SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 133 



had been cut oft". ISriimerous birds were hovering over the careass and 

 many were feeding on it, but no seals were noticed near at liand. 



On August 'J2 the boats were lowered at an early hour, the weather 

 being similar to that of the (hiy before, with light and gentle winds 

 from the westward. At the time of lowering 4 other vessels were 

 in sight, directly to windwanl. This, of course, placed our boats in a 

 bad position, as a windward berth is superir)r to all others. When 

 following in the wake of other boats only i)Oor results are to be 

 expected, as the windward hunters disturb the sleeping seals. 



At noon a hunter on the Afirics Mi-Di>n((lil, who came on board, 

 reported his vessel as having 1)20 skins, the highest catch for one day 

 having been lioo. and the next highest 180. TJie 2.33 seals were taken 

 on the 15th, and not far from our position on that date. The hunter 

 informed the writer that on the day before he speared a large male 

 just as it came to the surface with a red rocktish in its mouth. The 

 fish was alive, and as it was not at all mutilated it was taken on board 

 and cooked. lie also stated that he speared a sleeping seal close to 

 the floating carcass of a dead one. Indians claim that seals will not 

 remain where carcasses are floating, but this is not always true, for on 

 several occasions we had noticed seals among such objects. 



At 4 p. m. a heavy fog set in, putting an end to further hunting for 

 the day. Forty-four seals comjiosed the catch, 12 being nuiles and 32 

 females. The males were all young bachelors and all the females were 

 in milk except 2, The stomachs of 33 were empty, 11 contained pieces 

 of squid, salmon, pollock, and numerous fish bones. 



In the evening we shaped our <;ourse to north-northeast, and during 

 the night ran 2.3 nnles in order to get near our position of the 21st. In 

 the morning the weather was untit for sealing, and as the day advanced 

 the chances grew less favorable. 



At 10 a. m. we sounded in 90 fathoms, the first time we had been on 

 soundings since leaving [Jnalaska. At 4 p. m. our longitude by obser- 

 vation was 1(58° 0.3' west, latitude at noon .3.3° 28' north, near where 

 the 00 seals had been taken on the 21st. In the evening we were 

 boarded by officers from the revenue cutter Rush. 



On August 24 the weather was too variable to entertain hopes of suc- 

 cess at hunting. A heavy, wet fog in the morning, combined with a 

 moderate breeze and choppy sea, prevented an early start. At 7.30 a. m. 

 a slight clearing caused the canoes to be lowered. The signal gun was 

 kept firing at short intervals until lo o'clock, when the fog entirely 

 cleared. The spell of good weather was of short duration, liowever, 

 for at noon a squall from the north brought all the hunters back. In 

 the short time that the boats were out 21 seals were taken. This was 

 encouraging, for it indicated that we were on good sealing ground. 

 Most of the seals ca])tured were restless, few being sound asleep, or, in 

 sealers' parlance, they did not "lay up" well. The mate came across 

 two seals sleeping side by side, one of which was s]>eared. Instead of 

 the other one becoming alarmed and diving, as is usually the case, it 

 remained near its struggling companion until the latter was hauled 

 into the boat. Tiie food found in the stomachs of the seals to day did 

 not vary much from that recorded in those previously examined in this 

 locality, namely, squid, squid beaks, salmon, i)ollock, and hshbones. 

 The males were comparatively large; the females were all adults and 

 with milk. 



During the night we stood to the westward 50 miles, and then hove to. 



The weather on August 25 prevented sealing, being cold with a fresh 

 breeze from north to north by east, accompanied by a rough sea. The 



