220 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



complete the comparison and strengthen the picture, it is therefore interesting to 

 append his notes of his experience August 25, 1896, which are to the following effect: 



The drive [from Palata, Glinka, Copper Island] ascends from the parade ground on the top of the 

 land spit. This was formerly occupied by bachelors, but there are no separate droves of bachelors 

 now ; they are scattered in little clumps about and between the rookeries. 



The drive then goes up about 100 feet of grassy cliff, so steep that steps have been dug; then 

 follows some 700 feet of irregular but very steep slope, in which the easiest depressions are sought, 

 though it is everywhere about as steep as a man can climb, and one who goes up it clings to the grass, 

 This brings them to the back of the knifelike ridge that separates Palata from Zapalata. This widens 

 out into an easy level plateau for about 20 rods, marked with road skeletons. This is 850 feet high on 

 Stejneger's map. 



Then follows a steep climb up gravel and clay, with scanty grass and heather, worn into steps, the 

 driveway bounded on the southwest by a slanting precipice that lies above. Sabafccha Dira. Then 

 comes a steep shoulder of heather and small plants, followed by a final climb into the clouds to the 

 summit of the pass, 1,190 feet above the sea. 



Then comes an abrupt descent, with a zigzag trail of 500 feet, as steep as a horse could go over, 

 with gravel and low flowers, to the bed of a swift little brook. This flows down into a grassy basin, 

 the slope becoming less and less, the rye grass and putchki growing smaller. The stream flowing into 

 the little brook to the west merges this drive into the one from Zapadni. 



This drive is not in any place so difficult as the gully just above Zapadni, but it is half higher 

 and twice as long, a trip one could not take on horseback, nor would it be easy to lead a horse over it. 

 Comparing it with St. Paul, the Palata Pass is as steep as the cone of Bogoslof, twice as high, and 

 without water. Compared with the severest drive on St. Paul, it would stand as the ascent of Mount 

 Blanc to a walk in the park. It is a very fatiguing trip for a man. It took me, walking rapidly, 

 thirty-eight minutes, deducting stops, from Palata to the grassy level, 860 feet; thence twenty-eight 

 minutes to the top, 1,190 feet; fifteen minutes down the upper slope, and fifteen more to Glinka. 



Stejneger's account is very correct, but it left me with no adequate idea of the rough way in 

 which seals under the harsh Russian r>5gime are forced to carry their skins to the slaughter. 



METHODS OF DRIVING. 



Some of the differences in the methods of driving have already been pointed out by 

 me (Euss. Fur-Seal Islands, p. 97), notably the driving of seals in large bodies on the 

 Pribilofs instead of in small detached pods, as on the Commanders (pi. 77), and to 

 illustrate the points I gave detailed descriptions of various drives on both the American 

 and Russian islands. To complete the record I will add the notes I made on the spot 

 concerning a drive on St. Paul Island July 16, 1896, during which I was again impressed 

 with the superiority of the Eussian method of driving : 



The drive from the Reef to the killing grounds north of the village lake was a short and 

 comparatively easy one, although the weather was not particularly favorable (no wind, and temperature 

 + 43° F.). It lasted about two hours, and the men were not hurrying the seals unduly. As a result, 

 none were overheated or lost by the wayside. The whole herd from the Reef, after having been driven 

 some distance, was divided into two divisions, which were driven separately, but no further subdivision 

 was attempted and would hardly have heen practicable with the 15 men of which the driving gang 

 consisted. This resulted in a great deal of unnecessary worry and panic. There is no excuse for this, 

 as there are enough men and boys on the island to properly man the drive, and there seems to be no 

 good reason why the skinning gang, now only appearing at a later stage, should not also partake in 

 the driving. This is another difference from the system on the Commander Islands. Here, on the 

 Pribilofs, as soon as the killing gang have clubbed the first pod, the stabbers and rippers (in the 

 present case 5 young natives) begin to stab the prostrate seals and to cut the skin down the middle 

 of the abdomen, around the ears and flippers. They are followed by the skinning gang, a similar 

 number of older and more experienced men, who finish up the skinning, leaving the skins by the 

 carcasses, to be carted away to the salt house later on. 



In the methods of killing, skinning, and curing there seems to be no special 

 difference on the two groups of islands, except with regard to the skinning of the 



