The Saint Paul globe., 1900-03-18

Wnen She donS her SealSkin coat that to
contribute to her comfort and elegance
the yearning heart OF lively young
bachelor has been stilled In death. But
1t Is true. From bachelor seals only
are tho skins taken which appear in the
marts of the world as sealskins.
Strange are the names by which seals
are known. Whereas male seal over
six years old. says writer in Pearson 8
| Magazine, Is a BULL" and his wives are
COWS" their offsprings are pups" fur
| ther. they swarm In herds" and con-
| sregate in ''rookeries" during the great
| seal season. The firresponsiDle young
males are termed bachelors" while
"sea-cat" Is a name sometimes applied
collectively to the vast seal family.
SEAL ARISTOCRACY.
In the family there are hair-seals. fur
| seals and sea lions. The hair-seaf. being
of small commercial value, takes a lower
rank than its cousin the fur-seal: the fur
seal Is less than half the size of its dis
tant connection, the sea lion.
1t makes its home during the breeding
season principally on the Pribylof islands.
| In Bering sea. and hither, with unerring
instinct, the great army of seals steers It's
| course through thousands of miles of
Watery waste at the appointed time. 1t
| Is estimated that hundreds of thousands
OF seals come together annually on the
! Pribylof group.
Early In May, when the Ice and snow
| have left the rocks at the waters edge.
the earliest arrivals of the great seal
host-the primest Of the bulls, shaking
jaII of
break through the surf and Chamber onto
the rocks to prepare for the advent Of
the cows. The pioneers arrive together,
and until the beginning of June they
have the rookeries to themselves.
They have time to prospect for suitable
locations for harems to sleep on the land
or luXuriously loH in the surf. They treat
each other with Indifference or scorn.
the Cincinnati Enquirer says, and never
relax their dignity so far as to indulge in
pleasantries of any kind Everything Is
quite until the first days of June.
Then the seal weather sets In:
clouds of fog roll up and cover the ISL
ands. and out through the fog, up from
the great North Pacific their heads
proudly on high, their sleek bodies drip
ping with water comes the main body
of male seals in their hundreds and
thousands. They swarm to the breeding
grounds by day and night, without any
cessation for days, and the great seal
fight begins.
Provided that he is strong enough to
hold his position against all comers until
the arrival Of the cows and after, each
bull obtains by right Of conquest little
piece of ground, from eight to ten feet
square. on which to live with his wives
and rear his family.
FIGHTING FOR WIVES.
This is q more serious and terrible mat
ter than the words convey. Those who
take up the best positions are attacked
by the newcomers, fresh from the sea
and flushed with their strength. Often
the pioneers are driven back, having ex-
hausted themselves with early fights, and
sometimes they will find themselves
placed so far from the rooxery that their
chance is small OF finding even one wife.
But sometimes the veterans, fifteen or
twenty years old, seven feet in length
from tip to toe, heavy in shoulder, hard
of sinew. Will wage score of desperate
battles and come out victorious at the
end.
The veterans are never attacked by
the young bulls, the Bachelors un-
| der six years of age. They keep apart
by themselves, and hover on the margins
! of the breeding grounds with envious
eyes, hating their betters, but, on the
whole, on fairly good terms with each
| other
| The remarkable physical powers pos
sessed by an old bull are at once evil
dent when 1t is mentioned that from
| the moment of his landing until the end
| of the season In the early days of
August he does not for one instant, by
| day or night, leave the position he has
taken up, provided, of course, that he is
not forcibly elected. For two months
at least the bulls totally abstain from
| food and water and it is not surprising
| that this, in addition to the worries OF
| the domestic life on the rookeries, causes
| them to be weak and emaciated when
| they return to the sea In August.
| The rookery becomes gradually mapped
out as the time for the coming of the
| cow seals draws near. The strongest
| bulls occupy the best positions the weak
| est are driven far away, the Ill and
| wounded are gathered together apart
! from the others Sin hospital" as the
! sealers term it, and the bachelors
| sport among themselves at a respectful
| distance By the 18th, or 18th of June
| first of the cows come up from the sea-
This is the signal for battle, more des>
| perate and more bloody and more dis
| astrous than any that has taken place
| before.
| The females are in striking contrast to
| their LORDS and masters; small, graceful
| creatures. with beautiful, lustrous eyes
half human, half dog-lixe i'll their pa
thetic expression. Their good natures
| are never ruffied, and they show no
! whom they will occasionally sport
| AS they emerge from the sea they are
met by the amorous bulls, who coax and
urge them, with many strange noises. to
! their respective harems. The strongest
bulls usually take possession of from
| fifteen to twenty wives and upward; the
! to twelve. The number CT wives, of
| known to own as many as seventy or
eighty, while, on the other hand. the
weaker bulls not infrequently have but
| one wife apiece
| NOT PLEASANT FOR MRS. SEAL.
The little cows as may be imagined.
| have p nard time in the rough and tum.
bic struggle for possession An old bun
! leaves his harem unguarded for mo-
ment as he goes to charm a pretty new.
| ly-arrived cow coyly tanning herself with
her dippers on q rock. Immediately his
| back Is turned, d neighboring bull reach
es out with his long neck, seizes one of
| the absent bulls prizes, and adroitly lifts
her to his own family circle.
| An uDrOar arises: the dIlarraI a. tal1et,