112 ALASKA. 



their previous small number 5 and, therefore^ the number of 

 three-year-old seals was quite constant. 



9. If on the ishiud of Saint George, in 182G-'27, the seals 

 had not had this rest, ("zapooska,") and the killing had been 

 continued, even at the diminished ratio of one-eighth, in 1840 

 or 1842 there would not have been a single seal left, as appears 

 by the following table : 



Seals. 



1S25 5,500 



182G 4,400 



1827 8,520 



1828 2,816 



1829 2,468 



1830 2,160 



1831 1,890 



1832 1,554 



Seals. 



1833 1,360 



1834 1,190 



1835 1,040 



1836 850 



1837 700 



1838 580 



1839 500 



1840 400 



10. Following two years of '^zapooska," (saving,) the seal-life 

 is enhanced for more than ten years, and the loss sustained by 

 the company in the time of *'zapooskov" (about 8,500) is made 

 good in the long run. The case may be thus stated: If the 

 company had not spared the seals in 1826-'27, they would have 

 received, from 1820 to 1838, (twelve years,) no more than 24,000, 

 but by making this znpooska regulation for two years they got 

 in ten years 31,570, and, beyond this, they can yet take 15,000 

 without another, or any, zapooska. 



11. And in this case, where such an insignificant number of 

 seals was spared on Saint George, (about 8,500,) and in such a 

 short time, (two years,) the result was at once significant every 

 year; that is, three times more appeared than the number 

 spared. The result, therefore, must be large annually on the 

 island of Saint Paul, wiiere, in consequence of the last orders 

 or directions of the governor, already four years of saving have 

 been in force, in which time over 30,000 seals have been left for 

 breeding. 



On this account, and in conformity with the above, I here 

 present a table, a prophesy of the seals that are to come in the 

 next fifteen years from 7,000 seals saved on the island of Saint 

 Paul in 1835. 



On the island of Saint Paul, at the direction of the governor, 

 a " zapoosk " or saving was made of 12,700 seals; that is, before 

 the year 1834 there were killed 12,700 seals, and on the following 

 year, if this saving had not been made, according to the testi- 

 mony of the inhabitants, no more than 12,200 seals would or 



