MAMMALS. 291 



curved dorsal fins were in view most of tJie time, all rising and falling with the swell of the ocean 

 iji perfect unison. The rakish cut of these long fins and the regular motions of the animals, as 

 though they were guided by a single impulse, reminded me of accounts I had read of the fleets of 

 piratical crafts that greeted some of the early navigators among the South Sea Islands. 



I saw many others among the Aleutian Islands during the last of May and first of June. 

 Their abundance there at this time may have been due to the fact that the fur seals upon which 

 they prey were then passing northward in great numbers, In June a few were seen near the Fur 

 Seal Islands. 



Mr. Morton, one of the revenue agents on the Fur Seal Islands, told me that the Killers some- 

 times make a raid upon the seals close to the shore at these islands. On one occasion he was 

 standing on a bluff overlooking the sea when a Killer pursued a seal close inshore. The seal made 

 the most desperate efforts to escape and finally leaped far out of the water only to fall into the 

 jaws of its pursuer as it came down. In a moment the seal had disappeared down the throat of 

 the whale and the latter vanished. 



Although not abundant north of the Fur Seal group, yet these are well known animals to the 

 Eskimo along the coast, from the peninsula of Aliaska to Point Barrow. 



The long hunts made at sea by these people render them familiar with the habits of the Killer 

 and it holds a prominent place in their mythology. Its ferocity and swiftness in pursuit of its 

 prey have produced a strong impression upon the Eskimo mind and they credit it with various 

 supernatural powers and regard it as a close relative of the wolf. 



During the summer of 1881 none of these animals were seen by us north of Bering Straits, 

 but at Point Barrow I found several unmistakable models of them carved from wood among the 

 fetiches of a whale hunter. I also received accounts of it from the Kotzebue Sound Eskimo 

 while at Saint Michaels. 



The dorsal fin of this animal appears to be a very sensitive member, as on one occasion I saw 

 one's fin struck by a rifle-ball, whereupon the whale threw over half its length out of the water and 

 went down head foremost in the midst of a mass of foam. 



Bal^na mtsticetus Linn. Bow head Whale (Esk. A-gho-vuk). 



Biographical notes. — Although the palmy days of the whale-fishery are past, yet the present 

 species still exists in northern waters in sufficient numbers to aflbrd profitable employment for 

 a considerable fleet. The open basin of the Arctic Ocean north of Bering Straits is the maim 

 fishing-ground for this whale within the region covered by this work, although a few are taken' 

 in Bering Straits and just to the south in Bering Sea. These are few in number, however, and. 

 the chase is only followed there incidentally as the vessels go to and from the regular fishing- 

 grounds farther to the north. 



" Brit," as it is called, or the vast numbers of small crustaceans and other small invertebrates 

 which congregate in broad patches and form the food-supply of the Bowhead, is found scattered 

 everywhere in patches over the North' Pacific, but is most abundant along the northern coasts of 

 this ocean. It is found on both sides of the Aleutian Islands, over all of Bering Sea, except the 

 eastern third, and over all of tlie adjacent Arctic basin. The shallow water on the eastern shore 

 of Bering Sea is so filled with sediment and mingled with the fresh water of the rivers emptying 

 therein thut "brit-' is rarely found there, and as a consequence only an occasional stray Bowhead 

 is found. Some whaling for this and other species was formerly done about the Aleutian Islands, 

 but this has ceased long since. 



To-day the whaling-ground of the Nortli Pacific is located along the Kur.le Islands and 

 thence north along the Asiatic shore into Ochotsk Sea. There is no regular whaling-ground in 

 Bering Sea at present, although whales are quite numerous there at times along the Siberian 

 coast. The Arctic basin north of Bering Straits is the center of abundance of the Bowhead in 

 summer at present, and there the whaling-fleet gathers each season. The hunt is usually most 

 productive along the broken edge of the pack-ice or at no great distance therefrom. 



During some seasons these animals are numerous, and the fleet fills up and goes south with 

 a rich booty, and again nearly all the vessels leave the coast lightly loaded after an entire 



