Connecticut western news., 1878-05-23
A Curious Colony.


 On the bleak, rocky shores of small group of islands near that cold region at the northwestern corner of North Amer ica, which is known as Alaska, is a strange sight to be seen in the Summer. H1ther early in May every year there begin to come, from seas which are then getting too warm for them, numbers of these curious looking animals and here, leaving the salt water for g time, these bands of seals-for such they are make their home and remain until the following month of November.
 When the time comes for the annual visit to the islands to be made, it is usual for the full grown male seals, acting as pioneers, to journey there in advance for the purpose of selecting the exact spot where they propose to stay, and the young seals and the mothers follow about six weeks later. .s.. ..:a.
 The latter, however, on their arrival, do not always find home in readiness for them, as they probably anticipate :; for it is said that sometimes the males fight so desperately for favorite positions on the 'trookeries," as the rocks to which they resort are termed, that often fatal ending ensues, and when the other mem- bers of the seal family come to the island the defeated ones are looked for in vain,
 By the beginning of July thousands and tens of thousands of seals have land- ed on the rocks, and many acres of ground extending over twenty miles along the shore--are covered by them as closely as they can ie.
 During their stay on the islands these seals are not allowed to remain unmo- tested, for from them is obtainable very beautiful and valuable fur, and in order to secure this, very great numbers of them are every year destroyed, the right of killing them being purchased from the United States Government, to which the islands belong, by large company of traders. The mode of capture is very simple. When it is intended to secure the seals all that is necessary is for few natives-who alone are permitted to be employed by the company-to make their way into the midst of one of these rookeries, and there choose those which they consider best suited to their pur- pose. As rule, seals are very much on their guard when approached by human beings the kind of which we speak, however, are not in any way shy, and the natives move amongst them with the utmost freedom. When sufficient number have been selected, the seals are next made to move from their resting places near the shore, and then, having been formed into 8 flock, just as sheep might be, they are driven inland in long, struggling hne, extending sometimes for mile, toward the villages where they are to be slain.
 The journey thither is, however, a difficult one for the seals, and the rate at which they can travel is very slow for though when in the water their move ments are rapid and graceful, such is not the case on land, where their method of walking, owing to the peculiar con- struction of their bodies, is, as it were, by series of sudden starts or jerks, which are very tiring and it is not sur prising to learn that many of the poor animals often fail, through exhaustion, to reach the villages alive.
 Apeeuliar circumstance in connection with these seals is that the full-grown males, from the time they first land on the islands until the end of the season, when they depart, never take either food or water; nor do they, after the females and the younger seals have arrived, even for an instant driven from them by force-forsake the positions in the "rookeries " which they at first select.
 The young seals are, we are told, droll little animals, and very fond of assem- bling together in thousands ito gambol and frolic or to run races among themselves and at the time when they are very small, and first take to the water, it is said to be very amusing to watch them as, in some shallow eddy near the rocks, they make their first at tempt to paddle and swim. ....
 The stay of the seals in the islands usually comes to an end, as we have in- timated, in the month of November i; and from this time until the following summer, when they return, they do not visit land at all, but passing down to more southerly waters, they fish and lead roaming life of enjoyment in the sea.