THE ALASKAX SEA-LION. 365 



course ; ''■' but the natives promptly follow up the laud-turned animal 

 Avitli a rare combination of horrible noises and demoniacal gesticu- 

 lations until the first frenzied spurt and exertions of the terrified 

 creatures so completely exhaust them that they fall panting, gasping, 

 prone upon the earth, extended in spite of their bulk and powerful 

 muscles, helpless, and at the mercy of their cunning captors, who» 

 however, instead of slaying them as they lie, rudely rouse them up 

 again and urge the herd along to the house in which they have been 

 keeping watch during the several days past. 



Here at this point is a curious stage in such proceeding. The na- 

 tives drive up to that " Webster's " house those twenty-five or thirty 

 or forty sea-lions, as the case may be, which they have just captured 

 — they seldom get more at any one time — and keep them in a corral 

 or pen close by the barrabora, on the flattened surface of a sand- 

 ridge, in the following comical manner : When they have huddled tip 

 the "pod," they thrust stakes down around it at intervals of ten to 

 twenty feet, to which strijDS of cotton cloth are fluttei'ing as flags, 

 and a line or two of sinew-rope or thong of hide is strung from 

 pole to pole around the group, making a circular cage, as it were. 

 Within this flimsy circuit the stupid sea-lions are securely impris- 

 oned, and, though they are incessantly watched by two or three 

 men, the whole period of caging and penning which I observed, 

 extending over nine or ten days and nights, passed without a singls 



* The natives appreciate this peculiarity of the sea-lion very keenly, for 

 good and sufficient cause, though none of them have ever been badly injured 

 in driving or " springing the alarm." I camped with them for six successive 

 nights of September, 1872, in order to witness the whole procedure. During 

 the several drives made while I was with them I saw but one exciting inci- 

 dent. Everything went off in an orthodox manner, as described in the text 

 above. The exceptional incident occurred during the first drive of the first 

 night and rendered those natives so cautious that it was not repeated. When 

 the alarm was sprung, old Luka Mandrigan was leading the van, and at that 

 moment down upon him, despite his wildly gesticulating arms and vociferous 

 yelling, came a squad of bull " seevitchie." The native saw instantly that 

 they were pointed for the water, and, in his sound sense, turned to run from 

 under. His tarbosars slipped uj^on a slimy rock awash ; he fell flat as a flounder 

 just as a dozen or more big sea-lions plunged over and on to his prostrate form 

 in the shallow water. In less time than this can be written the heavy pinni- 

 peds had disappeared, while the bullet-like head of old Luka was quickly 

 raised, and he trotted back to us with an alternation of mirth and chagrin in 

 his voice. He was not hurt iu the least. 



