130 MARINE 3IA3IMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



instructive fact in the order of Providence, that the northern belt of coast is clothed 

 with gigantic forests, and swarms with terrestrial animals of the chase, whereby 

 the natives of the wooded regions find means of transport across the inland waters, 

 and ample clothing from the skins of the animals which range through their hunt- 

 ing-grounds, while the thousand islands which diversify the shore between the 

 capes of Mendocino and Ommany are but sparsely inhabited by the Emnetopias, 

 and those found are turned to little account by the semi -aquatic savage. But on 

 the seal islands of Alaska, where the only timber at hand is drifted from the 

 great rivers draining the wooded main -land, or borne by the Kamschatka branch 

 of the Kuro Siwo, we find I'ookeries of the largest Sea Lions met with upon the 

 shores of the Pacific, gathered with the great herds of Fur Seals which constitutt 

 the chief wealth of Alaska ; and although the two species differ in their character^ 

 still they are found peacefully occupying the same or adjacent breeding -grounds. 

 The Aleutians even aver that the Sea Lion and the Fur Seal sometimes cohabit 

 together. 



The principal rookery of Sea Lions on St. Paul Island is near its north-east 

 point ; and to this place the natives resort, between the toils of the Fur Seal 

 season, to make their annual "drive" to their village, which is clustered about the 

 slope and glen of the opposite shore. This "drive," to the good-natured Aleuts, 

 is what the buffalo -hunt has been to the red -skins on the plains of the Platte, or 

 matanza-iimQ with the old Californians ; for the party starts out as on a sporting 

 foray, and at night they stealthily get between the herd of Sea Lions and the 

 water; then, with professional strategy, they manage to "cut out" six or eight 

 of the largest at a time, and drive them a short distance inland, where they are 

 guarded until a band of two or three hundred are assembled. Formerly the 

 implement used in driving was a pole with a small flag at the end ; but, since our 

 adopted country-folk have become more Americanized, that Yankee production, a 

 cotton umbrella, has been substituted, and it is said that any refractory siidch in 

 the "drive" is instantly subdued by the sudden expansion and contraction of an 

 umbrella in the hands of a pursuing native. 



To collect the desired number for the yearly supply involves several days ; 

 therefore a throng of villagers, it is said, sets -out prepared with everything needful 

 for the campaign. As the work of driving goes on only at night, the day is 

 passed in sleeping and cooking their food by smoldering fires of drift-wood and 

 seal -fat, sheltered by their umbrellas, or a sort of tent contrived by spreading 

 blankets and garments over whales' ribs in lieu of tent- poles— never forgetting in 

 their repast the fragrant cU, which is quaffed in numberless cups from the steam- 



