330 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



latitudes, which are ahnost strangers and are really vinknown to the 

 waters of Bering Sea ; for I did not observe, with the exception of 

 ten or twelve j)erhaps, certainly no more, killer-whales, a single 

 marine disturbance, or molestation, during the three seasons which 

 I passed ujDon the islands, that could be regarded in the slightest 

 degree inimical to the peace and life of the Pinnipedia ; and thus, 

 from my observation, I am led to believe that it is not until they 

 descend well to the south of the Aleutian Islands, and in the North 

 Pacific, that they meet with sharks to anj^ extent, and are dimin- 

 ished by the butchery of the killer whales. 



But I did observe a very striking exhibition, however, of this 

 character one afternoon while looking over Lukannon Bay. I saw 

 a "killer" chasing the alert " holluschickie " out beyond the break- 

 ers, when suddenly, in an instant, the cruel cetacean was turned 

 toward the beach in hot pursuit, and in less time than this is read 

 the ugly brute was high and dry upon the sands. The natives 

 were called, and a gi'eat feast was in prospect when I left the car- 

 cass. 



But this was the only instance of the orca in pursuit of seals 

 that came directly under my observation ; hence, though it does 

 undoubtedly capture a few here every year, yet it is an insignifi- 

 cant cause of destruction, on account of its rarity. 



The young fur-seals going out to sea for the first time, and fol- 

 lowing in the wake of their elders, are the clums}^ members of the 

 family. When they go to sleep on the surface of the water, they 

 rest much sounder than the others ; and their alert and wary na- 

 ture, which is handsoniely developed ere thej' are two seasons old, 

 is in its infancy. Hence, I believe that vast numbers of them are 

 easily captured by marine foes, as they are stupidly sleeping, or 

 awkwardlj'' fishing. 



I must not be understood as sajang that fish alone constitute the 

 diet of the Pribylov pinnipeds ; I know that they feed, to a limited 



seal, in following them into tlie depths of the great Pacific, must have a really 

 arduous struggle for existence — unless it knows of fishing-banks unknown to 

 us. The yearlings, however, and all above that age, are endowed with suffi- 

 cient muscular energy to diye rapidly in deep soundings, and to fish with un- 

 doubted success. The pup, however, when it goes to sea, five or six months 

 old, is not lithe and sinewy like the yearling ; it is podgy and fat, a compara- 

 tively clumsy swimmer, and does not develop, I believe, into a good fisherman 

 until it has become pretty well starved after leaving the Pribylovs. 



