the number being asleep. 

 They slept in bunches of 6 and 8, and when aroused from their slum- 

 ber were very tame, but owing to the inexperience of the hunters with 

 spears in a comparatively rough sea, the successful throws were few 

 and far between. Had the hunters been i)rovided with shotguns, 

 instead of si>ears, it is safe to say that a hundred or more seals would 

 have been nearer the day's catch. ]>uring the absence of the boats a 

 large number ot traveling seals had been seen from the vessel, and also 

 an occasional '' sleeper." One of the latter was observed close aboard 

 a little on our lee. It evidently was sleeping soundly, for neither the 

 slatting of the sails nor the blowing of the fog horn had the effect of 

 awakening it, and it was only when the scent of the vessel reached it that 

 it showed signs of lile. After being fully aroused it did not exhibit any 

 great signs of alarm, but played about iu)t far off lor sometime. It 

 seldom happens that a seal will show t>uch inditference to its surround- 

 ings as this one. The captain and mate said they had never in all their 

 experience seen a seal so tame. The general opinion on board was that 

 it was due to there being no firearms used or hunting allowed in Bering 

 Sea for the past few years that caused the seals thus far observed to 

 show so little fear ot man. 



The largest catch during any one day was taken on August 7. The 

 day commenced witli a gentle breeze from the south and a smooth sea. 

 A light fog hung low over the water, which prevented the boats from 

 being seen more than 20 yards. At 8 a. m. the last boat shoved off, and 

 they did not appear again until evening. The noon position of the 

 vessel was latitude 58^ 30' north, longitude 173° 50' west. In the 

 forenoon hand-line fishing was carried on. The depth of water here was 

 60 fathoms. Six good-sized cod were caught in quick succession; 2 

 males and 4 females. Their stomachs were well filled with food. In 

 the stomach of a large female was found an octopus which had recently 

 been swallowed, as its skin showed no discoloration. Cod were abun- 

 dant, and we could have filled the decks in a day's fishing with a single 

 line. Their abundance may have been the cause of seals being plen- 

 tiful in this region. In the evening the boats all returned nearly at the 

 same time, bringing in 34 seals, 30 of which were females. Twenty- 

 four of the number had food in their stomachs. The material, how- 

 ever, was finely masticated and hard to identify, but a portion of it 

 looked very much like the flesh of cod. If this supposition is correct, 

 the question arises. Did the seals dive to the bottom in 00 fathoms and 

 bring their prey to the surface? As a rule cod are found very close to 

 the bottom, especially in deep w^ater, and it is not probable that they 

 were at or near the surface here. The most satisfactory evidence the 

 writer ever had that seals are deep divers was obtained two years ago 

 on the Fairweather Ground, a large bank off the coastof Alaska, while 

 on a cruise in the revenue cutter Coricin. We were about to return to 

 the ship, at the end of a successful afternoon's hunt, when a large male 

 seal suddenly came up close to our canoe — not over 30 feet away — with 

 a very large red rocktish in its mouth, which it immediately proceeded 

 to devour. The fish was alive, and could plainly be seen struggling in 

 the seal's mouth. Our position at the time was some 75 or 80 miles off- 

 shore from Takutat Bay. We had no means of ascertaining the depth 

 of water, but it could not have been much less than 100 fathoms. The 

 red rockfish, like the cod, also generally swims close to the bottom, 



