216 THE FUR SEALS OP THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



When they stand up they keep their necks extended in line with the body, and 

 the hinder part, because of the length of the legs, stands higher. 



They swim now upon the belly, now upon one side, and again fiat upon the back; 

 they also swim standing bolt upright in the water. 



They play together, and, like human beings, embrace with their arms and kiss 

 each other. If they escape the club, they gesticulate in a very ridiculous manner, as 

 if making fun of the hunter. With one paw raised over their eyes, as if bothered by the 

 rays of the sun, they watch the man, continually rubbing their pudenda as they lie 

 upon their backs, and then go off into the water, still watching the man steadily and 

 urinating as they go, in the same way as sea bears and whales also do. 



They copulate at all seasons, and so throughout the year the mothers are seen busy 

 with their cubs. Whether they give birth twice within one season I would not venture 

 to decide; but I have seen, and I have sometimes killed, mothers with two cubs, one of 

 which was a year old and the other three or four months old. So much is certain, they 

 never, or at most very rarely, give birth to more than one at a time. The first year 

 after they are born they do not copulate, but the second year they do. The period of 

 gestation is eight or nine months; and so they bring forth jierfectly developed young, 

 with eyes open and with all their teeth ; the four canine teeth are smaller than common, 

 just as I have observed, also, in the case of the sea bears, seals, and sea lions. 



They suckle their young almost a whole year. They preserve their conjugal affec- 

 tion most constantly, and the male does not serve more than one female. They live 

 together both on sea and on land. The 1-year-old cubs, the " TtoscMoM," live with their 

 parents until they set up housekeeping on their own score. Rarely, therefore, are 

 females seen apart from cubs two or three months old, which are called " medviedki.^f 



The females always give birth to their young on land. Whether in the sea or on 

 land, they carry their cubs in their mouths; but when they sleep at sea they fold their 

 young in their arms just as mothers do their babes. They throw the young ones into 

 the water to teach them to swim, and when tired out they bring them to shore again 

 and kiss them just like human beings. They toss the young out into the sea and with 

 their paws catch them when tossed, like a ball; and with them they engage in all 

 the delightful and gentle games that a fond mother can play with her children. When 

 the mother sleeps on shore the cubs keep watch, clinging to her dugs or arms. They 

 embrace their young with an affection that is scarcely credible. When hunters press 

 upon them, whether by land or by sea, they seize their young with their mouths and 

 never let go of them except when compelled by extreme necessity or death itself. And 

 so they are killed often when they might have got away themselves. I have sometimes 

 deprived females of their young on purpose, sparing the mothers themselves, and they 

 would weep over their affliction just like human beings. I once carried off two little 

 ones alive, and the mothers followed me at a distance like dogs, calling to their young 

 with a voice like the wailing of an infant; and when the young ones heard their 

 mothers' voice they wailed,- too. I sat down in the snow and the mothers came close 

 up and stood ready to take the young ones from my hand if I should set them down in 

 the snow. After eight days I returned to the same place and found one of the females 

 at the spot where I had taken the young,. bowed down with the deepest sorrow. Thus 

 she lay, and I approached without any sign of flight on her part. Her skin hung loose, 

 and she had grown so thin in that one week that there was nothing left but skin and bones. 

 This happened several times in succession. It happened one other time that, in com- 



