Fri; SKAL IMH'STKY or ALASKA. 



351 



of 100,0(10 will be seen before you at English I'.ay, sweeping hither and surging thither 

 over Ilie polished surface which they have \voru wilh their restless Ilippers, tracing and 

 "tracing Iheir tireless inarches; then, to-morrow, if the weather is rainy or hot. only a few desul- 

 tory thousands will he seen over this same area whereon } on observed swarming myriads \esterday: 

 consequently the amount of ground occupied by the " holluschickie " is vastly iu excess of whai 



(&i+^jfUifau^jl*uf> 



,, HIGH PLAT r. AU 



GREAT EASTERN 



Scale: 



they would require did they conform to the same law of distribution observed by the breeding 

 seals ; and this foundation is therefore wholly untenable for any such definite basis and satisfactory 

 conclusion as is that which I have surveyed on the rookeries. Hence, in giving an estimate of the 

 aggregate number of "liolluschickie'' or non-breeding seals, on the Pribylov Islands, embracing 

 as it does all the males under six or seven years of age and all the yearling females, it must, 

 necessarily, be a simple opinion of mine founded upon nothing better than my individual judgment. 

 This .is my conclusion : 



The non-breeding seals seem nearly equal in number to that of the adult breeding-seals; but 

 without putting them down at a ligure quite so high, I may safely say that the sum total of 

 1,500,000 iii round numbers is a fair enumeration, and quite within bonds of fact. This makes the 

 grand sum total, of the fur-seal life on the I'ribylov Islands, over 4,700,001). 



5. THE INCREASE OK DIMINUTION OF THE SEAL-LIFE, PAST, PRESENT, AND 



PROSPECTIVE. 



Oiie stereotyped question has been addressed to me universally by my friends since my return, 

 first in 1ST."., from the seal islands. The qncr\ is: "At the present rale of killing the seals, it will 

 not be long ere they are exterminated; how much longer will they last:'" My answer is now as 

 it was then, "Provided matters are conducted on the seal islands in the future as they are to-da\, 

 100,000 male seals under the age of live years and over one may be safely taken ever\ year from 

 the Pribylov Islands, without the slightest injury to the regular birth-rates, or natural increase 



