STARVED AND STAKVING PUPS. 491 



KITOVI. 



The little branded pup belonging to Kitovi Amphitheater is not there this morn- 

 ing. One of the triple-brand pups is playing among the single-brand pups farther 

 down on Kitovi. Many of the single brand pups are about, none of them showing 

 inconvenience on account of their burns. For purpose of identification the single 

 brand is quite effective. 



There are a very large number of bachelors just below the rocks at Kitovi Point, 

 which serves as a photographic station. These must be bachelors from Lukanin. 

 None were here during the season and none have been on Lukanin hauling ground 

 since the first branding was done there on the 2d of September. 



One of the triple-brand pups is on the reef jutting out into Kitovi Bay, where 

 they have been seen several times before. The usual number of pups are under the 

 cliff at the head of Black Bluff. 



Going over to Lukanin this morning two killers were seen in the bay off" Point 

 Warehouse. They were probably feeding on the pups swimming in the water. The 

 intense stupidity of the seal is never better illustrated than in connection with the 

 killer. They apparently show no alarm; or when they show evidence of seeing their 

 enemies, they sitnply stand up in the water and look. 



The high wind and surf of the past few days have quieted down. There seems 

 no good reason why we should not see a cutter if it is the bad weather that has kept 

 them away. No vessel of any kind has touched here since the departure of the Rush 

 on September 8. We will be ready to leave here by the 1st or 2d; but who knows 

 that we can do so? 



SEPTEMBER 28. 



The count of dead pups was begun this morning on Zapadni, completing Inner 

 Zapadni, Zapadni Keef, and Tolstoi during the day. We went over in the morning 

 by boats and had the boats pick us up on our return at Tolstoi head. 



COUNT OF STARVED PUPS. 



Colonel Murray and Mr. Barrett- Hamilton with two natives went in advance and 

 turned all the seals into the water, making as complete a count as possible of pups 

 evidently starving and sure to die. It soon became evident that this count could not 

 be made accurate or in any sense complete. But there are a number of pups which 

 are very thin and which will probably be dead within a week. The count will catch 

 most of these and will therefore strengthen the count of dead ones. There are no 

 intermediate pups now or pups beginning to starve. There has been practically no 

 sealing weather since September 8. The pups, therefore, show only two classes — those 

 in good condition, well fed, and those so thin and weak that they can scarcely walk. 



ZAPADNI. 



In order to make the count of dead as nearly absolutely correct as possible a force 



of natives was taken along. Four men in two pairs, each with a long fish line, laid 



the rookery off in narrow spaces. The pups within one space of 20 feet were counted, 



and while the advance line remained stationary the other was carried forward to 



1.5184, PT 2 ^16 



