154 MARINE MAM3IALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST 



barren islands, rocks, or points, which would appear quite inaccessible to any but 

 sealers or sea- elephant liunters, by reason of the heavy surf and surge about them; 

 and where men occasionally have perished of starvation or thirst, by not receiving 

 the needful supplies from the ship, which might have been wrecked before the time 

 for her return. One can hardly imagine more desolate habitations than the Diego 

 Ramirez, off Cape Horn, or the Crozets and Prince Edward's Islands, in the Indian 

 Ocean ; but these places are no more forbidding in point of gloomy climate, isola- 

 tion, and barrenness, than scores of others that might be mentioned, where men 

 were left for months with or without a boat, as occasion recjuired. 



On the coast of California, many beaches were found fronting gullies, where 

 seals in large numbers formerly gathered ; and as they there had plenty of ground 

 to retreat upon, the sealers sometimes drove them far enough back to make sure 

 of the whole herd, or that portion of them the skins of which were desirable. 



On the North-western Coast, south of the Aleutian Islands, but few Fur Seals 

 are taken, and those are chiefly caught by the Indians with spears of native manu- 

 facture — the fishing being almost entirely confined to the mouth of Juan de Fuca 

 Strait, and the contiguous coast of the Pacific. 



The Indian seal -fishers are among the tribes inhabiting the coast from Gray's 

 Harbor to the southern part of Vancouver Island. The seals appear on the coast 

 some 3'ears as early as the first of March, and more or less remain till July or 

 August ; but they are most plentiful in April and Ma3^ During these two months, 

 the Indians devote nearly all of their time to sealing, when the weather will permit. 



It is but a few years since the Indians have turned their attention to taking 

 seals solely to procure their skins and oil for barter ; and what may seem surpris- 

 ing, it is but a few years since the animals have been known to resort to the 

 vicinity of the strait in such large numbers. We have it from the most reliable 

 source, that there were but a few dozens of Fur Seal skins taken annually by the 

 Indians, from 1843 to 1864 ; after which period, the number of skins sold by them 

 at Victoria, Vancouver Island, Nee -ah Bay, and points on Puget Sound, has steadily 

 increased, up to 1869, when the number in the aggregate amounted to fully five 

 thousand skins. 



When going in pursuit of seals, three or four natives embark in -a canoe at an 

 early hour in the morning, and usually return the following evening. The fishing- 

 gear consists of two spears, which are fitted to a pronged pole fifteen feet in length ; 

 to the spears a line is attached, which is fastened to the spear -pole close to, or is 

 held in the hand of, the spearman when he darts the weapon. A seal -club is also 

 provided, as well as two seal -skin buoys — the latter being taken in the canoe to 



