UC-NRLF
SB 273 72fl
' DAVID STARR JORDAN
LIBRARY
OF THK
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
GIFT OF
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
— THF —
I 11 l_j
STORY OF MATKA
Calr of tlic iflist Sslan&g
DAVID STARR JORDAN
President of I.eland Stanford Jr. University, and cf the California
Academy of Science; United Sta'es Commissioner in
Charge of Fur Seal Investigations.
SAN FRANCISCO
WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO. 1910
f
t-
inA
COPYRIGHT 1897
BY
DAVID STARR JORDAN.
COPYRIGHT 1909
BY
DAVID STARR JORDAN.
To MY ASSOCIATES
OF THE
BERING SEA COMMISSIONS FOR 1896
WITH PLEASANT MEMORIES OF THE
TWIN MlST-ISLANDS AND
THE ICY SEA,
D'ARCY WENTWORTH THOMPSON.
LEONHARD STEJNEGER. FREDERIC AUGUSTUS LUCAS.
JAMES MELVILLE MACOUN.
GEORGE ARCHIBALD CLARK,
JEFFERSON FRANKLIN MOSER.
GERALD EDWIN H. BARRETT-HAMILTON,
CHARLES HASKINS TOWNSEND,
JOSEPH MURRAY,
ANDREW HALKETT.
AND TO OUR PREDECESSORS
HENRY WOOD ELLIOTT,
CLINTON HART MERRIAM,
BARTON WARREN EVERMANN
FREDERICK WILLIAM TRUE.
THOMAS CORWIN MENDENHALL.
199433
PREFACE.
In the illustration of this little book, I am indebted to Assistant Secretary Charles S. Hamlin, of the United States Treasury, and to Hon. John J. Brice, United States Fish Commissioner, for the use of photographs taken, for the various Bering Sea Commissions, by Mr. Charles H. Townsend, Dr. Barton W. Evermann, Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, and Mr. N. B. Miller. For certain photographs taken by Mr. Harry Chichester, I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Joseph Stanley- Brown. The drawings showing the life of the beach- masters were made by Miss Chloe Lesley (now Mrs. Edwin Chapin Starks), then a student in Stanford Uni versity. By the courtesy of Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson and Mr. James M. Macoun, I have used certain photo graphs taken by the Commissioners of Great Britain and of Canada. To the author of "The Beaches of Lukan- non," I gratefully make any acknowledgement the reader may deem proper.
DAVID STARR JORDAN
FOREWORD TO THE PRESENT EDITION.
The plates of the earlier editions of this work were des troyed in the fire which followed the earthquake of 1906 In this edition a few additions are made, some plates omit ted, and others added through the courtesy of Mr. Harry Chichester and Mr. George A. Clark.
Palo Alto, California, D' S> J<
October 12, 1909.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Matka, Frontispiece
(Charles H. Townscnd, from Reef Rookery.)
"Atagh groaned and shook his head," ... 16 (Dr. Harry N. Chichcstcr.)
"Let us stay with Atagh," 20
(Dr. Harry N. Chichcstcr, Zoltoi Bluffs.)
"Polsi watched them from the rock," .... 25 "Polsi began to laugh," 30
"Old Amogada, with the long teeth," ... 35 (Miss L. Bcrnic Gallahcr.)
"His house was deep clown among the rocks," 40 (Dr. Harry N. Chichcstcr.}
"They shuffled off as fast as they could," . . 46 (C. H. Townscnd, Zoltoi Sands.)
"As though a great city had risen from the sea," 51 (C. H. Townscnd, Zoltoi Sands.)
"Holostaik awoke, sniffed and raised his head," 55 (Dr. Harry N. Chichcstcr, Zoltoi Bluffs.)
"Kotik taught Minda to swim," 60
(Dr. Harry N. Chichcstcr, Zoltoi Sands.)
"Little Lukutha grew faint and thin," ... 65 (D. IV. Thompson and A. Marrett.)
"Atagh was sleeping yet," 66
(Dr. Harry Chichcstcr.}
List of Illustrations.
PEN DRAWINGS
By Chloc Lesley Starks.
PAGE
"Calling across the surf day after day," ... 14
'The little chutchki birds sang loudly," ... 15
:The mightiest of all the beach-masters," . . 16
•'Then Atagh knew that they must fight," . . 17
"The black-zoned rock-fish," 18
"Like spectres in the great rollers," .... 19
"Bit him in the throat till Atagh roared again," 20
"Boys are so silly; they don't go into society," 21
"I knew Matka before Kotik was born," . . 22
Isogh, the hair seal, 23
"But he never looked back to see how she fell," 24 "When Atagh was fighting, Matka would lift
Kotik gently," 26
"Matka never seemed to look at Kotik either," 27
" T do not like you,' said Kotik," 28
"Don't you see what heavy responsibilities I
have," 31
(Zoltoi Bluffs, from a photograph by PI any Chichester.)
"The yellow Atka-fish with the black zones," . 33 "The purple squid, which tastes like peaches
and cream," 34
(From a specimen thrown on deck of the "Bob- rik" in a storm off Komandorski.)
List of Illustrations.
PAGE
"A long ribbon of kelp in his teeth," .... 36 "Tumbling them over the cliff till the right one
reached her," 37
"Kotik went over with a splash," 38
Eichkao, the blue fox, 39
"And then he learned the dolphin leap," . . 42 "Old Sivutch himself was disturbed, and roared
sleepily," 44
(Tolstoi Point, St. George — Young Male Sea- lions — from a photograph by Harry Chichestcr.)
The pollock-fish, 45
"Orca, the Great Killer," 49
"Under the crest of a breaking wave," ... 54
"Old Epatka, the sea-parrot," G3
"Dead on the shining sands they call Zoltoi,
the golden," 64
"Gavarushka tried to take her eyes," .... 65 "The decks of the schooners, smeared with
their milk and their blood," 66
"To the islands of the Four Mountains they
have found their way," 67
"The dreary days have come," 67
St. Paul Island, Pribilof Group, Bering Sea,
Alaska, 71
(After Joseph Stanley-Brown.}
INTRODUCTION.
The present volume was written for grown people, and was never intended for use in the public schools. It is a valuable story for children, however, and it is a matter of congratulation that, in response to a strong demand, the book is now issued at a price within the limit of public school funds. The absence of a cheap edition has pre vented its use as a supplemental reader, but now that an edition for school use has been prepared, the book should at once become one of our most popular supplemental readers.
THE STORY OF MATKA is a charming and most pathetic story of animal life, the pathos of the story making a deep impression on the reader. The simple yet forcible manner in which the life on the Mist Islands is described, the short sen tences used, and the careful choice of simple Anglo-Saxon words easily place the story within the comprehension of children. Unlike the aver age " nature-study reader," which usually tells what the child should find out for himself, and tends to deaden his interest in the real world about him, the present story tells what should be
Introduction
told, and quickens the child's interest in all that lives by portraying the human element in animal life and by arousing his indignation at the cruel manner with which men treat " their kin who cannot talk." Wholly aside from being a true story of animal life, it is also a piece of good literature, and, among the many books of its kind which have been produced within recent years, it is easily one of the best.
As a supplemental reader the book is partic ularly adapted for use in the fourth or fifth grade. It possesses a charm and a continuity which seize the child's active interest and fix it on the story, and running through it is a human element which will make a strong appeal to every child. In emphasizing this element the teacher has a splen did opportunity to prepare the way for a more humane treatment of all the lower animals. Be cause of these qualities the book possesses many advantages over the usual type of supplemental reader, and should have an extensive use in the public schools of America. We need more litera ture of this kind in our schools.
ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY.
PERSONS.
ATAGH, a beach-master, homing on Tolstoi Mys. MATKA, his wife. KOTIK, their child. UNGA, Atagh's brother.
POLSI (short for Polusikatch), Matka's brother. HOLOSTIAK, Kotik's elder brother. MINDA, Kotik's sister. LAKUTHA, Kotik's sister. ENNATHA, Matka's sister. ANNAK, Ennatha's child. IMNAK, a beach-master.
APOLLON BOWEDURFSKY, Chief of the Mist-Islands. ISOGH, the hair seal. AMOGADA, the walrus. EICHKAO, the blue fox. SIVUTCH, the gray sea-lion. KAGUA, his wife. CHIGNOTTO, the sea-otter. BOBRIK, her son. EPATKA, the sea-parrot. CHUTCHKI, the least auk. GAVARUSHKA, the burgomaster gull. ORCA, the Great Killer.
Chorus of beach-masters, sea-lions, chutchki birds, vol canoes, southeaster, and surf of the sea.
THE STORY OF MATKA.
Unsubstantial as a dream Does my lone Mist-Island seem, With its flower-bespangled moss. Wet by wayward waves that toss Flotsam from the farthest lands Over Zoltoi's shining sands, While the mist still broods above Sleep-cap of the Pribilof '
This is a true story, for I knew Matka before Kotik was born, when she was very beautiful. From the little window of the cabin in which I write these words I can look across the salt lagoon and the mossy hills of the Mist-Island, blue with harebells and spring violets, to the black Tolstoi Head where the great surf is break ing. Men call these cliffs Tolstoi — the strong one — because they are so dark and heavy. Here, among the broken columns of black basalt, was Matka's home, and here Kotik was born.
Then, too, was I not with Apollon, the chief of the Mist-Islands, when we found Matka dead
14 The Story of Matka
on Zoltoi sands, with the cruel spearhead fast in her velvet neck ? She had tried to come ashore at Tolstoi, where Kotik watched her from the rocks above, and little Lakutha waited on the beach for her to come. But Matka was not strong enough. The rocks were steep, the surf ran high, and she had lost much blood. When she tried to call back to Lakutha, the salt water came into her wounded throat, and the tide rips swept her away, over to Zoltoi, where the great waves threw her body on the shining sands. And little Lakutha waited for her on the flat top of a broken column, close to the water's edge, calling across the surf day after day. She is waiting there yet, but she calls no longer, for she fell asleep at last, and her little pinched body still rests in the crevice between the columns of basalt. But when Kotik. was born, all this had not happened. There was bustling life on Tolstoi in those days, when the ice floes all melted in the spring, and the mist-lands above
The Great Man- Seal"
15
the rocks changed from white to green. The little chutchki birds sang loudly as they built their nests, and the whole shore was alive with the beach-masters and their families, v, returning to their homes from which the -> ,, Storm King, who rules the twin Mist- \ Islands in the winter time. ^ •*
had driven them in the ^
fan. *:' *
And in the ^ ~~ J* '"" spring, as it *'"»••
chanced, Old Atagh -*.
had come back with the -" rest. He had been far to the south, to the Fairweather grounds, where the black- zoned rock-fish lives, and **" ^ he had chased it to its haunts among the granite boulders. He had come back strong and lusty, the mightiest of all those they called the beach-masters. When he blew his breath in a great, musk-scented cloud before his face, there were none who dared oppose him. When he had climbed over the ice floes
The little chutchki birds sang loudly."
16
The Story of Matka
to Tolstoi, he roared, because the Storm King had left one of his snow banks there. And when he had roared, he sat down on the snow and groaned, because he felt that great responsi bilities were falling upon him. Then he roared again, for by the rock at the end of the snow bank, the same flat column .^B& on which he had stood all last sum- mer, was his
own brother, Unga. ^^^j» He knew him by his thick, ^Ij^im brown hair, his long mustaches, J||Sfe>MiJf and the scar
" The mightiest of all the beach-masters."
on his shoulder, which Atagh himself ha^ cut when Unga was paying court to Matka.
"Go away, Unga, I want that place," said Atagh; and he groaned, and shook his head, and sent his breath in a great, white cloud across the snow. But Unga roared, too, and blew his breath as far as Atagh could. Then Atagh kneu,
"Atagh groaned and shook his head.
"Haul Oat of the Sear 17
that they must fight; so he held himself very low in the snow and struck out with all his might, making a _ great cut on
11 Then Atagh knew that they must fight."
Unga's arm just below the old scar, and the red flesh showed again. And Unga stood up as high as he could and cut the top of Atagh's head, so that the scalp with its long, blonde hairs seemed like a loose wig. Then Atagh rose as high as Unga could, and seized him by the waist, and with a mighty effort threw him from the snow. Then they both groaaed very loud, and the big tears flowed from their eyes and made wet strips across their cheeks, for they were sorry that they must fight each other. For they were brothers, and for many a day they had been great friends. Long days and nights had they slept side by side on Zoltoi sands. But this was when they were bachelors, before the great duties of life had come to them.
18
The Story of Matka
But the battle did not last long. When Atagh shook his blood-stained head, and roared again, and blew out his breath in a white cloud, Unga only opened his mouth very wide and looked toward the ocean, pretending not to see Atagh any more.
So they became good friends again, and Unga shuffled back to the other side of the snow and left Atagh by the rock he claimed as his own.
Then others came up and would have taken their places with them on the snow, but they could not. For Atagh would hold himself very low as he sprang at them, and Unga would stand very high, and before the intruders knew what.
" The black-zoned rock-fish "
The Silken-Haired Ones Come. 19
had happened, they would be tumbled heels over head, down on the rocks of the beach. When they were all driven away, Atagh sat on the snow and roared again till the tears rolled down his cheeks, as he wondered whether Matka would never come.
One morning a long wave swept in from the sea, and there was a great bustle on the beach, a washing of faces and a shaking of rich furs,
" Like spectres in the great rollers."
and Atagh saw a dozen of the silken-haired ones climbing up the hill from the beach toward the snow where he and Unga were sitting.
But Atagh only groaned, and shook his head, and looked out toward the ocean, as if he did not see them. And the silken-haired ones saw his bleeding neck, and they said, "What a brave
20
The Story of Matka
fellow, he is; let us stay with him and give hi in- consolation." And they lounged on the snow all about him in pretty attitudes, swaying back and 'forth their long, soft necks. Then they pulled his white mustaches and bit him in
the throat, till Atagh j||jL groaned again and shook his head, and ^MlB\ the tears flowed
Bit him in Ihe throat till Atagh roared.
down his cheek, which meant that they were welcome. But none of them looked -at Unga. The next day there was another great rustle on the beach, for more of the silken-haired ones had come. And one of these was Matka, and Polsi, her brother, was with her. Polsi was talk ing to Matka very briskly. He told, her about the Mist-Islands, and Ungeskelligh, and his little
70
The Drecwn of the Bachelor. 21
brown mustaches, and how he could almost blow
a cloud, and how he would like to get married.
And all the while the tears rolled down his
cheeks. But Matka laughed.
she said; " boys are
tliey don't go into
can't know boys, and
never speak to me,
Atagh will blow a
and you will feel
" O you boy," always so silly; society. One you must never, for if you do, cloud at you, no bigger than
Boys are so silly; they don't g'o into society
Eichkao, the little blue fox, for all your mus taches. Now, climb up on the parade ground, like a good little bachelor, and I will let you look down sometimes to see Atagh, that you may grow to be like him. Now, don't stand in my way, for there is Atagh waiting." Then Unga, who was all alone, groaned aloud, and
22
The Story of Matka
Polsi shuffled up the bank as fast as his legs could carry him.
So Matka shook out her silken-brown hair, and brushed her white throat, and climbed up the rocks to the great columns of lava. And Unga saw her as she came up, and stood in her way, and would not let her pass, for he was great and strong, and Matka was small and lissome. "Stay with me," .said Unga; " I am all alone." Then he groaned very loud, and raised his neck, and shook his head three times, while the tears ran from his eyes. " See Atagh," he said; "he has enough already, and does not care for you at all." "That is right," said Matka. "He is such a dear, good, masterful fellow; no wonder every body likes him. We shall all have such good times together. Don't you remember how he
threw you and old Imnak off the rocks last year, and car ried Ennathaand all the rest of them to his
own place, i
' I knew Matka before Korik was born."
"What a Beach-Master He is!" 23
not help yourselves? How mad you were; but you could only groan, and could never blow a white cloud like Atagh. By the side of Atagh the rest of you beach-masters are no better than old white Isogh, who can't raise his head, and can only wriggle off into the water when a beach-
, the hair seal.
master looks at him. There were forty of us that year, and we all belonged to Atagh. Oh, what a beach-master he is!"
But Unga seized her by the throat and would not let her go. Then Atagh heard Matka calling, and he groaned and shook his head. Then, after he had groaned again, he rushed across the snow, and before Unga knew what had happened, there was another cut across his breast, through which the red blood showed again. And Atagh seized
24
The Story of Matka
Matka by the shoulders, and, feet in the air, he tossed her over his head so that she fell among the others. But he never looked back to see how she fell, and all the time he stood face to face with Unga, shaking his head and blowing out his breath in a great cloud. But Unga only looked out over the sea as if nothing had happened. So the two were
But he never looked back to see how she fell."
good friends again. There were now many more of the silken-haired ones on the shore, and some of them came to Atagh, and some of them to Unga; but I need not tell their stories, for it is always thus on the Mist-Islands.
So Atagh shuffled back to his place, and groaned as he thought of the responsibilities
Where Kotik was Born. 25
of life. But Matka said briskly: "What a nice rock you have chosen, dear; and so many of them with you! How strong you are; how they all must admire you! There were forty last year; let us have fifty this year. But little brown Matka is the best of all; is n't she, dear?" And she snuggled up close to Atagh, and bit him a little in the sides of his neck, and pulled his long mus taches. And Atagh shook his head and pretended to groan, and the tears ran from his eyes, but he was pleased for all that, though he would never let Matka know it.
And Polsi, Matka's brother, watched them from the rock above the snow, and he shook his head and blew his breath out a little, just as he had seen Atagh do. But when Atagh saw him and groaned once, Polsi fell off from the rock and tumbled heels over head into the sea.
And right here, close to the sea, among the big rocks under Tolstoi Head, where you look down from the old fox-walk, Kotik was born. When I first saw Kotik the snow bank had melted away. The silken-haired ones were all come, and the Storm King nad fled to his fastness in the north. Matka slept on the flat blocks of lava.
26
The Story of Matka
and Kotik was already a sturdy fellow, for Matka had watched him closely all these first days. None of the other silken-haired ones dared snap at him when Matka was looking; and when Atagh was fighting, Matka would lift Kotik gently by the neck and place him in a safe place behind some rock. Kotik soon learned to toddle away and hide under the rocks when Atagh was rushing
'•When Atagh was fighting, Matka would lift Kotik gently "
about, for to learn to- creep under a rock so as not to be trodden under foot is the first rule of the Mist-Islands; and the second rule is, to go away and play with one's fellows when one is not wanted at home. Kotik had learned to know Matka's voice, and to come when she wanted him. He could climb the sides of the slanting rocks all by himself when there was not anything for him to eat. Atagh never looked at him, for
One Sleeps Much at Tolstoi. 27
he would not have Matka think that he cared for children.
Besides, as the summer went on, the responsi bilities of life grew heavier on Atagh. He slept a good deal, and when he was awake he would shake his head and groan. And after a while, Matka never seemed 'to look at Kotik, either. But when he was out of sight, he was always in her thoughts; she would open her sleepy eyes, and without rising from her resting-place, she would call, and call, until Kotik should answer. Then she would go back to sleep again, and Kotik slept by her side. For one sleeps much on the Mist-Islands. The time moves slowly there, for it is always afternoon, and those who stay there sleep, and sleep, and wait.
Matka never seemed to look at Kotik.
28 The Story of Matka
One day I came to Tolstoi Head, and looking down over the ledge, I saw them all fast asleep — Atagh beside his rock with his nose in the air, while Matka was lazily comfortable on her back among the stones, her arms spread w'ide apart and her white throat showing soft like velvet. Kotik lay close by her with outstretched limbs, trying to look as much like Matka as he could.
" O Matka," said I, " let me look at your little boy1" Matka woke with a start, and brushed her throat nervously
with her hands. "Yes, A.
you may," said
she; " but I must ^-- go and wash my face." But Kotik said: "No,
kc youT' said Kotik." , . T
you cannot look at me. I do not like you; go away and let me alone. If you don't go, I will bite you, and I will tell Atagh, my father, and he will groan at you and bite you, too. Let me alone," said Kotik. So Matka went off to wash her face in the sea. But Atagh saw her going, and would not have it. He groaned again over the. troubles of life, and
"Polsi began to laugh."
OF THE
I UNIVERSITY J
OF
=£dUFORN\i
The Troiibles of Life. 29
one could hear him a mile away. He leaned back on the rock when he roared, and opened his mouth wide, and the tears ran from his eyes. Then he groaned again and shook his head four times. But Matka would not have me see her till she had washed her face, and she tried again to run away. But Atagh said, " Matka, you shall not go; I have said so, and I must have my way." So he seized her by the neck and flung her over his shoulder back into her place. " Look at me," he said; f'l never wash my face; I never eat; I never drink; I never waste my time in frivolity. 1 have stayed right here at home all these two months. I have worked hard, and you shall stay with me." And Matka sat very still behind the rock and looked at Atagh admiringly.
Then Atagh saw me, and he groaned and shook his head again. "Go away," he said; " don't you see how hard it is to manage a house hold? When visitors come, they break up family discipline." And Kotik sat on the rock and roared, too, in his little, high-pitched voice, shak ing his black head till I could see his white teeth. "Don't you see how you trouble us," said he; " it is all that we can do to manage Matka,
30 The Story of Matka
anyhow, even if you don't corne meddling with our affairs."
Then Polsi, Matka's brother, who was sitting alone, watching from the rock above like a sen tinel, began to laugh. But Atagh snorted at him, and he ran away as fast as his long, flat feet could carry him, and while he ran he tumbled over little Holostiak, and they both went flip-flap, bumping their noses against the rocks till they splashed into the sea.
But Matka meant to wash her face all the time, though she pretended not to care any more, and she sat quite still and craned her neck, looking at me all the while with sleepy, curious eyes. " Do go away," said Atagh; "don't you see what heavy responsibilities I have?" Then he began to pant, for he was stout and growing scant of breath, and he groaned again when he thought of all the cares life had brought him.
Then Kotik began to cry as loud as he could. But no one took any notice of him. So he wiped his eyes with his flat, brown hands and ran off to play with the other black-haired little fellows, each with a white spot under his ribs. They were crawling up a flat rock and sliding back every
32 The Story of Matka
time they got half way up. And when one of them would fall off from a rock and bump his nose, then all the others would climb to the same place and do the same thing. And Kotik saw them, so he went up to climb, and slide, and bump his nose with them. And he was climbing and sliding still when I went away.
And Matka washed her face after all, for Atagh went to sleep after he had groaned some more; and Matka slipped softly by him and went down to the sea. For she always had her own way at the end. This is why Atagh groaned so much and shook his head.
When I next came to Tolstoi, Atagh was lying on tne rock fast asleep, sprawled out at full length, his head hanging off from one side of the rock, his long feet dropping down from the other. Matka had been away for a week, but she had already taught Atagh that she should always do as she pleased. She had run down one day to wash her face in the sea, and Atagh was so sleepy that he could not hold her back. When Unga tried to stop her, she struck him sharply on the chin, so that he was willing to let her go. For he, too, was very sleepy, and groaned to himself because
Pretending Not to Notice. 33
life on the Mist-Islands was so full of responsibili ties. Then old Imnak saw Matka coming, and he tried to seize her and hold her back. But Matka was as deft as a cat, and slid behind him, and plumped herself into the water just beside her brother Polsi, and they both went off making long, dolphin leaps. But Matka looked back once to blow a kiss to old Atagh, who had just waked up and who pretended not to notice it, while he groaned and shook his head. And she called to Kotik, who was climbing a great, slippery rock, from which he could slide down plump into a little pool of water. For it was time now for Kotik to learn to swim.
Where Matka went, no one can tell, for it is •» only the silken-haired ones that know the way to the bank of sunken mountains which is the home of the yellow Atka-fish with the black zones, and of
" The yellow Atka-fish with the black zones
the purple squid which
tastes like peaches and cream, and the sleek- skinned dream-fish, which is the nicest of all. There are many who have sought for this bank,
34
The Story of Matka
as there are many who have tried to find the foot of the rainbow; but only the silken-haired ones know the way, and those who have thought that they found it have never been able to go back to the place again. For it lies far away, toward the Islands of the Four Moun-
u The purple squid, which tastes like peaches and cream."
tains, in the edge of the Icy Sea; and the giant kelp spreads over it like a curtain, and rises and falls with the rolling surge. To go there, you must first find the twin Smoke-Islands, which steam and sputter day and night, because they are hot and the water they are in is cold. Then you leave them wrell to the wind ward, and go on, and on, till you see Chignotto, with the thick, gray fur, swimming on her back in the kelp. Her little Bobrik she holds in her arms, clasping him close to her breast when the surf is high. And here the silken-haired ones
She Does What She Pleases. 35
go when they are hungry, and they have no fear of Chignotto, for little Bobrik claims her whole attention, and all are friends who live in the Icy Sea.
And there, too, is the home of old Amogada, with the long teeth, who shakes his great head, and roars, and look very terrible. But Matka had no fear of him, for she knew that he was only scolding his wife, and whatever Amogada says, she will do exactly as she pleases, for that is the law of the Icy Sea.
When Matka had eaten her fill of Atka-fish, dream-fish, and squid, she thought of hungry Kotik, and of Atagh standing lonesome beside his rock, with his nose in the air all these days. But first, she must sleep a little, for a nap after eating is always good for digestion, and she is
always well fed who dines at the Sign
'
Rising and falling with the waves."
36 The Story of Matka
of the Four Mountains. Besides, it is a rule of the Mist-Islands that one should never go on shore with fish in one's stomach. So Matka lay quietly on the water for a day, rising and falling with the waves, and when she awoke she fanned herself softly in her own dainty fashion. Atagh waited and slept, and when he was awake he groaned and roared patiently. But Kotik grew uneasy. He would slide on the rocks, and paddle on the water, and sometimes he arid his little friends would play beach- master.
He would seize a long ribbon of kelp in his teeth and would shake "A long ribbon of keip in
his teeth."
his head very quickly, tearing it to pieces, just as Atagh would tear the skin of the young beach-masters when they came too near Matka. And then he would pretend to dive for fish, but he could only bring up a cast- off shell or a piece of kelp. But whatever he
Matka Calls for Kotik.
31?
got he would shake with all his might so ihat it could not get away. And he learned to swallow the pebbles and shells, for one should always have a little of something solid in his stomach when he goes about on the land. Then he would try to talk to Atagh, but his father would only groan and act as if he did not see Kotik.
One day Matka came ashore. She shook out her hair, rubbed her eyes, and crept up the bank to her Tolstoi home. She looked neither to the left, nor to the right, pretended not to notice Atagh, who was sleepier than ever, and she called aloud, "Kotik, Kotik! " A dozen little black -haired fellows crept up the rocks when they heard her calling, but she thrust them carelessly aside, tumbling them over the cliff till the right one reached her at last. She gave him one kiss of recognition; but she would not even look at him after that, for she
" Tumbling them over the cliff till the right one reached her."
38 The Story of Matka
did not want Kotik to know that she cared for him. So she made him wait until she had dressed herself, and was ready to give him his dinfter, before she would turn her eyes toward him again. For it is not good form to show either love or anger on the Mist- Islands.
When Matka was ready, she crowded Atagh out of the way, and lay down on the smoothest rock on Tolstoi, first pushing off all the little ones who had gathered there to play, and had gone to sleep before the game was finished. She thrust them rudely down the bank, while their mothers sleepily complained to Atagh. But Atagh knew that Matka was always right. So he groaned and shook his head, while she went to sleep on the rocks, with Kotik by her side. And when Kotik had taken all that she had brought for him from the Sign of the Four
44 Kotik went over with a splash."
The Voice of the Beach Master. 39
Mountains, he lay down on his back under a rock, where no beach-master could step on him, and slept for a whole day, his flat, brown hands crossed on his breast, and his flappy little feet moving like a fan. And Atagh thought how pretty Matka was, and what a noble little fellow Kotik was coming to be. Then he leaned back, and shook his head three times, and groaned very
Eichkao, the blue fox.
loud. But that did not wake up Matka nor Kotik, for their sleep was all the sounder the more loudly he roared. "His voice is like the surf of the sea/' Matka said, "and it does one good to hear it." Then Atagh laid his bushy head on the rock and stretched out his limbs just as far as they would reach. Soon he, too, was fast asleep.
40 The Story of Matka.
One day little Holostiak was playing with Kotik by the water's edge, and for mischief he pushed the little fellow down the bank into the sea. Kotik went over with a splash. He was very much scared. He held up his head as high as he could, and then, before he knew it, his nose went under. Then he came tip snorting and gasping, and if he had not paddled for dear life with both his flappy, brown hands, he would have gone to the bottom. Then he would have drowned, and the waves would have washed him up on the beach for Eichkao, the blue fox, to carry home to his children, as he had carried off little Annak the day before.
This little blue fox bore the name of Eichkao, and he was a thief. He had built his house down deep among the rocks under the moss on the Mist Island, and his fox children used to stay down among the rocks. There they would gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, whenever they heard anybody walking over their heads. Eichkao and his fox wife used to run all around over the rocks to find something for them to eat, and whenever he saw anybody coming he would go "clin-n-g," "cling-g-g," and his voice was high and sharp, just like the voice of a buzz saw.
The Little Blue Fox. 41
One day he walked out on the rocks over the water and began to talk to the black sea-parrot, whose name is Epatka, and who sits erect on a lazily- built nest with one egg in it, and wears a great big bill made of red sealing wax. He has a long, white quill pen stuck over each ear, and over his face is a white mask, so that nobody can know what kind of a face he has, and all you can see behind the mask is a pair of little, foolish, twinkling, white, glass eyes. What the two said to each other I don't know, but they did not talk very long; for in a few minutes, when I came back to his house among the rocks, Eichkao was out of sight, and there lay out on the bank a bill made of red sealing wax, a white mask, and two little white quill pens. There were a few bones and claws and some feathers, but they did not £eem to belong to anything in particular, and the lit tle foxes in the rocks went "gurgle," "gurgle," "gurgle."
One day I lay down on the moss out by the old fox walk on the Mist Island, and Eichkao saw me there, and thought I was the young brother of Amo- gada, the walrus. I might be good to eat and would feed all the little foxes for a month. So he ran around me in a circle, and then he ran around again, then again and again, always making the circle
42 Jhe Story of Matka.
smaller, till finally the circle was so small that I could reach him with my hand. As he went around and around, all the time he looked at me with his cold, gray, selfish eye, and not one of all the beasts has an eye so cruel-cold as his. When he thought that he was near enough he gave a snap with his jaws and tried to bite out a morsel to take home to the little foxes, but all I offered him was a piece of rubber boot. And when I turned around to look at him he was running away as fast as he could, call ing "clin-n-g," "clin-n-g," "clin-n-g" like a scared buzz saw all the time as he went out of sight. And I think that he is running yet, and the little foxes still go "gurgle," "gurgle," "gurgle," underneath the rocks.
One day Holostiak came in from the wet rocks and showed Kotik how to swim.
He showed him that the way to keep his head up was to hold it low, so that only his nose was in the air, and to throw the water back with his hands. And then he learned the dolphin leap, when one swims partly under
'And then he learned the dolphin leap."
Learning the Dolphin Leap. 43
water and partly in the air, and breathes only when he is jumping. When Kotik could do this, he was very happy. And as he splashed about, the water washed away all his black hairs, leav ing him all over a soft, silvery gray — "just like Atagh," he said in his little boyish pride. But Matka laughed, for she knew better. She knew that Kotik must shed his hair many times be fore it would be a full velvet brown, whitened by silvery bristles. Besides, Atagh had mus taches a foot long, and great teeth to bite with, instead of the* little pin points around Kotik's mouth.
And when Kotik could swim very well, and could go all alone from Tolstoi to Zoltoi, Matka was very proud of him.
One day he swam around to the island where Sivutch, the gray sea-lion, lives, and he found the brown sea-lion babies asleep on the rocks off the shore. So he climbed up there with them, and began to play with them, just as he played with his fellows at Tolstoi. But the others said: "Go away, little boy. We can't play. We are big and all that, but we don't know anything. Let us alone." And they opened their mouths as wide
44
The Story of Matka
as they could, and cried, and cried, whenever Kotik looked at them. And Kagua, the great, foolish, white-skinned mother, plunged into the water, and put out her head, and called piti fully in a deep, anxious voice, so that huge old Sivutch himself was disturbed, and raised the great mountain of flesh he called his head, and roared sleepily. And his voice was like the deep, full
"Old Sivutch himself was disturbed, and roared sleepily."
bass note of a mighty organ. You might go around the world before you would hear the like again. But Sivutch meant nothing when he roared, for he was not even awake.
Then Kotik saw that he was not wanted by the Sivutch family, so he swam away home and found old Atagh groaning and shaking his head. He said: "I have stood here on this rock all
A tag ft Goes off to Dine. 45
summer and have not eaten once, nor washed my face. You and Matka do not need me any more. I am going away. Good-by. Take care of yourselves. I will come back after dinner." So, without any more ceremony, Atagh shuffled down to the beach, not once looking back at Matka. Unga followed him, and old Imnak came, too, and they went off together in high spirits, rollicking away like the jolly old boys they were. For they were all great friends always when they were off duty. And they swam away together with great, dolphin leaps to the Storm King's gate, where the pollock-fish could always be found in plenty. For Atagh was easily suited when he had enough to eat, and . he had no taste for the creamy squid and the clear-skinned dream-fishes which the silken- haired ones delight in.
The pollock-fish.
*6 The Story of Matka
Then Polsi, who had sat alone on the rock above for a whole month, waiting for Atagh to leave, shuffled down to his place, and pulled his mustaches, and fanned himself unconcernedly, as he tried to look very strong and brave. He shook his head, and groaned, and blew out his breath in a little cloud. But whenever he heard any one coming, he trembled all over, and more than once he was scared out of his wits. Then he left the silken-haired ones and threw himself into the sea because he thought he heard Atagh growl.
But Polsi had good reason to be afraid, for one day Atagh came back all unexpectedly. He gave one great growl as he landed on the beach, and Unga, who was with him, roared and blew out his breath just as he had done when they came for the first time. And when Polsi and the rest of them heard it, they put their heads low and shuffled off just as fast as they could. Then Atagh and Unga, who were very fat, and strong, and wide-awake, came back to their places rollicking and roaring, and they called the silken-haired ones around them, and every thing went on just as before. When Matka saw
- -
' OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
When Bachelors are Happy. 47
Atagh, she was very glad, but she pretended not to notice him. She was busy looking for Kotik, and did not stay very long in one place, and went from Atagh to Unga, and anywhere she pleased, just as Kotik did. And everybody began to do that, so that Atagh could not keep trace of his family. But he was rather glad to be free, and he went off one day to sleep on Tolstoi sands and get well ready for the Long Swim. Then Polsi, who had been watching all the time, came down and took his place. When the beach-masters are away comes the hap piest time of all the year for those who are bachelors.
When Matka saw Polsi, she laughed. " So here the boys are coming to Tolstoi again. It is time for us to take the Long Swim, Kotik. See, the Mist-Islands are white and not green; the sun does not look at us any more, and soon the spray will all grow hard and slippery, and we cannot climb upon the rocks."
So Matka and Kotik swam off with dolphin leaps, and when they were well out at sea, they looked back and saw Polsi all alone on Atagh's rock. All of the silken-haired ones
48 The Story of Matka
had left him, and all their silvery-gray children with them. There was no more life and bustle on the cold, bleak Tolstoi cliffs. For Atagh and Unga had already gone again. This time they went to the Fairweather grounds, where they would stay all winter, to come back early in the spring. For they dared not go too far, because they knew, that if they were not back early, someone else would take their places, and they might never get back into society again.
But Polsi stayed on Tolstoi till everyone else was gone, and was very happy, because he was now as good as Atagh. And little Holostiak, who was Kotik's older brother, crept down to Unga's place, and the Storm King brought the snow back again, and the two stood alone upon it, and felt very proud and manly.
All at once Polsi said- "I feel very hungry. Why, I have n't eaten a thing for a month. Let us go and get some pollock-fish." "Just what I was thinking of," says Holostiak; " they can all see now that we are real beach-masters, now the thing for us to do is to have a good dinner." So they went down to the sea, and
Taking the Long Swim. 49
washed their faces, and then swam right away to the Storm King's gate, where the pollock lives, and is soft and tender. When they had eaten all they could, and had a long sleep on the waves, they swam across to the Fairweather grounds, where they found Atagh and Unga. But they were afraid of them no more, and they went on farther, and farther, a thousand miles to the south. They dodged the Great Killer, Orca, who would have stained the sea with their blood. For he hates the sons of the beach-masters, and destroys them whenever he can; and often he lies in wait for them as they pass through the Storm King's gate.
They passed Kotik and Matka, and all the rest of the silken-haired ones, till they came to the Gray-Islands in the Blue . Seas. At the
•Orca, the Great Kilter."
50 The Story of Matka
Gray-Islands the mist was all gone; the sun shine was hot, and they could see the moon overhead at night. Then they knew that it was time to go back. So they swam around all the islands, not forgetting the last one with the tall, ragged, brown cliffs, and the caves where the brown sea-wolves yelp day and night, in their silly, puppy fashion. Then they went straight back to the north, taking always the coldest current, going through the gates of the Storm King, and past the black cape, called Cheerful,- and by the line of the great floes they found their way to the Icy Seas, to the Mist-Islands. And on the flat columns of Tol stoi Head, Polsi and Holostiak climbed first of all, and they found the snow- bank there just as it was the year before.
When Unga and Atagh came back again and saw them, they blew out their breath in great white clouds. Holostiak ran away with all his might, but Polsi was not frightened at all. For he could roar and blow a cloud, and his teeth were long and sharp. So Atagh had the hardest fight of his life before he could drive away Matka's brother. When the struggle was over,
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF
Good Friends after Battle. 51
and each one .had a bloody shoulder, they were all good friends again, and pretended not to see each other. But there were three of them on the snow bank instead of two, and Polsi was in the middle, and could groan and shake his head just as well as Atagh could. When the silken-haired ones came back, it was very hard for them to choose, for, though Polsi's mustaches were not quite so long, his hair was very black, and he shook his head proudly, and could blow out his musky breath in grqat white clouds across the snow. And on Tolstoi again it was as though a great city had risen from the sea.
Matka and Kotik, too, had gone far out in.ta the broad, blue sea, careless of storm or sunshine, so long as they moved on, day by day, in their southward course. They found many fishes on their way — white-fish and rose-fish, but the yellow Atka-fish of the Icy Sea tasted better than any. "Now," says Matka at last, "let us go back home." And they swam back strongly and swiftly, for Kotik was almost as large as his mother now, and his feet and hands were bigger. Every day, as they came nearer and nearer to the Mist-Islands, they grew
52 The Story of Matka
more and more merry. One morning, they saw a great cone-shaped mountain with smoke coming out of the top. " That is Shishaldin," said Matka; "there the Storm King has his kitchen; from that you will know your way home. Now you see the thick mists rushing through the snow mountains. That is Akutan and the gate of the Storm King, through which you go to the Icy Sea. Then you come to the great Moss-Island, where the white volcano steams and puffs. There the mountain is cleft in twain, and a white cascade leaps from the midst of it straight out into the sea. Now the gray mists draw their curtain before the scorching sun. Where you see the water falling, it is the Cape called Cheerful, and you know you are almost home. Two days more, and we will see the Mist- Islands, and old Atagh waiting for me at Tolstoi."
" Waiting for you, Matka," said Kotik; "can not I go to Tolstoi, too?" "No, you foolish boy," says Matka, "you must not come to Tolstbi. Atagh would be very angry, and all the silken-haired ones would bite you. You must go off with Holostiak, and Kamnin, and
The Duties of Bachelors. 5 3
all the rest of them, to the sands of Ungeskelligh. There you may swim in the water every day, and you may sleep on the sands when it is warm, and on the grass when it is wet. And you may swim to Lukanin when the surf is high, and to Zoltoi when the wind is in the east; and you may swim and eat, and play and sleep, as you will. But you must never come to me. And when you swim past Tolstoi, you may call to me, but I shall never answer; and Atagh will groan and shake his head because you are such a foolish boy. And when the chief, Apollon, comes to drive you up, you must go right along and make no fuss, for it is the way on the Mist-Islands."
And Kotik was sad, for he wanted to stay with Matka. He loved the black rocks of Tol stoi, and he didn't want to be driven up. But then a great wave swept over the reef, and the silken-haired ones came up rustling and bustling to Tolstoi, and climbed over the rocks to where Atagh, and Polsi, and Unga were waiting, each with his nose in the air, and pretending not to see them. "Good-by," said Matka, and Atagh roared so loudly that Kotik was terribly
54 The Story of Matka
frightened, and swam away so hastily that he did not stop till he reached the long, curving stretch of sands beyond Tolstoi they called Ungeskelligh, which means the place for bachelors.
Here he found Holostiak, and his mustaches were growing, and he could already blow a little cloud. And there were many more of
Under the crest of a breaking wave.
the bachelors, little and big, and they had a joyous time together. Sometimes they would pretend to fight, to groan, and to blow out their breath. But this was only play, for they never hurt each other. Then they would bound down the sands into the sea, and swim around to Zoltoi and back again with long, dolphin leaps. And they liked above all to creep under the crest of a breaking wave, so that they
The Drive from Tolstoi 55
could look out on either side as it fell over them. And when he went around Tolstoi Head, Kotik would call out to Matka, and Atagh would shake his head at him and groan. But Matka was busy with little Minda, and she never answered back.
One night they were all asleep on the Unge- skelligh sands when they heard some one moving about in the mist. Holostiak awoke, sniffed, and raised his head. " That is Apollon," he said. " There is going to be a drive." Then he ran down to the sea and plunged in, and never stopped till he came to Tolstoi, so fright ened was he. Here he climbed up the rocks and rushed right in among the silken-haired ones, scarcely knowing what he was doing. "The drive, the drive," he screamed. " What do you want here?" growled Polsi; and he and Unga seized Holostiak by the shoulders and threw him off from the rocks into the sea in half the time it takes to tell it. And Matka looked up sleepily and said: " Dear, dear, how foolish these boys are! I thought Holostiak had been killed in a drive by this time. I hope Kotik will never be so silly. I am glad that Minda is not a boy."
56 The Story of Matka
So the drive went on, and the bachelors were all awakened from their sleep, and men stood between them and the water, so that they had to climb up the sands and over the hill. It was hard work to go up hill in the sands, and they stepped on each other's feet, and tumbled about in confusion. But it was good fun for Kotik. Every minute something new would happen. Some of them would stop and shake their heads, snorting and groaning. Then Kotik would laugh at them and pretend to bite them in the throat or ribs.
When they came up from the sand over the rocks, they went along much more easily. And it was pleasant on the wet grass where the yellow poppies grow, and the great, blue violets. But Kotik did not care for these; he liked the cool dew, and it was such a joke to be driven along in a crowd. But when they came to go down hill, they would slip, and step on each other's feet, and roll heels over head in funny con fusion. When they came to a little pond, they all plunged into it and made a great splashing.
The drive came to its end at the old killing ground, Asascardano, beside the salt lagoon, where the purple monk's-hood waves its poisoned
Why the Rye- Grass is Tall. 57
flowers, and the rye-grass is tall, because the bones lie thick about its roots. There were many others there from Lukanin and Zoltoi, and they all lay down in the grass, panting and pretending to bite each other.
Then Kotik saw a little " pod " of thirty, that the chief had driven up apart from the rest, and the men closed in about them in a moment, and only the biggest and smallest ones were left; for all those who were three years old, and whose skins had no scars, lay dead on the grass. It is not pleasant to tell the story of Asascardano, If killing must be done, one does not like to hear about it. So, if my lady wishes to know where her rich fur cloak comes from, she must ask some one else.
Kotik did not mind it much till his "pod" from Tolstoi was driven up. But when he saw the blows falling on his companions' heads, he was furious with wrath, and the big tears ran all over his face. He rushed at Apollon and struck at him with all his might, just as he had seen Atagh strike at old Unga. But the chief kept him off with his club, and Kotik could not reach him anywhere.
58 The Story of Matka
When the killing was over, and those who were left were creeping disconsolately through the grass on their way down to the salt lagoon, Kotik would not go. He groaned, and shook his head, and showed all his white teeth. " He 's a fine fellow; hear him growl," said the chief. "When he grows up, then look out."
But the chief went away and left him. They drove up another pod a little way off, and Kotik was left in the grass all alone with his wrath. When he found that he could not get at the chief, Kotik shuffled off to the lagoon and swam back as straight as he could to Un- geskelligh sands. And he forgot to call to Matka as he went around Tolstoi Head, for his little heart was full of anger.
I should like, if I could, to tell how Kotik resolved that there should be no more drives, and how he led all the silken-haired ones and all the beach-masters in a great revolt, and swam away to the twin Storm-Islands in the thicker mist, where the green foam curls about the hollowed-out cliffs of Zapalata, and the black reefs close the way to all intruders. But
The Twin Storm-Islands. 59
this is a true story, and I can tell only the truth. He did nothing- of the kind. When he came to Ungeskelligh, Kotik found the strand so quiet and the sand so cool, the surf-beat so soothing and the mist so pleasant, that he lay down and went to sleep.
For it is the way of the Mist-Islands, that when one is unhappy, he sleeps well, and when he awakes all is forgotten. Kotik awoke, full of the joy of the great sands and the sea, and his anger had all faded away. Ten days later, when Apollon came around again, Kotik followed in the drive, doing just what was expected of him from start to finish. And so did Holostiak, for he had less fear of the drive than of Atagh's terrible groan and Polsi's sharp teeth.
"For there have always been drives," every one said, "and drives there will always be." And it is well for them that it is so, else the whole Mist-Islands would be covered with struggling beach-masters, and the silken-haired ones would have no peace of mind or body and their little ones would all be trampled under foot.
60 The Story of Matka.
But Kotik did not forget Matka, and one day he went over to Tolstoi Head and climbed right up among the silken-haired ones, taking always good care to be on the other side of the rocks from Atagh. And Matka looked at him sleepily and said, "You foolish boy." But she did not drive him away. Atagh looked over at him and growled. But he knew it was only Kotik. Besides, Atagh was very sleepy. So he lay down and pretended not to see him.
After a while Matka said, "Now, be a good boy; go away, and when the Great Ice comes down from the north we will swim off together."
So Kotik went down to the shore. Unga and Polsi growled at him all the way down, but no one did more than growl.
On the shore he found little Minda, and he spent the whole afternoon teaching her to swim. Then he went around to Lttkanin, for he liked to lie on the level rocks that face the long curve of the beach. The soft sand made his short legs tired, so when he wished to rest he climbed up on the rocks. But to the rocks of Tolstoi he
Playing Beach-Master. 61
would not go again, for he would not be likely to find Atagh another time in such gentle mood.
Holostiak and Kotik were good friends, and went about together a good deal, climbing the rocks or swimming about the Mist-Islands in dolphin leaps, looking like spectres in the great rollers.
But one day Holostiak stepped on Kotik's foot. He did it on purpose, just to see the little fellow sprawl on the sand. Then Kotik growled and blew out his breath, and Holostiak groaned and held his head low, striking Kotik a quick blow on the shoulder. Then Kotik raised his head, looking the other way, and pre tended not to notice it. So they were good friends again, and Kotik was very proud of the scar, for it showed that he was big enough to fight, even if Apollon had turned him off four times from the drive.
When Unga and Atagh left Tolstoi again and went off to sleep on the rocks, Holostiak and Kotik climbed to the place where they had been, and pretended to groan over the responsibilities of life, to blow out their breath, and to push about the silken-haired ones, just
62 The Story of Matka
as they had seen the beach-masters do. But the silken-haired ones only laughed at them, and said to their children, " It is time for us to be gone, for the boys are playing beach-master." But Matka waited to the last for Kotik, just as she had promised.
Then came another year, and Kotik had to go away again to Ungeskelligh with the others. But Apollon turned him back from every drive, because he was still too small. Holostiak would not stay on the sands any longer with Kotik. He climbed up over the rocks at Tol stoi, and sat there all summer long, looking dow*n at Atagh and Polsi, just as Polsi had done the years before.
The next year Kotik was a splendid fellow, with skin as soft as Matka's, and his mustaches were plainly to be seen. He went into the drive again, and he thought himself the best of them, for he was now three years old. But Apollon turned him back just the same, because he had a scar on his shoulder, and would only make a second-grade skin at the best, for all he was so brave. And Kotik felt ashamed of his scar and himself. Then, whenever the time came
Watching from the Old Fox- Walk. 63
for the drive, and he heard the chief coming he plunged right into the sea. So, when the others were driven, he was always out of reach, on the sands, or the cliffs, or the waves, so that he never went to Asascardano any more.
And the fourth year, and the fifth, he left the sands and watched all summer long on the rocks over looking Tolstoi. Sometimes he stood on the cliffs, above his mother, like a sentinel, nose in the air. By his side, day and night, was old Epatka, the sea-parrot, who sits on one egg and never speaks, and who has no friends among the other birds. His bill is made of red sealing wax, and he covers his face with a white
mask, so that no one knows what he is really like. He is a fantastic creature, and his tem per is as bad as his looks, and he has many quarrels with the little blue fox, for the bones of his fathers lie bleaching by Eichkao's den.
Old Epatka, the sea-parrot."
64 The Story of Matka
But Kotik liked him, and Epatka did not fear Kotik, and they spent many days together on the rocks beside the old fox-walk.
Kotik's face was always turned toward Matka and Atagh. Sometimes he would climb up frorr below and stretch himself, like a great lizard, along the boulders over which the surf was breaking. But when Atagh would roar and blow out his breath, he would run away as fast as he could, plumping into the water with a great splash, and looking back at Matka by the sea.
And then at last came the sad summer, when the ships of the Pirate Kings found their way into the Icy Sea. It was then that we picked up Matka, with a spearhead in her throat, dead on the shining sands they call Zoltoi, the golden. And Lakutha, her little one, who had been so
lltutx I'" " ,u.
" Dead on the shinine sands they call Zoltoi, the golden
ps
OF THE
"
OF
'
Dead on ike Shining Sands. 65
plump and joyous, grew faint and thin, until she died at last. Atagh was sore at heart, though he pretended not to notice it. But he groaned and shook his head with all his might when the blue thief, Eichkao, tried to steal away her little body, and great white Gavarushka tried to take away her eyes as playthings for his children. And
he slept
a great deal on
the rocks, letting the ^~J
Silken -haired Ones COme « Gavarushka tried to take her eyes.'
and go as they would, not
caring where they were, or who might seize them. He went away from Tolstoi very early in the fall, long before the ground was white, and Kotik, who had been watching all the time from the rocks above, crept down and took his place.
Atagh swam out slowly around Tolstoi Head and across to the Great Reef. Then he turned to the north, to the soft resting place on Zoltoi
66
The Story of Matka
Sands, where he had often slept in the after noons when he was a bachelor. Then he crept slowly out of the water, his broad feet sinking deep in the shining sands. Then he shook himself, .and looked backward toward Tolstoi, and groaned again over all the cares of life, and the tears made wet strips across his cheeks. Then he shuffled back over Zoltoi sands to the Great Dunes, where the sands lie in smooth banks between tufts of tall rye-grass. Here Atagh lay down and went to sleep.
And when Kotik came back in the spring and climbed over the broken ice-floes to take his place at Tolstoi, Atagh was sleeping yet.
And now the dreary days have come to the twin Mist-Islands. The ships of the Pirate
Kings swarm in islands of the have found the Smoke-Island because it
the Icy Sea. To the Four Mountains they way. The great v has ceased to roar,
\\
cannot keep
^_-s£? V^ 44 The decks of the schooners, smeared with their milk and their blood."
The Silken- Haired that Never Come.
them back. The blood of the silken-haired ones, thousand by thousand, stains the waves as they rise and fall. The decks of the schooners are .smeared with their milk and their blood, while their little ones are left on the rocks
fai. '
To the islands of the Four Mountains they have found their way."
to wail and starve. The cries of the little ones go up day and night from all the deserted homes, from Tolstoi and Zoltoi, from Lukanin and Vostochni, and from the sister island on Staraya Artil. Meanwhile, Kotik and Unga, Polsi and Holostiak, stand in their places, roaring and groaning, waiting for the silken-haired ones that never come.
Their call comes to me across the
The dreary days have come.
68 The Story of Matka
green waves as I write. I turn my eyes away from Tolstoi Head and put aside my pen. It is growing very chill. The mist is rising from the Salt Lagoon, and there is no brightness on the Zoltoi sands.
Written on Sr. Paul,
The Prihilof Islands, Bering Sea, July 28, 1896.
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35
a.
3 O M
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OF THE
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OF
CALENDAR OF THE MIST-ISLANDS. (Dates approximate and variable.)
Matka turns back from the Farallones, January 1.
Holostiak turns back from Cape Flattery, February 1,
Atagh leaves the Fairweather grounds, March 20.
Atagh passes Cape Cheerful, April 20.
Atagh reaches Tolstoi, May 1.
The beach-masters follow, May 15.
Arrival of Polsi, May 10.
Arrival of Holostiak, July 1.
Arrival of Matka, June 15,
Arrival of silken-haired ones, June 10 to July 20.
Height of responsibilities of life, July 10 to July 20.
Birth of Kotik, June 20
Birth of majority of young, July 5.
Trampling of young in battle, June 20 to July 29.
The drives, July 1 to July 25.
Minda returns (yearling), August 1.
Kotik learns to swim, August 1.
Atagh grows hungry, sleepy, and gentle, August 5.
Atagh goes away to feed, August 10.
Polsi takes his place, August 10.
Atagh returns fat and lively, September 15.
The pirate ships enter the Icy Sea, August 1.
Lakutha starves to death on the rocks, August 15.
The Storm King drives the pirates from the Icy Sea.
September 15.
Kotik is weaned, November 10. The long swim begins, November 15.
APPENDIX TO THE STORY OF MATKA
BY GEORGE ARCHIBALD CLARK.
Secretary to Bering Sea Fur Seal Commission. 1896 and 1897, also of 1909.
THE MIST ISLANDS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS.
St. Paul Island, the scene of the Story of Matka, is one of a group of five rocky islands lying in the southeastern portion of Bering Sea, in Lat. 57 N. and Long. 170 W. This island and its companion, St. George, each about a township in area, are the only important ones in the group. The islands were first discovered by the Russian navigator Gerassim Pribil- of in 1786 and bear his name today. In summer they are all but constantly enveloped in fog occasioned by the meeting of the warm Japan current with the icy breath from the Arctic. Hence they are appropriately called the "Mist-Islands." They are volcanic in origin, treeless and without possibilities of cultivation. Yet their plains are covered with wild flowers and their valleys with luxuriant grasses. In winter the skies are clear and the weather cold. Snow falls and late in the winter the drift ice from the Arctic packs in for a time about them. There are no harbors or safe anchorage against the storms of winter and the islands are therefore absolutely cut off from one another and from the rest of the world during the greater part of the year.
(69)
70 Appendix.
Cape Newenham on the mainland of Alaska is the nearest land to the eastward, three hundred miles away. To the south, two hundred and fifty miles distant, is Unalaska Island, in the Aleutian archipelago. This island contains the rugged old mountain Makushin. It contains also the harbor of Unalaska, once familiar as a way station for vessels bound for St. Michaels and the Yukon. The twin passes of Akutan and Unalga separate Unalaska Island from Akutan Island, on which is the volcano (p. 52) of the same name. The next island to the eastward is the "Moss Island," Unimak, on which is the beautiful snow-clad cone of Shishaldin, rising nearly 'ten thousand feet in height. This is "where the Storm King has his kitchen." There are probably branch kitchens at Akutan and Makushin, for all three volcanos "steam and puff."
Near Unalaska Island, and between it and the Pribil- of Islands are the "Twin Smoke Islands," Old and New Bogoslof. The first of these rose a red hot mountain peak from the sea in 1795. Beside it for a long time stood a single shaft of stone known as Sail Rock. This disappeared in 1883 and a second burning moun tain rose from the sea to the accompaniment of sub terranean thunders and earthquake shocks. This sec ond island has now too ceased to "sputter day and night," though it is still warm. A third Bogoslof is land appeared hot and steaming about the time of the California earthquake of 1906. These islands are ap parently in line with the great California geologic fault. In 1909 this third island has disappeared, and in its place there is a lake of boiling water arising in the icy sea.
Appendix. 71
The "Twin Storm Islands" lie at the other side of Bering Sea, near the coast of Kamchatka. These are the islands of Bering and Medni, the Komandorski, or islands of the Commander, so named in honor of their discoverer, Virus Bering. While returning from his momentous voyage of 1741, in which he found the mainland of the American continent in the vicinity of Mt. St. Elias, his vessel was wrecked on the island which bears his name, and there Bering and most of his company died. The survivors escaped the following spring, taking with them knowledge of the great herds of fur-bearing animals which made their homes on the new islands. These islands are intimately con nected in history with the Pribilof Islands because it was the search for new island homes and new herds of "sea bears" or fur seals that led forty-five years later to Pribilof's discovery.
THE FUR SEALS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS,
The fur seals of the Southern hemisphere are widely scattered among the islands of the South Seas. Those of the north are confined to the islands of the North Pacific Ocean, and chiefly to the Pribilof and Comman der groups, with certain islands in the Kuril chain to the north of Japan. We are indebted to Georg Wil- helm Steller, a German naturalist connected with Bering's expedition of 1741, for our first knowledge of the fur seals of Bering Sea.
The hair seal, Isogh, and Sivutch, the sea lion, share with the fur seal the shores of St. Paul and all three live in neighborly relations. The hair seal (p. 23) is
72 Appendix.
the true seal. The fur seals are more properly what their discoverer called them, "sea bears." The sea lion (p. 44) of the Pribilofs is the same animal that makes its home on Ano Nuevo Island and the Farallones and has made the Seal Rocks of San Francisco famous. He was one of the "four beasts of the sea" which Steller studied on the Commander Islands in 1741.
The sea otter (p. 35) Chignotto or Bobrik, a timid creature whose fur is now of exceeding great value, once lived in the kelp beds about the Pribilof Islands, particularly Otter Island, which has its name from this fact. The Russians called it "Bobrik." But Bo brik has abandoned these shores as well as most other haunts accessible to man, and his race is well nigh extinct.
Amogada, (p. 35) the Pacific Walrus, was once well known to the shores of St. Paul, and great areas on Morjovi beach are still covered with his bones. Until within very recent years a herd of three hundred or more of these beasts made Walrus Island, just off the shore of St. Paul, a summer resting place; but the sportsman's rifle has driven them back to their fast nesses in the Arctic, although herds of 10 to 50 of them are occasionally seen on the ice floes which collect in Norton Sound before Nome in June. The picture of Amogada is taken from a mounted specimen, in the National Museum at Washington, captured on Walrus Island.
Eichkao, (p. 40) the blue fox, is and always has been an interesting inhabitant of the Pribilof Islands. Steller found him on the Commander Islands also, and Ber-
1
"**
I
Appendix. 73
ing's men had difficulty in keeping their dead and dying comrades from his teeth. His "fox walks" today on St. Paul radiate in all directions, from his dens in the castle-like rock piles, to the cliffs where Epatka, the sea parrot (p. 63) and his associates the guillemots and chutchkis, (p. 15) have their nests. His long silken fur is scarcely less valuable than that of the fur seal itself.
There were no native people on the Pribilof Islands when found. This is a characteristic of islands occu pied by the fur seals as breeding homes. The Russians, however, early in the present century brought over Aleuts from Attu and Unalaska Islands to work the fur seal industry and the descendants of these now look up on the islands as their home. They live very comforta bly in two villages, the one on St. Paul numbering about two hundred souls, that on St. George, about half as many. Each village has its "company" store, its church of the Greek-Russian faith and its English school. A- gents of the Government and agents of the Company leasing the fur seal industry, care for the welfare of the Aleuts, for the seals and the various interests involved.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FUR SEALS.
The animals spend only the summer on the islands. The adult males land early in May (pp. 17 and 49) and are followed in June and July by the females. Each "beachmaster" (p. 16), in accordance with the polyg amous habits of the animals gets about him as many fe males as be can control. These family groups are called "harems" (p. 20). A group of harems, defined usually
74 Appendix.
by the configuration of the coast, is known as a "rook ery" (p. 51). There are about fifteen of these rookeries covering about eight miles of shore line. The young are born in June and July. By the first of August the rigid discipline of the harem system relaxes. The beachmasters, which have fasted since their arrival, go away to feed and during the rest of the summer the mothers come and go between the fishing banks far out in Bering Sea and their young on shore. The young learn to swim (P. 60) at the age of six weeks and after wards spend most of their time in the water. In No vember, when the severe storms of winter begin, mothers and young leave the islands. The latter are soon left to their own resources and the former make a rapid and direct journey down through the Pacific Ocean to the latitude of Southern California, where they are found in and about Santa Barbara Channel early in December. The females journey slowly back along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washing ton — gradually picking up the other classes of animals which do not go so far south, — past Vancouver Island, across the Gulf of Alaska, by Kadiak and the Shuma- gins and through the Aleutian passes to their island homes in Bering Sea, where they arrive in June. The adult males spend the winter in the Gulf of Alaska, on the Fairweather grounds, and return earlier to the islands.
THE SEAL FUR INDUSTRY.
Owing to the polygamous habits of the fur seals the greater part of the males born are superfluous. The
Appendix. 75
principle of killing therefore, as worked out by the Russians and followed by our Government in its man agement of the fur industry, is to confine the kill ing to the young males of three years of age. These younger males herd by themselves (p. 54) at a distance from the breeding grounds. The Aleuts surround them while asleep at night and drive them up (p. 55) in great droves to "Asascardano" (p. 57), to be killed and skinned. The pelts, cured in salt, are shipped to San Francisco and thence to London to be dressed and dyed. From London they are distributed to furriers the world over to be made into garments.
The Russian government managed its fur seal indus try through a corporation to which exclusive privileges were granted. When the fur seal islands, together with the territory of Alaska, came in 1867 into the control of the United States by treaty with Russia, our Govern ment at once leased the industry to a commercial com pany, reserving to itself a royalty or tax on each skin taken. For twenty years one hundred thousand skins were taken annually and the tax, together with import duties on dressed skins brought back for consumption in the L^nited States, yielded a revenue to our Govern ment of about thirteen and one-half millions of dollars. The cost of the entire territory of Alaska was only seven million two hundred thousand dollars.
About the year 1886 the fur seal herd was found to be decreasing. In 1890 it was little more than one-half its normal size and the quota of skins fell to twenty thousand. Since that time the herd has steadily declin ed. There was in 1880 doubtless two millions and a
76 Appendix.
half of animals of all classes. In 1896 there were about 400,000 animals. By 1909, this number has diminished to 160,000.
PELAGIC SEALING
The decline of the herd was due to the development of a rival sealing industry at sea (pp. 66 and 67). This had been carried on from the earliest times by the In dians of Cape Flattery and Vancouver Island. These Indians went out in their open canoes a day's journey and hunted with the spear stragglers from the herd as it passed northward on the spring migration. White man's ingenuity soon found a way to increase this ir regular supply of sealskins. Schooners (p. 66) were employed to carry the Indians and their canoes out to the main body of the herd, to move with them day by day and to provide a refuge for them at night and in times of storm. The plan was marvelously successful. From two or three vessels in 1879 the fleet of the "Pirate Kings" grew to a maximum of 122 in 1892, each vessel carrying from five to twenty canoes and hunting crews. The field of its operations gradually extended over the whole migration route of the anim als. The catch of skins rose from a few thousand a year to a maximum of one hundred and forty thousand. The effect of land killing had been to keep the males at a low point. The killing at sea, necessarily indiscrim inate, fell most heavily upon the females. The investi gations of the Commission of 1896 proved that fully three-fourths of the animals taken at sea were of this class. With the mother seal, killed in the spring off
Appendix. 77
the Northwest Coast her unborn offspring died ; in Ber ing Sea her death involved that of her dependent off spring on the rookeries by starvation. By actual count in the autumn of 1896 at least sixteen thousand youn°-
J &
seals were found to have suffered the fate of little "Lakutha" (p. 64). It was to emphasize these facts that the story of Matka was written.
Since 1897 pelagic sealing has become more destruc tive even than it was in Matka's day. Then, it was chiefly a Canadian industry carried on many miles out at sea; but in 1903 the Japanese took up the hunting of the fur seals, using shotguns, and coming close to the rookery shores. Not being bound by the agreement between the United States and Great Britain, by which there was established a closed season of three months and a protected zone of sixty miles radius about the islands, the Japanese hunters, from their closer vantage ground on the three-mile limit, harrass the mother seals throughout the entire summer. Between the seasons of 1896 and 1909, the pelagic fleets of Canada and Japan have taken an aggregate of 285,000 animals, two-thirds being females.
THE FUR SEAL QUESTION.
The effect of pelagic sealing was foreseen from the first though not fully understood. While it was confined to the open waters of the Pacific Ocean no action seem ed possible. But when the pelagic fleet entered Bering Sea, in 1886, and attacked the herd on its summer feeding grounds, the United States sent revenue cut ters to warn the schooners out of Bering Sea and to
78 Appendix.
seize and confiscate those persisting in taking seals. This action was based upon the right claimed by Russia in 1821 to seize and confiscate vessels caught killing seals in the waters of Bering Sea. Among the vessels seized by United States officers in 1887 (p. 66) were Canadian vessels. A diplomatic discussion with Great Britain followed which finally resulted in a Treaty of Arbitration, agreed upon in February, 1892, by which the question of jurisdiction is Bering Sea, claimed by the United States in the interests of her fur seal herd, was left to a court of arbitration for decision.
This Arbitration Tribunal met in Paris in the spring of 1893, reaching its decision in August of that year. The decision was adverse to the contention of the Uni ted States and, in accordance with the stipulations of the treaty covering this event, the Tribunal formulated a set of regulations governing pelagic sealing by which the two governments might jointly accomplish "the protection and preservation" of the fur seal herd when on the high seas.
These regulations followed the analogy of our com mon game laws. A close season in May, June, and July was established during which the mother seal might bring forth her young unmolested. This was supple mented by a protected zone of sixty miles radius about the islands in which she might feed in safety when pelagic sealing was resumed in August and September.
These regulations failed utterly of their purpose be cause the mother seals feed not within the protected area but far beyond it Hence they were slaughtered without mercy in August and September and their
Appendix. 79
helpless young died of starvation on the rookeries. The result was most disastrous and the season of 1894, the first under the regulations, saw the largest catch in the history of pelagic sealing and was consequently the most destructive to the herd.
The failure of the regulations was at once apparent and our Government made efforts to secure their imme diate reconsideration. To this Great Britain, standing for the interest of the pelagic sealers, would not con sent, at least till the expiration of the five-year trial period. In preparation for such reconsideration the two nations agreed in 1896 to submit the whole ques tion of seal life to a new investigation. The investiga tions for the United States were under the direction of President Jordan of Stanford University, with associ ates from the scientific bureaus at Washington. Pro fessor Thompson of Dundee, Scotland, with a number of associates, represented Great Britain.
At the close of the investigations in November, 1897, the two commissions, known as the Conference of Fur Seal Experts, came together in Washington and after •a discussion of the results of their labors reached a sub stantial agreement as to the facts in the case. These facts had prior to this time been, for the most part, in dispute. By the joint agreement pelagic sealing was designated as the cause of the decline of the herd, and it was further shown that pelagic sealing in any form was incompatible with the protection and preservation of the herd.
Upon the basis of this agreement the fur seal ques tion passed into the hands of the Joint High Commis-
80 Appendix.
sion which was called together at Quebec in Septem ber, 1898, to consider and act upon a number of ques tions, among them the fur seal question, at issue be tween the United States and Canada. This Commis sion failed to end pelagic sealing, and the tragedy of the "Mist Islands" has been re-enacted each summer since. Since 1903 the Japanese fleet has re-enforced the Canadian fleet. In the thirteen years that have elapsed, two hundred thousand mother seals have been slaughtered and their young left to starve on the rook eries of St. Paul and St. George. And the end is not yet. To provide a game law that will protect the mother seal on the high seas requires international action, and the mills of the diplomats, like those of the gods, grind slowly.
Stanford University, October 12, 1909.
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