THE SEA LI01^^: ITS CAPTUEE. 41 



close to the sarf-margiu, aud in this position it becomes quite a difficult task for the natives to 

 approach and get in between it and the sea unobserved, for, unless this silent approach is made, 

 the beast will at once take the alarm and bolt into the water. 



"By reference to my map of Saint Paul's, a small point, near the head of the northeast neck 

 of the island, will be seen, upon which quite a large number of Sea Lions are always to be 

 found, as it is never disturbed except on the occasion of this annual driving. The natives step 

 down on to the beach, in the little bight just above it, aud begin to crawl on all fours flat on 

 the sand down to the end of the neck and in between the dozing sea-lion herd and the water, 

 always selecting a semi-bright moonlight night. If the wind is favorable, and none of the men 

 meet with an accident, the natives will almost always succeed in reaching the point unobserved, 

 when, at a given signal, they all jump on their feet at once, yell, brandish their arms, and give a 

 ■ sudden start, or alarm, to the herd above them, for, just as the Sea Lions move, upon the first 

 impulse of surprise, so they keep on. For instance, if the animals on starting up are sleeping with 

 their heads pointed in the direction of the water, they keep straight on toward it; but if they 

 jump up looking over the land, they follow that course just as desperately, and nothing turns 

 them, at first, either one way or the other. Those that go for the water are, of course, loit, but 

 the natives follow the land-leaders and keep urging them on, and soon have them in their control, 

 driving them back into a small pen, which, they extemporize by means of little stakes, with iiags, 

 set around a circuit of a few hundred square feet, and where they keep them until three or four 

 hundred, at least, are captured, before they commence their drive of ten miles overland down 

 south to the village. 



" The natives, latterly, getting in this annual herd of Sea Lions, have postponed it until late 

 in the fall, and when the animals are scant in number and the old bulls poor. This they were 

 obliged to do, on account of the pressure of their sealing business in the spring, and the warmth 

 of the season in August and September, which makes the driving very tedious. In this way 1 

 have not been permitted to behold the best-conditioned drives, i. e., those in which a majority of 

 the herd is made up of fine, enormously fat, and heavy bulls, some four or five hundred in number. 



"The natives are compelled to go to the northeast point of the island for the animals, inas- 

 much as it is the only place with natural advantages where they can be approached for the purpose 

 of capturing alive. Here they congregate in greatest number, although they can be found, two or 

 three thousand of them, on the southwest point, and as many more on ' Seevitchie Oammin ' and 

 Otter Island. 



"Capturing the Sea Lion drive is really the only serious business these people on the islands 

 have, and when they set out for the task the picked men only leave tbe village. At Northeast 

 Point they have a barrabkie, in which they sleep and eat while gathering the drove, the time of 

 getting which depends upon the weather, wind, &c. As the squads are captured, night after 

 night, they are driven up close by the barrabkie, where the natives mount constant guard over 

 them until several hundred animals shall have been secured and all is ready for the drive down 

 overland to the village. 



"The drove is started and conducted in the same general manner as that which I have detailed 

 in speaking of the Pur Seal, only the Sea Lion soon becomes very sullen and unwilling to move, 

 requiring spells of frequent rest. It cannot pick itself up from the ground and sL amble oft" on a 

 loping gallop for a few hundred yards, like the Gallorhinus, and is not near so free and agile in its 

 movements on land, or in the water for that matter, for I have never seen the Eumetopias leap from 

 the water like a dolphin, or indulge in the thousand and one submarine acrobatic displays made 

 constantly by the Pur Seal. 



