360 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



THE SAFE PERPETUATION OP THESE INTERESTS. We know uow, to a certainty, that we 

 can take 100,000 young male seals every year froiu these hauling grounds of Saint Paul and Saint 

 Goerge, without the slighest injury to the interest of the Government thereon. How many more 

 can be taken annually, is a problem which, perhaps, to the best interests of all concerned, had 

 better remain unsolved. As a mere pleasure of calculation and evolution from known facts, I was 

 satisfied, and am now, that 150,000 to 180,000 "holluschickie" could annually be taken without any 

 sign of future detriment ; but, though at first I did not, yet I should now, for one, object to a full 

 business execution ; because these curious, anomalous, and valuable interests of the Government 

 might as well stand " well enough alone." 



The Government derives a handsome revenue, as matters now go on, and the increased tax 

 which might accrue to the public treasury from a higher development of the business, would hardly 

 pay, when weighed against the slighest risk of its injury in the future. 



THOUGHTS UPON THE POSSIBLE MOVEMENTS OF THE FUR-SEALS IN THE FUTURE. As 

 these animals live and breed upon the Pribylov Islands, the foregoing studies of their habit declare 

 certain natural conditions of landing-ground and climate to be necessary for their existence and 

 perpetuation. From my surveys made upon the islands to the north, Saint Matthew and Saint Law- 

 rence, together with the scientific and corroborating testimony of those who have visited all of the 

 mainland coast of Alaska, and the islands contiguous, including the peninsula and the great 

 Aleutian Archipelago, I have no hesitation in stating that the fur-seal cannot breed, or rest for 

 that matter, on any other land than that now resorted to, which lies within our boundary lines ; 

 the natural obstacles are insuperable. Therefore, so far as our possessions extend, we have, in 

 the Pribylov Group, the only eligible land to which the fur-seal can repair for breeding; and ou 

 which, at Saint Paul Island alone, there is still room enough of unoccupied rookery- ground for the 

 accommodation of twice as many seals as we find there to-day. But we must not forget a very 

 important prospect; for, we know that to the westward, only 700 miles, and within the jurisdiction 

 of Russia, are two other seal-islands one very large, on which the fur-seal regularly breeds also; 

 and though from the meager testimony in my possession, compared with Saint Paul, the fur seal life 

 upon them is small, still, if that land within the pale of the Czar's dominion be as suitable for the 

 reception of the rookeries as is that of Saint Paul, then what guarantee have we that the seal-life on 

 Copper and Bering Islands, at some future time, may not be greatly augmented by a corresponding- 

 diminution of our own, with no other than natural causes operating? Certainly, if the ground 

 on either Bering or Copper Island, in the Commander Group, is as well situated for the wants of 

 the breeding fur-seal as is that exhibited by the Pribylov Islands, then I say confidently that we 

 may at any time note a diminution here and find a corresponding augmentation there; for I 

 have clearly shown, in my chapter on the habits of these animals (see Section I of this report), that 

 they are not so particularly attached to the respective places of their birth, but that they rather 

 land with an instinctive appreciation of the fitness of that ground as a whole. 



MORE DEFINITE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED OF THE RUSSIAN SEAL-ISLANDS. If W6, however, 



possess ail the best suited ground, then we can count upon retaining the seal-life as we now have 

 it, by a vast majority, and, in no other way ; for it is not unlikely that some season may occur 

 when an immense number of the fur-seals, which have lived during the last four or five years on 

 the Pribylov Islands, should be deflected from their usual feeding-range at sea by the shifting of 

 schools of fish, and other abnormal causes, which would bring them around quite close to the 

 Asiatic seal-grounds, in the spring ; and the scent from those rookeries would act as a powerful 

 stimulant and attraction for them to land there, where the conditions for their breeding may be 

 just as favorable as they desire. Such being the case, this diminution, therefore, which we would 



