SEAL HUNTING 



163 



SEALERS HUTS OF DRIFTWOOD, GLACIER BAY. 

 HUNYA INDIANS. 



twelve feet in length. Sometimes the hunters wear white 

 shirts and hats, made of flour sacks, and sometimes 

 white cloth is hung over the gunwales of the boat, so as to 

 make it seem like a piece of floating ice. This precau- 

 tion is less commonly employed where ice is abundant, 

 as in Yakutat 

 Bay, than in 

 places where 

 there is less 

 ice. Many 

 of the bergs 

 here are cov- 

 ered with dirt, 

 and are of all 

 shades from 

 white toblack. 

 Much of the 



surface of the upper end of Yakutat Bay is covered 

 with floating ice which is continually falling from the 

 fronts of the glaciers which pour into it, and it is among 

 this floating ice that the sealing is done. The hunters 

 paddle along slowly, keeping a sharp lookout for the 

 seals. When one is observed they sit still, but as soon 

 ^-^ cr- -_ -,„- -~>~ ---.- as it dives they 



-yy^€L i>' paddle as swift- 

 ly as possible to- 

 ward the spot, 

 continuing their 

 efforts until it is 

 almost time for 

 the seal to reap- 

 pear. They are 

 so familiar with 

 the habits of the animal that they can gauge the time very 

 closely. 



SEALERS HUT, YAKUTAT BAY. 



