The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1896-06-10
SEA LION HUNT.
A Dangerous Occupation Off the
Californian Coast.
Men Lowered From Promontories
to Get Hides.

iornla coast. Inese wary seals CLIMB
oct of the sea upon rocky lodges and
enjoy themselves in the sun. An old
bull usually has six or eight wives.
Occasionally the husbands fight =
viciously with other males, and are
very jealous of their families. Pater-
nal affection for the pup seals is
marked. The daddies labor earnestly,
teaching the children to swim.
Strange to say the pups are averse to
the water at first, but after a time they
enjoy frolic in the surf as keenly as
do the old folks.
The skins of these bulls, cows and
pups are what the hunters seek. They
land upon an island and sneak up be-
hind hundreds of seals summing on the.
rocky lodges. A bullet is sent into an
animals skull, and if the hunters aim
is true death is instant. Only brain
wound would cause instant death. If
wounded elsewhere, the seal usually
gets into the sen aud sinks before the
hunter reaches the body. So expert
do the hunters become with their
rifles that they frequently fire sixteen
shots from their Winchesters, each
killing a seal, before the herd disap-
pears into the sea. The hides are
sent aboard ship and salted down.
When the vessel is filed, the cargo is
taken to San Francisco and sold for
three to six cents pound. Pup hides,
weighing 20 pounds, are the most val
liable. Adult hides weigh 80 to so
pounds, aud sell for three or four
cents pound. Leather men use
these hides for horse collars, harness
and other articles requiring particu-
larly tough leather.
The inaccessibility of the seal rook-
cries frequently involves the hunters
in danger. The seals are shot from
promontory. Then the hunter is
lowered on rope by his comrades
1O0or 200 feet to the slippery wave-
washed rocks below, where the dead
seals lie. He quickly skins the ani-
mails. A small boat from the ship
rides outside the surf line ready to
carry the hides away. A small line is
| floated ashore to the hunter, who ties
the hides to it one.by one, and the
boat is loaded, the hunter is drawn to
the top of the cliff, and another rook-
cry is sought for more game. The
surf about these deep sea islands is
very high, and IS one of the obstacles
of the seal hunter.
The sea lions are rather cute in
their way. They enjoy great deal
of sea fowl occasionally. When tho
gulls are flying overhead lion will
dive and swim some distance under
water from the point where he disap-
peared. He approaches the surface
carefully, allowing merely the tip of
his black nose to show above the sur
face. By giving his body rotary mo-
tion this nose tip makes circles on tho
ocean, and to the eye of the flying
gull, resembles waterbug at play.
With a swish the deceived gull rushes
down from Its station above like ball
from o gun. The lion sinks few
inches, and as the gulls hits the water
with tremendous impetus the jaws
close mercilessly on the sea fowl, and
it is hauled below the surface and de.
voured.
Upon approaching n rookery occu-
pied by numerous herd of sea lions
one first hears their long, p laintive
howlings, as if in distress; but when
near them, the sounds become more
varied aud deafening. The old males
roar SO loudly as to drown the noise
of the heaviest surf among the rocks
and caverns, aud the pups croak
hoarsely or send forth sounds like the
bleating of sheep or the barking OF
dogs.
The lions take great risks when at
tempting to escape from hunters. In
one instance about twenty lions were
collected on the brink of PERCEPTIONS
cliff at least sixty feet above the rocks
which shelved from the beach below.
The hunters thought that by surpris-
ing the animals they could drive them
over the cliff aud that the tremendous
fall upon the sharp rocks below would
kill them all. The surprise was sue.
cessful. Every lion jumped to what
seemed certain death, but to the cha
grin of the hunters, when they arrive d
at the foot of the cliff where they ex-
pected to find the lions either help.