128 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
alive; others are rendered impotent which are yet able to fill the rookeries with pups. 
The whole matter is too absurd for serious consideration, and might be passed by 
with the silent contempt it deserves were it not for the fact that it was accepted 
by the British commissioners in 1891 and made the chief foundation of the British 
contention before the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration. 
In view of this fact, it has seemed necessary to give more attention to the theory 
than it deserves. 
THE DRIVES AND DRIVEWAYS. 
As other effects than those contemplated by Mr. Elliott’s theory, for example, the 
driving of the animals away from their breeding haunts, the stampeding of the 
breeding rookeries, etc., have been associated with the methods of handling the seals 
on land, it will be useful for us to consider the subject in detail as it came under our 
observation during the past two seasons. We have already given an account of the 
process of driving. 
At the outset it is well to contrast the driving of the present time with that of 
the past. 
THE RUSSIAN DRIVES. 
In the early Russian days the drives were all long and tedious. On St. Paul, 
everything was brought to the village, at the extreme southern end of the island. 
Thus the seals from Northeast Point had to travel a distance of about 12 miles; those 
from Polovina and Zapadni, respectively, 5 and 6 miles. On St. George Island the 
seals were driven over the rocky ridge from Zapadni, a distance of about 6 miles, 
Days and nights were occupied in these long drives. The seals were allowed to 
take their own time, resting frequently, the natives watching and guarding them in 
relays. Of the time taken by the drives from Northeast Point in the Russian days 
we have no record, but in the year 1888, in January, according to the log of St. Paul 
Island,' a food drive of 500 seals was made to the village from this point, and it 
gives us some idea of what such a drive meant. 
THE DRIVE FROM NORTHEAST POINT. 
The seals were driven in in two sections, the time on the road being, respectively, 
eighty-two and one hundred hours. No deaths are reported to have occurred. The 
instructions to the men were to be “careful and go slow, if it took a week, and to kill 
and bring in all that perished on the way.” The seals are reported as arriving in 
good condition. Drives of sea lions have in recent years also been brought from 
Northeast Point to the village. 
THE AMERICAN DRIVES. 
Under American control the long drives were done away with. Salt houses were 
established at Northeast Point, at Polovina, at Zapadni of St. Paul, and one had 
already been established at Zapadni of St. George in 1868. The seals on these 
rookeries are to-day killed near the hauling grounds, and their skins are salted and 
cared for there. From Northeast Point the skins are loaded directly ou the vessel. 
From Zapadni of St. George they are packed across the island by the natives on their 
backs. 
1 See extracts from the log, Pt. II, date of January 20, 1888. 
