302 THE FUE SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



change, but in a short time the wind began to increase. No seals were observed 

 either by the small boats or from the vessel during the day. 



On September 19 the weather was similar to that of the previous day. Four seals 

 were seen, 2 asleep, the others traveling to the north-northeast. The former did not 

 awake until the swash of the water from our bow struck them. In the evening we 

 headed for Unimak Pass. As the season was now late, it was thought inadvisable to 

 remain longer in the sea. The condition for the last ten days had convinced the 

 captain that little, if any, more sealing weather could be expected. 



The next morning we sighted the schooner San Jose, which had made a catch of 

 COO skins. Her captain came on board and reported that until recently he had been 

 hunting northwest of the Pribilof Islands. In that region seals were abundant, but 

 the weather had been too stormy to operate. On September 13, in latitude 58° 30' 

 north, longitude 112° 30' west, several hundred seals had been observed, but the sea 

 was too rough for lowering the boats. In the latter part of August the San Jose had 

 hunted near Unimak Pass, but few seals were found there. 



At 10 a. m., the wind being light, 8 of the canoes were put over, but at 2 p. m. a 

 dense fog settled down. Ten seals were secured, 4 males and 6 females. They were 

 all small and their stomachs were empty. On this ground birds were plentiful and 

 one orca was observed. At 2.45 p. m. we continued on our course, and at 6 p. m. Cape 

 Cheerful bore abeam about 15 miles. The next day we were off the northern entrance 

 of Unimak Pass, four other sealers being in sight. In the evening we cleared the 

 southern entrance of the pass and shaped a course for Cape Flattery. On the morning 

 of October 8 we anchored off Ucleuet, an Indian village, situated on the north side of 

 Barclay Sound, Vancouver Island, where most of our Indians belonged. We reached 

 Victoria on October 8, having been twenty days on the passage home. 



OBSERVING SEALS. 



In sealing weather hunters do not wait until seals have been seen from the vessel 

 before lowering the boats. They start out as early as possible and search for them, 

 as otherwise the catch of the entire- fleet would be small. Very often, when no seals 

 are observed from the vessel's deck, the boats will be among bunches of them only a 

 mile or two away, and, on the other hand, it sometimes happens that when scattered 

 seals are noticed from the deck the boats may be cruising over barren ground. As a 

 rule, however, the number observed from the vessel is small as compared with the 

 number sighted from the boats. A vessel while jogging will naturally frighten a 

 great many which lie in her path; the flapping of the canvas and the creaking and 

 slatting of the booms arouse the sleepers long before they can be seen and give them 

 ample time to escape. In the early days of pelagic sealing the boats used to be 

 stationed at difierent distances and in different directions from the vessel and would 

 drift, waiting for seals to come near. This method, however, proving unremunerative, 

 it was given up, and the hunters began to cruise, which custom they have continued 

 to follow ever since. 



MANNER OF COUNTING THE SEXES. 



Considerable controversy has arisen from the accounts rendered by the sealing 

 captains regarding the proportion of male and female seals taken in the North Pacific 

 Ocean and Bering Sea. Previous to the time when sealing vessels were required to 

 enter the number of each sex taken in their official logs little thought was given to 

 this question, and it was always elnimed that the two sexes occurred in almost equal 



