RELATING TO PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 55 



June, or as soon as the' seals arrive tliereafter, it is customary for the 

 superintendent to ascertain the day before a drive is to be made where 

 the killable seals lie, and to instruct the chief in the evening in regard 

 to the work for th.c following day. 



At daybreak, about 1 or 2 o'clo(;k in the moriung, the chief calls a 

 sufiticient number of men, usually from six to twelve, and leads them 

 to the designated beach. They approach the hauling ground as 

 noiselessly as ])ossible, keeping to the leeward of the seals until a point 

 is reached wlicnce the " run" is to be made, when, at the word, all move 

 at the top of their speed along the edge of the surf and take intervals, 

 like a skirmish line of soldiers, between the seals and the water, at 

 the same time making such demonstrations by swinging the arms, 

 flourishing caps and coats, or beating bones or sticks together as to 

 alarm the animals and cause them to rush inland. The drove is 

 quickly collected and brought together in one mass. When it has 

 moved a short distance from the water it becomes perfectly manageable 

 and is then divided into detachments of 500 to 1,000 seals; each detach- 

 ment is placed by the chief in charge of a trusty man, who, aided by 

 two assistants, one on each flank and himself in the rear, brings his 

 drove along toAvards the killing grounds at a si)eed varying from a 

 few rods to a nule an hour, in accordance as the 

 weather may be hot and dry or moist and cool. If the ^^"'"^ '"^ ^"'''°«- 

 chief is eftitdent and properly instructed, the seals are at the killing- 

 ground by 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning, and are given an hour or two 

 to rest and cool before the gang turns out after breakfast for the day's 

 work. 



The longest drive made during recent years is that from English Bay 

 to the village on St. Paul Island, about 2^ miles. 

 Formerly it w^as customary to drive from Halfway cent" yfara'^''''' '" '^"' 

 Point and Southwest Bay to the village grounds, but 

 it w^as found to be less trying to the seals and better economy of labor 

 to kill nearer to these rookeries. Mule teams and boats on St. Paul 

 and pack animals on St. George w^ere accordingly supplied several years 

 ago for transporting the skins from these more distant points, and the 

 killing has since been conducted as near the rookeries as practicable. 



In driving, advantage is taken of every snowbank, small lake, or 

 stretch of marshy ground to rest and cool the drove; 

 and if very hot and dry or the sun breaks out, it is I'^'^'^'^^t'o'^^ t^^en. 

 kept in a cool place until the conditions change. Sometimes the prac- 

 tice of driving the seals in the afternoon and evening of the day before 

 they are to be Ivilled has been followed. In this case one herdsman 

 through the night is sufficient to prevent their escaping. 



The fur-seals do not travel on the land with that ease of locomotion 

 characteristic of purely land animals, but on the other ^ .... 



, T . 1 -j-i j_ j:- 1 1 -j-i Locomotiou of fur- 



hand, they move witli great freedom compared with seals. 



otlier species of seals. Their entbrced action on the 



drive is, as a rule, but little more violent than they voluntarily take 



ui)on the rookeries when moving uj) and down the sloi)es and playing 



\yit\\ each other. 



Tliere arc generally in each drive a few "bulls, full grown or nearly so, 

 too large for killing, and occasionally a dwarf or sickly ^^^^^ ^^^^ females 

 seal and rarely a female, all of which are segregated exciudo/"from""tii6 

 from the mass as soon as possible and left behind to *^^'"'^''*- 

 find their way back to the wat(a\ Much depends in driving ui)on the 

 good judgment of the man in charge as to when and how long they 

 should be allowed to rest, ami in keei)ing the herd spread out so as to 



