1897-8. I^RANSACTIONS. 65 



idleness. A government agent regulates the amount of goods of 

 various sorts which each may purchase, including provisions 

 and clothing, so that there is no waste. The climate admits 

 of no agricultural pursuit, and the islands being without tim- 

 ber there is no work of any kind upon which the natives can 

 be employed. 



Before entering into a detailed description of the seals 

 and their habits some of the special terms by which they are 

 classified in the islands may be defined. 



The young of the fur-seal are called " pups," the mature 

 females are called "cows," the young male seals between 2 and 

 4 years are known as "bachelors or hoUuschickie," and the 

 mature males as "bulls." The seals when on the islands are 

 divided naturally into two classes, the breeding seals going 

 iipon the rookeries, and the bachelors on the hauling-grounds. 

 Upon the rookeries the mature seals congregate and here the 

 young are born. The hauling-grounds are usually, though 

 not always, close to the rookeries. Here the young male 

 seals are to be found when ashore, and from these hauling- 

 grounds the seals killed on the islands are driven. 



The first bull reaches the islands about May ist and be- 

 tween that time and May 1 5th they come ashore in increasing 

 numbers, by June ist nearly all have arrived and taken up 

 stations on the rookeries — 'from 20 to 50 feet apart on the 

 more crowded rookeries ; at greater distances on the less com- 

 pact ones. During the whole month of May and the first 

 week in June fights between these bulls are frequent, but 

 though sometimes terribly torn they seldom kill one another. 

 From the date of his arrival until the rookeries break up in 

 August the bull seal does not leave his harem. During that 

 time — about three months — he neither eats nor drinks and 

 never sleeps for more than a minute or two at a time. The 

 mature biill weighs between 400 and 600 pounds, the speci- 

 men at the museum of the Geological Survey being about the 

 average size. 



The first cow arrives about the middle of June and the 

 number gradually increases until July 15th when the rooker- 

 ies are said to be at their height, that is there are more cows 

 upon them at that time than at any other. As the cows come 

 ashore they are sometimes caught by waiting bulls and driven 

 or pulled into their harems, but as a general rule the cow goes 

 where she pleases and is very apt to join a harem in which 

 several other cows have already congregated The fur-seal, 



