612 WILD ANIMALS. 



covered with coarse, hard, stiff hair, varying in length and colour 

 with age and season, and is wholly destitute of the soft and silky 

 under fur; but it is of great value in the domestic service of 

 the Aleutian islanders, as is also the flesh, fat, and sinews. The 

 oil procured from these animals is also of a far higher quality 

 than the offensively odorous blubber of the fur-seal. Some few 

 hundreds, sufficient to supply their wants, are therefore annually 

 killed by these people. The method adopted is, to a great extent, 

 similar to the one before described; but with sea-lions greater 

 care is required, for it is a somewhat more dangerous occupation, 

 not only from their much larger size, but also from their habits. 

 For if, when getting between the sea and their prey, the sleeping 

 animals happen to have their heads pointed to the water, the 

 moment they are alarmed they charge straight in that direction, 

 right over the men themselves. If, however, they are turned 

 inland, they pursue the same direction, which is the one required 

 by their captors. The driving of the captives used to be accom- 

 plished by the waving of a small flag attached to a pole, but since 

 the islanders have become Americans, they have adopted that 

 production of the country, a cotton umbrella, and the sudden 

 opening and shutting of this novel implement keeps the herd on 

 the move, and completely overcomes the sluggish tendency of 

 any refractory individual among them. Again, when the actual 

 killing begins, although the sea-lions appear to be natural 

 cowards, yet they will fight when at bay, and prove themselves no 

 mean antagonists. They are not therefore killed, as a rule, with 

 the clubs used for the fur-seals, but are shot with a rifle; the 

 men walking up to within a few feet of the animals and firing at 

 them just between the eye and the ear. 



As an illustration of the strength and energy of a sea-lion bull 

 when at bay, Mr. Elliott states that the following curious, though 

 doubtless authentic, story was told him: "Many years ago 

 (1847), on St. Paul Island, a drive of September sea-lions was 

 brought down to the village in the usual style ; but when the 

 natives assembled to kill them, on account of the great scarcity, 

 at the time, of powder in the island, it was voted best to lance the 

 old males also, as well as the females, rather than shoot them in 



