90 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



conibiiiatiou of liorrible uoises and demoniacal gesticulations, 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 huge bulk and powerful muscles, heli)less, and at the mercy of their cunning captors; who, however, 

 instead of slaying them as they lie, rudely rouse them up again, and nrge the herd along to the house, iu which they 

 have been keeping this watch during the several days past. 



The "corbal". — Here, at this point, is a curious stage in the proceedings. The natives drive up to that 

 " Webster's" house the 25 or 30 or 40 sea-lions, as the case may be, which they liave just captured — they seldom get 

 more at any one time — and keep them in a corral or pen right by the barrabbora, ou the flattened surface of a sand- 

 ridge, in the following comical manner: when they have huddled up the "nod", tbey thrust stakes down around 

 it at intervals of 10 to 30 feet, to which strips of cotton cloth arc fluttering 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 imprisoned ; and though they are incessantly watched by two or three men, 

 the whole period of caging and penning which I observed, extendiug over nine or ten days and nights, passed with- 

 out a single eflbrt being made by the '"seevitchie" to break out of their flimsy bonds; and it was passed by these 

 animals not iu stupid quiescence, but iu alert watchfulness; writhing, twisting, turning one upon and over the other. 



By this method of procedure, after the lapse usually of two or three weeks, a succession of favorable nights 

 will have occ^^urred ; and the natives seciu-e their full quota, which, as I have said before, is expressed by a herd 

 of two or three hundred of these animals. 



Pkeparation and method op driving to the village. — The complement filled, the natives prepare 

 to drive their herd back to the village, over the grassy and mossy uplands and inter^-euiug stretches of sand- 

 dune tracts, fully eleven miles, preferring to take the trouble of prodding the clumsy brutes, wayward and 

 obstinate as they are, rather than to pack their heavy hides in and out of boats; making, in this way, each sea-Uon 

 carry its own skin and blubber down to the doors of their houses in the village. If the weather is normally wet 

 and cold, this drive, or caravan of sea-lions, can be di iven to the i)oint of destination in live or six days ; but, should 

 it be dry and warmer than usual, three weeks, and even longer, will elapse before the circuit is traversed. 



When the drive is started the natives gather around the herd on all sides, save the opening which they leave 

 pointing to the direction in which they desire the animals to travel ; and, in this manner they escort and urge the 

 "seevitchie" on to their final resting and slaughter near the village. The young lions and the females being 

 much lighter than the males, less laden with fat or blubber, take the lead; for they travel twice and thrice as easy 

 and as fast as the old males; which, by reason of their immense avoirdupois, are incapable of mo^^ug ahead more 

 than a few rods at a time, when they are completely checked by sheer loss of breath, though the vanguard of the 

 females allures them strongly on ; but, when an old sea-lion feels his wind coming short, he is sure to stop, siUlenly 

 and surlily turning upon the drivers, not to move again until his lungs are clear. 



In this method and manner of conduction the natives stretch the herd out in extended file, or, as a caravan, 

 over the line of march, and, as the old bulls pause to savagely survey the field and catch their breath, showing their 

 wicked teeth, the drivers have to exercise every art and all their ingenuity in arousing them to fresh elibrts. This 

 they do by clapping boards and bones together, firing fusees, and waving flags ; and, of late, and best of all, the 

 blue gingham umbrella repeatedly opened and closed in the face of an old bull has been a more effective starter than 

 all the other known artifices or savage exi)edients of the natives.* 



* The curious behavior of the sea-lions iu the Big lake, when they are en route aiid driven from Novastoshnab to the village, deserves 

 mention. After the drove gets over the sand-dunes and beach between Webster's house and the extreme northeastern head of the 

 lake, a halt is called and the drove "penned" on the bank there; then, when the sea-lions are well rested, they are started up, and 

 pell-mell into the water; two natives, in a bidarka, keep them from turning out from shore into the broad bosom of Meesulkmahnee, while 

 another bidarka paddles in their rear and follows their swift passage right down the eastern shore; in this method of procedure, the 

 drive carries itself nearly two miles by water iu less than twenty minutes from the time the sea-lions are first turned iu, at the north end, 

 to the moment when they are driven out at the southeastern elbow of the Big pond. The shallowness of the water here accounts probably 

 for the strange failure of the sea-lions to regain their liberty, and so retards their swimming as to enable the bidarka, with two men, 

 to keep abreast of their leaders easily, as they plunge ahead ; and, "as one goes, so go all sheep," it is not necessary to pay attention 1o 

 those which straggle behind in the wake; they are stirred up by the second bidarka, and none make the least attempt to diverge from the 

 track which the swifter mark out in advance; if they ditL they could escape "scot-free" in any one of the twenty minutes of this aquatic 

 jiassage. 



By consulting the map of St. Paul, it will be observed that in a direct line between the village and Northeast point there are quite 

 a number of small lakeSj including this large one of Meesulkmahnee; into all of these ponds the sea-lion drove is successively driven; 

 this interposition of fresh water at such frequent intervals serves to shorten the time of the journey fully ten days iu warmish weather, 

 and at least four or five under the best of climatic conditions. 



This track between Webster's house and the village killing-grounds is strewn with the bones of Eumetopias. They will drop in their 

 tracks, now and then, even when carefully driven, from cerebral or spinal congestion principally ; and when they arc hurried the mortality 

 <;« route is very great. The natives when driving them, keep them going day and night alike, but give them frequent resting spells after 

 cvei-y spurt ahead. The old bulls flounder along for a hundred yards or so, then sullenly halt to regain breath, live or ten minutes beiug 

 allowed them, then they are stirred up again, and so ou, hour after hour, until the tedious transit is completed. 



The younger sea-lions, and the cows which are iu the drove, carry themselves easily far ahead of the bulls, and being thus always in 

 the van, serve unconsciously to stimulate and coax the heavy males to travel. Otherwise, I do not believe that a band of old bulls, 

 exclusively, could be driven down over this long road successfully. 



