and on account of the much greater distance they are compelled to go to find seal are often kept out over night.

Many of the Vancouver Island Indians are taken out as sealing crews on the Victoria sealing schooners. The schooner Rosie Olsen, boarded by us May 13, had a crew consisting of Vancouver Indians. Each canoe receives $3 for each skin taken by her, or $1.50 per man, and a bounty of $25 a canoe for the season. The chief or head man receives $120 for engaging the canoes.

Rosie Olsen, 1892,

Owing to the later arrival of spring and pleasant weather farther north, the sealing season there begins later. At Sitka they made the first sealing trips in canoes about May 1. On account of the uncertainty of the weather they dared not venture out earlier. We saw numerous seals off the entrance to Sitka Sound early in April, and so reported to the Indians at Sitka, but even this was not enough to tempt them outside until the arrival of settled weather. At Hooniah about the middle of April we were told that hunters were out after hair-seal and fish for use on a seal and sea-otter hunting trip which they proposed to undertake some weeks later.

Indian sealers.

On our arrival at Capes Chacon and Muzon, on the north side of Dixon's Entrance about May 11, we found large numbers of Indian seal-hunters from various parts of Alaska, and from British Columbia and Queen Charlotte Island encamped waiting for moderate weather to begin sealing. They arrived on the ground about May 1, and said they would return to their home sometime in June, as the seal would then be gone. But three seals had been taken at Cape Chacon, and two at Cape Muzon.

A crew for a hunting canoe at Cape Chacon consists of four men. The Cape Muzon canoes, which are larger and go farther to sea in search of seals, carry six men. The hunter is in charge, and employs the other men. They use the spear but little, depending almost entirely upon the gun, and what seems most remarkable, they use the Hudson Bay musket, a single-barreled muzzle-loader of large bore, instead of the fine double-barreled breechloader in use by the white hunters and the Neah Bay and other Indians.

Migration.

In regard to the migration of the seal, from all I have learned I am of the opinion that the seals upon leaving the Pribilof Islands, make their way to the coast of California and Oregon in much less time than is generally supposed. The females and young leave first, commencing in October. The younger males follow, and, I am convinced, join and remain with the females until they return to the islands, although it appears that they do not haul out at the same time as the females. We found the females, yearlings, and two-yearolds of both sexes together at all times. I have been told by seal hunters that it is no unusual thing to find a young male keeping watch near a sleeping female; that when but two seals are seen together one is a young male and one a female, and that, if either, it is the female that is asleep.

Borealis, 1891.

It is well known that many seals, especially males, remain on the islands well into the winter. According to the statement of a hunter who was on board at the time, the British schooner Borealis, Hansen, master, raided Southwest rookery on St. Paul Island on the night of November 27, 1891, and took 480 seals, which would indicate that at that time seals were still plentiful on the island.

I visited the Pribilof Islands about January 23, 1886, in command of the revenue steamer Rush, and was told that a "drive" had been made

the day previous to our arrival and 1,000 seals killed. Quite a large number of seals were on the rookeries at that time-all males I was told. We sailed on that cruise January 2 via Puget Sound about January 9. During the passage from Puget Sound to Unimak Pass, after clearing the land we saw fur-seals nearly every day. These were probably some of the last to leave the islands, and were on their way to the American coast in search of food and a milder climate. Those which left earlier were already upon the coast. As shown by the affidavits of the sealers, they begin to take seals on the Sealing off coast. coast of California in January. The climate and food supply undoubtedly control the migration of the seals as they do other animals. The old males being hardier and stronger can withstand the climate and secure food under conditions that would be unendurable for females and young. Male seals remain upon and around the islands until the ice appears. The natives say the codfish also disappears with the first appearance of ice. Many of these males, I believe, remain upon the fishing banks in Bering Sea during the rest of the winter Some of them go to the banks outside of the Aleutian chain, and others to the banks farther east.

Old bulls are rarely seen south of Cross Sound, while we found them plentiful and apparently in peaceful possession of a liberal supply of red rock fish about 75 miles off Yakutat.

As the cold weather approaches, the females and young leave Bering Sea, and about two months later appear off the AmeriMigration. can coast, where they find a genial climate and an abundance of food. They appear on the coast of California and Oregon simultaneously with the smelt and herring. As I previously reported, we learned upon our arrival at Astoria, March 18, that the smelt had come and gone; that they were unusually early this year. We were told by the sealers off the coast at that time, and our observations confirmed it, that the seals were moving north unusually early. On the coast of Alaska in April and May, when according to our observations and the testimony of the Indians seals are most plentiful, we found the bays filled with herring, smelt, and eulachon.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. L. HOOPER,

Captain, United States Revenue Marine.

REPORT OF JOHNSTONE H. QUINAN, SECOND LIEUTENANT UNITED STATES REVENUE MARINE.

PELAGIC SEALING.

UNITED STATES REVENUE STEAMER CORWIN,

Capt. C. L. HOOPER, U. S. R. M.,

Commanding:

Sitka, Alaska, May 4, 1892.

SIR: I herewith respectfully offer the following notes relative to pelagic sealing derived from observation and personal experience.

Experience.

Seal-hunting with Indians.

In obedience to your orders I accompanied two Neah Bay Indians, Chad and Wilton by name, May 1st and 2d, off Sitka Sound, to hunt seal. The canoe we used is of the Neah Bay type, hollowed out of white cedar, 24 feet long, 341 feet beam, and 20 inches deep, braced by thwarts secured to the sides

by cedar twigs, the stern rising abruptly 10 inches and stem projected forward and rising gradually to 2 feet above the gunwale, the latter terminating in a figurehead, which, with the long prow, resembles some fanciful animal, not unlike a giraffe. In this head is cut a notch, on which the spear rests when ready for use. A rifle, shotgun, spear and line, mast and sail, two paddles, a pair of oars, gaff pole, short club, a prismatic-shaped wooden bailer, and a box of ammunition and bread completed the outfit. After leaving the ship, the Indians, one sitting in the stern with his paddle, and the other in the bow with his oars pulled to windward, this being invariably the rule, as it is in this direction the seal must be approached. We had pulled several miles without seeing anything, when suddenly the steersman gave the canoe a shake and pointed in silence to a seal 75 yards distant, lying on its back in the water, apparently asleep. Its flippers were raised Seal floating.

in the air and moving listlessly from side to side, as if fanning itself. The bowman took in his oars and substituted the paddle, and the canoe glided noiselessly toward the unconscious seal. When within 40 yards of it the after paddle alone was used, and the bowman stoody ready with the shotgun. It was soon seen that the seal's head was under water. The Indians told me afterward that it was only drowsing and looking for fish. Whether this be a fact or not I do not know. In this position a seal is said to be "finning."

During all this time not a word was spoken, and so noiselessly did the canoe glide that we got within 10 yards of it and Method of killing. the hunter fired, pouring a charge of buckshot into its

breast. The seal, to my great astonishment, was not killed, but gave us one surprised look and instantly dived out of sight. It rose again 50 yards off, gave us another look and a second time disappeared. Then followed a chase to windward, the Indians dexterously apply. ing their paddles in that direction. Three times it disappeared and reappeared before it was finally shot and captured. Even then it was. necessary to use the club to kill it. One hook with the gaff, a sudden pull, and the unfortunate seal was in the canoe.

The oars and paddles were again used and we continued on our way. The next seals we sighted were three in number, asleep on their sides and backs on a bunch of kelp, their favorite resting place. Their fore and hind flippers were visible, the former closed on their breasts; their heads were lying to leeward, and moving slowly from side to side. In this position a seals sleeps soundly. When its head ceases to move, it is an indication that it is waking up, and this is the time to shoot. The canoe this time approached from a point nearly at right angles to the wind, so as to get a good shot. The most vulnerable place is in the neck just back of the head. One of the three was instantly killed, another shot and killed after diving and re-appearing, and the third escaped. The first one was allowed to float until the second was secured, occupying a space of about twenty seconds.

The time it requires a seal to sink depends upon the character of the seal and the place in which it is shot. Some sink inSinking of seals. stantly, while others float for two or three minutes, and possibly longer. Gravid cows, that is, cows that are heavy with young, sink more slowly than males, and seals that are lean more rapidly than those that are fat. If the lungs of a seal which has been killed retain air it will float for quite a while.

The best time for hunting seal is a good day following a protracted spell of bad weather. In a very rough sea seals can not sleep, but