THE BRANDED PUPS. 489 



SEPTEMBER 26. 



The wind has somewhat abated, but the surf is still very high. 



I walked to Poloviiia this afternoon to see this rookery, and determine, if possible, 

 whether it will be advisable to begin counting on Monday morning, the 28th. The 

 result of observations on Reef, Zapadni, Tolstoi, and Kitovi and Lukanin seems to be 

 that there are few pups to die within the next week. 



On the way to Polovina I counted 14 dead pups, most of them about the shore of 

 Lukanin Bay, beginning at the angle of the hauling ground to the west. These have 

 been washed up in the gale of the past few days. 



BRANDED PUPS. 



Among those at Lukanin Bay were two of the triple-branded pups. One of 

 them seems to have been dead for some time, perhaps a week. The other was very 

 fresh. Beside the second one is a very large, fat pup. They are all washed up above 

 high-water mark, showing that they were brought in by the high surf of the past 

 few days. 



I cut open the 2 fresh pups. Their lungs are deeply congested, but no other 

 injury is visible. They were probably drowned. Both pups were unusually fat. The 

 branded pup had nothing whatever in his stomach. The other had his stomach full 

 of milk. The second branded pup was too far gone to permit of examination. It may 

 have starved. 



The branded pup examined gave an opportunity to study the effect of branding 

 at close range. Every particle of the surface touched by the brand was of the color of 

 cured ham. There is no trace of break in the skin. I cut into the marks and found 

 the wound affecting only the outer skin. Not a trace of pus was in the wound. The 

 inflamed backs noticed on the branded pups are evidently not so serious as they seem 

 at long range. The salt water keeps the wound free from pus and probably in the 

 end helps its healing. It is now seventeen days since the branding was done and it 

 would seem that the wound should be healed by this time. 



POLOVINA. 



In the heavy surf from Stony Point, at intervals, lone pups were to be seen 

 swimming. At Polovina the seals are found drawn far back from the original rookery 

 ground, fully 2Q0 feet from shore. There are about 25 or 30 pups under the 4-agged 

 rocks at the angle of the hauling ground. The whole sloping basin above is empty. 

 There are 5 large gray pups which will be dead in a day or two. I also see 4 

 black pups in the same condition. They are late pups. One of the gray starving 

 pups is blind and lies perched on a stone. When' touched it rolls off the stoiie with a 

 piteous wail, doubly helpless in its hunger and blindness. The pups back in the main 

 body of the seals are large, liealthy, and an unusually large number are gray; or it 

 may be that the pups are turning gray faster now than before. 



There are still here, as elsewhere, many large black pups apparently as old as 

 any. A very heavy surf is breaking over the low reef off Polovina. 



The tide is low and the rocks should naturally be bare, but a swift current of 

 water about a foot deep is flowing over. The pups, cut off by the cliff", try to pass 

 around along the beach above. They persistently strike out into the heavy surf off 



