WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 207 



got off from the ships. There is no harbor on either of these 

 islands, and vessels lie out in the roadstead, so far from land that 

 those pests do not venture to swim to the shore. Mice were long 

 ago brought to shore in ships' cargoes, and they are a great nui- 

 sance to the white people as well as the natives throughout the 

 islands. Hence cats also are abundant. Nowhere, perhaps, in the 

 wide world are such cats to be seen as these. The tabby of our 

 acqviaintance, when she goes up there and lives upon the seal-meat 

 spread everywhere under her nose, is metamorphosed, by time of 

 the second generation, into a stubby feline ball. In other words, 

 she becomes thickened, short, and loses part of the normal length 

 of her tail ; also her voice is prolonged and resonant far beyond the 

 misery which she inflicts upon our ears here. These cats actually 

 swarm about the natives' houses, never in them much, for only a 

 tithe of their whole number can be made pets of ; but they do make 

 night hideous beyond all description. They repair for shelter often 

 to the chinks of precipices and bluffs ; but although not exactly 

 wild, yet they cannot be approached or cajoled. The natives, when 

 their sluggish wits are periodically aroused and thoroughly dis- 

 turbed by the volume of cat-calls in their village, sally out and by a 

 vigorous effort abate the nuisance for the time being. Only the 

 most fiendish caterwauling will or can arouse this Aleutian ire. 



On account of the severe climatic conditions it is, of course, im- 

 practicable to keep stock here with any profit or pleasure. The 

 experiment has been tried faithfully. It is found best to bring 

 beef-cattle up in the spring on the steamer, tuim them out to past- 

 ure until the close of the season in October and November, and 

 then, if the snow comes, to kill them and keep the carcasses refrig- 

 erated until consumed. Stock cannot be profitably raised here ; the 

 proportion of severe weather annually is too great. From three to 

 perhaps six months of every year they require feeding and water- 

 ing, with good shelter. To furnish an animal with hay and grain 

 up there is a costly matter, and the dampness of the growing sum- 

 mer season on both islands renders hay-making impracticable. 

 Perhaps a few head of hardy Siberian cattle might pick up a living 

 on the north shore of St. Paul, among the grasses and sand-dunes 

 there, with nothing more than shelter and water given them ; but 

 they would need both of these attentions. Then the care of them 

 would hardly return expenses, as the entire grazing-ground could 

 not support any number of animals. It is less than two square 



