232 OFFICIAL REPORTS. 



speed at which seals travel on other parts of the route, they being five 

 months and a half from January 1st to until June loth making the re- 

 turn trip from the coast of California to the Aleutian Island passes 

 following the coast line which increases the distance about one-third — 

 it is evident that the seal herd after leaving the passes makes its way 

 to the coast of the Pacific States without unnecessary delay. The part 

 of the herd which first goes out through the passes takes a more south- 

 erly route than those that go later. But a small part of 

 Migration routes, the entire herd goes to the coasts of California and Ore- 

 gon. Many seals reach the coast further north, some 

 of those coming out through the passes last going no doubt direct to 

 the coast of Washington and even further north. 



In 1886 during a passage in the United States revenue steamer Busk 

 from Puget Souud to Unalaska, where we arrived on the 19th of Janu- 

 ary, I saw fur-seals nearly every day — the vessel having passed through 

 the herd then on its migration from the passes to the coast and extend- 

 ing entirely across the Pacific Ocean. The time of the appearance of 

 the fur-seal herd off the coast of the Pacific States differs slightly with 

 different seasons, but as I learned during my investiga- 

 co?st r c d oi a n r cidentiy tions last spring, and as I have already reported, coin- 

 witii certain classes of cides with the arrival of smelts, herring, and eulachon, 

 which each spring come into the rivers in large num- 

 bers to spawn. If the fish come into the rivers unusually early the 

 seals appear off the coast correspondingly early; if the fish are late the 

 seals are also late. That the seals must find fishing banks on the route 

 does not follow: the supply of surface fishes, squid, etc., appears to be 

 ainple for their wants. Both in Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean dur- 

 ing our summer investigation we found herds of seals with their stom- 

 achs well filled in nearly two thousand fathoms of water. 

 In relation to the way seals travel, whether singly or in bands, the 

 natives all agree that they travel singly or in small 

 ^Manner of travel- bands never exceeding five or six and generally by 



twos and threes. 



One intelligent native, in answer to the question, said: "Seals travel 



like people, sometimes one goes alone and sometimes with another." 



Systematic observations of the movements of the seals in the Pacific 



Ocean, near the passes, at this season of the year is 



passed ^practicable impracticable. Almost constant gales and thick weath- 



in winter. er p rev ail. In the influence of the strong current 



through the passes the sea is very rough, and even were it possible for 



a vessel to remain there, few, if any, seals would be seen. Under such 



circumstances the seals travel very fast and remain under water except 



when forced to come to the surface to breathe, and then only the nose 



is protruded above the water for a moment. In bad weather on the 



sealing grounds in the Pacific and Bering Sea the seals disappear so 



entirely that the Indian seal hunters (erroneously) believe they go to 



the bottom and remain there until the weather becomes better. 



Having previously observed the seals over the entire route, and over 



a large portion of it many times, I am able to state 



Seals do not travel positively that in no part of it do they travel in bands. 



Leaving San Francisco in March of the present year, 



I followed the seals along the coast northward to the Alaskan Gulf, 



making careful observations of their habits, etc. ; subsequently and while 



the seals were still moving towards the passes, I went several times 



over their track between the Alaskan Gulf and the passes. I spent 



