ALASKA. 141 



to teach tbem this process, as has been affirmed by Tvriters on 

 the subject of seal-life. 



The pups are constantly shifting, at the close of the rutting- 

 season, back and forth over the rookery in large squads, some- 

 times numbering thousands. In the course of these changes 

 of position they all come sooner or later in contact with the sea ; 

 the pup blunders into the water for the first time in a most 

 awkward manner, and gets out again as quick as it can, but so 

 far from showing any fear or dislike of this, its most natural 

 element, as soon as it rests from its exertion, is immediately 

 ready for a new trial, and keeps at it, if the sea is not too 

 stormy or rough at the time, until it becomes quite familiar 

 with the water, and during all this period of self-tuition it 

 seems to thorouglily enjoy the exercise. 



By the 15th of September all the pups have become familiar 

 with the water, have nearly all deserted the background of 

 the rookeries and are down by the water's edge, and skirt the 

 rocks and beaches for long distances on ground previously un- 

 occupied by seals of any class. 



They are now about five or six times their original weight, and 

 are beginning to shed their black hair and take on their second 

 coat, which does not vary at this age between the sexes. They 

 do this very slowlj^, and cannot be called out of molting or 

 shedding until the middle of October, as a rule. 



The pup'S second coat, or sea-going jacket, is a uniform, 

 dense, light pelage, or under-fur, grayish in some, light-brown 

 in others, the fine, close, soft, and elastic hairs which compose 

 it being about one-half of an inch in length, and over-hair, two- 

 thirds of an inch long, quite coarse, giving the color by which 

 you recognize the condition. This over-hair, on the back, neck, 

 and head, is a dark chinchilla-gray, blending into a white, just 

 tinged with a grayish tone on the abdomen and chest. The 

 upper lip, where the whiskers or mustache takes root, is of a 

 lighter-gray tone than that which surrounds. This mustache 

 consists of fifteen or twenty longer or shorter whitish-gray 

 bristles (one-half to three inches) on each side and back of the 

 nostrils, which are, as I have before said, similar to that of a 

 dog. 



The most attractive feature about the fur-seal pup, and up- 

 ward as it grows, is the eye, which is exceedingly large, dark, 

 and liquid, with which, for beauty and amiability, together with 



