72 TESTIMONY 



stantly bleating. The pup, however, seems to make no distinction 

 between the cows, entleavoring- to nurse from any which come near it. 

 Then, too, a pup is not weaued till it is four or more months old, 



depending entirely on its mother for sustenance. For 

 land^ainma?^ ^"^^ '^ *^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ eight weclis of its life a pup is a land 



animal, having a coarse hair, but no fur. This coarse 

 hair is shed before the fur appears. A pup is also unable to swim, and 

 I have seen pups thrown in the water w^ien their heads would imme- 

 diately go under and they would inevitably drown if not rescued. 



There is no doubt that a seal born in the water would 

 ^^Peiagic birth impos- j^^ ^^^^ perish. Another point that shows a pup is a 



land animal during the first weeks of its existence is 

 that it uses its hind iiippers as feet, running on them in much the same 

 manner as other land animals, while a seal that has learned to swim 

 drags his hind flippers, using his front flippers to pull himself along. 

 While on the islands I observed with great care the manner of driving 

 . ^ dkiir ^ ^^^^ handling the young male seals allowed by law to 

 nnng an i ing. -^^ jiJUed for their skins, and I am convinced the meth- 

 ods now in use on the islands can not be improved upon, and especially 

 because all the driving is done by the natives, who from generation to 

 geueration have nmde this their only business, being trained up to it 

 from boyhood. Every precaution is taken in driving not to overheat or 

 weary the seals, frequent rests being had, and a "drive" never being 

 undertaken when the sun was shining; if the sun came out unexi)ect- 

 edly during a "drive," the animals were at once allowed to return to the 



water. No female is ever killed, and it is very seldom 

 kiued!''^''^ never a female is drivcu. Veryfew seals die during a "drive," 



amounting to a very small fraction of 1 per cent of 

 those driven, and in nine cases out often of those accidentally killed in 

 this way the skins are saved. I never saw or heard of a seal being in- 

 jured seriously by driving or redriving. I have seen the hind flippers in 

 a few instances a little sore, but never in all my experience have I seen 

 an old sore on a seal. I am positive the reproductive organs of every 

 one of the hundreds of thousands of seals I have seen driven were un- 

 injui^ed by their movements on land, and I am further convinced this 

 must be so from the fact that a seal when moving on land raises himself 

 slightly on the hind flippers, so that his reproductive organs are clear 

 drivin ^^ ^^^ ground. Even if a seal was driven twelve suc- 



e riviDg. cessive days for the average distance between a hauling 



ground and a killing ground, I do not believe its vmlity would be at all 

 impaired. 



While I was on the islands I am convinced that the propagation of 

 seal life was never affected in the slightest degree by redriving or 

 overdriving. The killing grounds were near the water, so that the 



seals let go from tlie killing could easily return to that 

 grounds!"" °^ ^'^^^ element, and these killing grounds were established as 



near the hauling grounds as it was possible to do, 

 without having the odor from the carcasses disturb the breeding seals. 

 Teams and boats were also used to transport the skins to the salt 

 houses, so tliat the killing grounds could be located much nearer the 

 hauling grounds than before this means of transportation was provided. 



There were only, as I recollect, four raids on the islands 



while I was there ; but little or no damage was done, 

 and seal life was not iperceptibly affected by such maurauding. I 

 believe, to avoid certain extermination of the Pribilof seal herd in the 



