Chapter X: AMPHIBIAN MILLIONS pp. 254-353

Difference between a Hair-seal and a Fur-seal—The Fur-seal the most
Intelligent of all Amphibians.—Its singularly Free Progression on
Land.—Its Power in the Water.—The Old Males the First Arrivals in
the Spring.—Their Desperate Battles one with Another for Position on
the Breeding Grounds.—Subsequent Arrival of the Females.—Followed
by the “Bachelors.”—Wonderful Strength and Desperate Courage of
the Old Males.—Indifference of the Females.—Noise of the Rookeries
Sounds like the Roar of Niagara.—Old Males fast from May to August,
inclusive; neither Eat nor Drink, nor Leave their Stations in all
that Time.—Graceful Females.—Frolicsome “Pups.”—They have to Learn to
Swim!—How they Learn.—Astonishing Vitality of the Fur-seal.—“Podding”
of the Pups.—Beautiful Eyes of the Fur-seal.—How the “Holluschickie,”
or Bachelor Seals, Pass the Time.—They are the only ones Killed for
Fur.—They Herd alone by Themselves in spite of their Inclination;
Obliged to.—They are the Champion Swimmers of the Sea.—A Review of
the Vast Breeding Rookeries.—Natives Gathering a Drove.—Driving
the Seals to the Slaughtering Fields.—No Chasing.—no Hunting of
Seals.—The Killing Gang at Work: Skinning, Salting, and Shipping the
Pelts.—All Sent Direct to London.—Reasons Why.—How the Skins are
Prepared for Sacks, Muffs, etc.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ALASKAN SEA-LION pp. 354-373

A Pelagic Monarch.—Marked Difference between the Sea-lion and
the Fur-seal.—The Imposing Presence and Sonorous Voice of the
“Sea-king.”—Terrible Combats between old Sea-lion Bulls.—Cowardly in
the Presence of Man, however.—Sea-lions Sporting in the Fury of Ocean
Surf.—It has no Fur on its Huge Hide.—Valuable only to the Natives,
who Cover their “Bidarrah” with its Skin.—Its Sweet Flesh and
Inodorous Fat.—Not such Extensive Travellers as the Fur-seals.—The
Difficulty of Capturing Sea-lions.—How the Natives Corral them.—The
Sea-lion “Pen” at Northeast Point.—The Drive of Sea-lions.—Curious
Behavior of the Animals.—Arrival of the Drove at the Village.—A
Thirteen-mile Jaunt with the Clumsy Drove.—Shooting the old
Males.—The Bloody “Death-whirl.”—The Extensive Economic Use made of
the Carcass by the Natives.—Chinese Opium Pipes Picked with Sea-lion
Mustache bristles.