338 THE FUR SEALS OP THE PEIBILOF ISLANDS. 



of the lot from which Professor Thompson took skulls. One is fresh enough to skin. 

 One dead female far seal with unborn pup has been washed up with them. On 

 examination she is found to have been shot through the back. Six young sea lions, 

 1 yearling male seal, and 4 seal pups have been washed up at the south end of the 

 beach. Nine more dead sea-lion pups are counted; 2 or 3 have starved to death, 

 the rest drowned. The starved pups can be distinguished by the absence of 

 fat. They are the only ones not too rotten to examine. There are 5 more dead pups by 

 this sea-lion rookery, big enough now to swim well. The sea-lion pups learn to swim 

 in the great rollers. About 20 young ones are bleating "b-a-a-a," not "b-a-^-4" like 

 the seals. Finally the whole rookery stampedes to the sea. The male sea lion is four 

 times the size of the female. His girth about the shoulders is enormous. He has a 

 face like that of a St. Bernard dog. He seems more gentle but less quick than the 

 bull seal and has vastly greater strength. 



A stampede of sea lions is worse than one of seals, but they do not get away so 

 quickly. The whole herd, large and small, is now in the sea together, roaring, 

 leaping dolphin-fashion, quite like the seals, the young not so well. They open the 

 mouth very wide when bellowing. Their mouths larger than those of seals; jaws and 

 teeth stronger. The natives save the large intestines of the sea lion to make water- 

 tight uppers for their shoes. The sea lions go south in the winter. Their pups are 

 born earlier than the seal pups, in the latter part of May. 



Natives say that the sea lions fight much worse than bull seals. Ten to 20 cows 

 each is the size of the harems, and they have the same general habits as the fur seals. 

 In their fights they cut gashes in each other a foot long. The sea-lion bulls are said 

 to go away after the middle of July. They have not gone yet. 



THE SHOT SEAL. 



A fresh cow floated in today on the beach below Sea Lion Neck and was skinned 

 by the guard. She had been lately killed by buckshot, there being bloody shot holes 

 in the neck. Evidently pirates are already abroad. The carcass was examined and 

 the cow found to be lean and in milk, but not much milk evident. She seemed to be 

 an old cow, from what I could tell by the ovaries, which were somewhat injured by 

 the rude dissection of the skinner. I find shot holes through the oesophagus, in one 

 side and out the other; also a shot hole through the glottis and one in the pericardium. 

 The heart was full of clotted blood. The stomach was empty. The flesh was 

 perfectly fresh, not more than a day or so dead. The cow died near the shore and 

 was washed up on the beach. She was perhaps shot at some distance away and 

 became worn out by long swimming. The skin was salted and taken in evidence of 

 poaching in July from some quarter. 



JULY 25. 



Mr. Clark, Mr. Lucas, and Professor Thompson witnessed the killing on the vil- 

 lage grounds. Dr. Jordan returned from Northeast Point. Mr. Macoun photographed 

 Kitovi and Lukanin rookeries. In the afternoon Mr. Lucas and Professor Thompson 

 visited Tolstoi. 



Weather was foggy in the forenoon with occasional glimpses of the sun; 

 westerly winds; thermometer 44; barometer 30.62. 



