is purpose they are driven by the natives from the shore slowly,
about a kilometre an hour, and with frequent rests, to the place of
slaughter, situated a kilometre or two from the shore. Then the
females and the young ones are driven away, as well as the males
whose skins are unserviceable. The rest are first stunned with a
blow on the head, and afterwards stabbed with a knife.

While the _Vega_ steamed down towards Behring Island we met, already
far from land, herds of sea-bears, which followed the vessel from
curiosity for long stretches. Being unacquainted with the sea-bear's
mode of life, I believed from this circumstance that they had
already left their summer haunts, but on our arrival at the colony I
was informed that this was not the case, but that a very great
number of animals still remained at the rookery on the north-eastern
point of the island. Naturally one of our first excursions was to
this place, situated about twenty kilometres from the village. Such
a journey cannot now be undertaken alone and unattended, because
even an involuntary want of caution might easily cause much economic
loss to the natives, and to the company that owns the right of
hunting. During the journey we were accordingly accompanied by the
chief of the village, a black-haired stammering Aleutian, and "the
Cossack," a young, pleasant, and agreeable fellow, who on solemn
occasions wore a sabre nearly as long as himself, but besides did
not in the least correspond to the Cossack type of the writers of
novels and plays.

The journey was performed in large sledges drawn by ten dogs over
snow-free rounded hills and hill-plateaus covered with a rather
scanty vegetation, and through valleys treeless as the mountains,
but adorned with luxuriant vegetation, rich in splendid lilies,
syngenesia, umbellifera, &c. The journey was sometimes tedious
enough, but we now and then went at a whistling rate, especially
when the dog-team descended the steep mountain slopes, or went
through the morasses and the clay puddles formed in the constantly
used way. The driver was bespattered from top to toe with a thick
layer of mud, an inconvenience attending the unusual team, which was
foreseen before our departure from the colony, in consequence of
which our friends there urged that, notwithstanding the fine
weather, we should all take overcoats. The dog-team was kept pretty
far from the shore in order not to frighten the seals, and then we
went on foot to