REPORT OF LIEUT. MAYNARD, 1874. 281 



tion is that of driving the seals from the hauling to the killing grounds. 

 The latter are near the salt-houses, which are built at points most 

 convenient for shipping skins, and all the killing is done upon them, 

 in order not to disturb the other seals, and to save the labor of 

 carrying the skins. The seals suitable for killing (which are the young 

 males from two to six years old) are readily collected into droves upon 

 the hunting grounds by getting between them and the water, and are 

 driven as easily as a flock of sheep. They move in clumsy gallop, 

 their bellies being raised entirely from the ground, upon their flippers, 

 which gives them, when in motion, the appearance of bears. They are 

 sometimes called " sea bears " on account of this resemblance. In driv- 

 ing them care is taken not to hurry them, for, if driven too fast, they 

 crowd together and injure the skins by biting each other, and also 

 become overheated and exhausted. They are driven from one-half mile 

 to five miles in from three to thirty-six hours, according to the location 

 of the hauling grounds. After reaching the killing grounds they are 

 allowed to rest and cool for several hours, particularly if the drive has 

 been a long one. The drives vary in number from five hundred to as 

 many thousand, as there happen to be few or many seals upon the 

 hauling ground where the drive is made. In each drive there are 

 some seals that are either so large or so small that their skins are not 

 desirable, and sometimes a few females are driven up; not often, how- 

 ever, as they seldom stray from the rookeries. All such are singled 

 out and permitted to escape to the water. 



The killing is done with a blow on the head by a stout club, which 

 crushes the skull, after which the skins are taken off and carried into 

 the salt-houses. During the first half of the month of June from five to 

 eight per cent of the seals in the drive are turned away, being either too 

 small or too large, and from ten to twelve per cent during the latter half. 

 In July the percentage is still greater, being about forty per cent for the 

 first and from sixty to seventy-five per cent for the latter half. About 

 one-half the seals killed are about three years old, one-fourth four, and 

 the remainder two, five, and six. No yearlings have been killed up to 

 the present time, though allowed by the lease, as their skins are too 

 small to be salable in the present state of the trade, but by some trade [sic] 

 in it they may become desirable in the future and would then be taken, 

 This would injure the fisheries, because the yearlings of both sexes 

 haul together, and it would be almost impossible to separate them so as 

 to kill only the males. There has been a waste in taking the skins, due 

 partly to the inexperience of the company's agent, and partly to acci- 

 dent and the carelessness of the natives. In making the drive, partic- 

 ularly if they are long on, [sic] and the sun happens to pierce through the 

 fog, some of the seals become exhausted and die at such a distance 

 from the salt-houses that their skins cannot well be carried to them by 

 hand, and are therefore left upon the bodies. This was remedied dur- 

 ing the last killing season by having a horse and cart to follow the 

 drive and collect such skins. Some skins have also been lost by killing 

 more seals at a time than the force of men employed could take care of 

 properly. Good judgment and constant care are required in taking 

 the skins, as fifteen minutes' exposure to the sun will spoil them by 

 loosening the fur. 



Another source of waste is by cutting the skins in taking them off 

 in such a manner as to ruin them. It was very difficult at first to in- 

 duce the natives to use their knives carefully, and several hundred 

 skins were lost in a season by careless skinning ; but by refusing to ac- 

 cept and pay for badly cut skins the number has been greatly reduced, 



