AMPHIBIAN MILLIONS. 335 



I was also impressed by the singular docility and amiability of 

 these animals when driven along the road. They never show fight 

 any more than a flock of sheep would do ; if, however, a few old 

 seals get mixed in, they usually grow so weary that they prefer to 

 come to a stand-still and fight rather than move ; otherwise no 

 sign whatever of resistance is made by the drove from the moment 

 it is intercepted, and turned up from the hauling-grounds, to the 

 time of its destruction at the hands of the sealing-gang. 



This disposition of the old seals to fight rather than endure the 

 panting torture of travel, is of great advantage to all parties con- 

 cerned, for they are worthless commercially, and the natives are 

 only too glad to let them drop behind, where they remain unmo- 

 lested, eventually returning to the sea. The fur on them is of lit- 

 tle or no value ; their under- wool being very much shorter, coarser, 

 and more scant than in the younger ; especially so on the posterior 

 parts along the median line of the back. 



This change for the worse or deterioration of the pelage of the 



disturb these animals as to prevent their coming to any extent again thereon, 

 during the rest of the season. This theory seemed rational enough to me at 

 the beginning of my investigations, and I was not disposed to question its 

 accuracy ; but subseqent observation directed to this point particularly satis- 

 fied me, and the sealers themselves with whom I was associated, that the driv- 

 ing of the seals had no effect whatever iipon the hauling which took place 

 soon or immediately after the field, for the hour, had been swept clean of seals 

 by the drivers. If the weather was favorable for landing, i.e., cool, moist, 

 and foggy, the fresh hauling of the "holluschickie '' woxild cover the bare 

 grounds again in a very short space of time : sometimes in a few hours after the 

 driving of every seal from Zoltoi sands over to the killing-fields adjacent, those 

 dunes and the beach in question would be swarming anew with fresh arrivals. 

 If, however, the weather is abnormally warm and sunny, during its prevalence, 

 even if for several consecutive days, no seals to speak of will haul out on the 

 emptied space ; indeed, if these "holluschickie " had not been taken away by 

 man from Zoltoi or any other hauling-ground on the islands when " tayopli " 

 weather prevailed, most of those seals would have vacated their terrestrial 

 loafing places for the cooler embraces of the sea. 



The importance of clearly understanding this fact as to the readiness of 

 the "holluschickie" to haul promptly out on steadily "swept" ground, pro- 

 vided the weather is inviting, is very great ; because, when not understood, it 

 was deemed necessary, even as late as the season of 1872, to "rest" the 

 hauling-grounds near the village (from which all the driving has been 

 made since), and make trips to far-away Polavina and distant Zapadnie — an 

 unnecessary expenditure of human time, and a causeless infliction of physical 

 misery upon phocine backs and flippers. 



