ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 67 



1868, before the euactment of the prohibitory law, the several parties 

 sealing there took 240,000 seals, mostly of the prodncts of the years 

 1866 and 1867. These would have matured and been added to the stock 

 of breeding males in the years 1872 and 1873 and to this a part of the 

 prospective dehciency is to be attributed. 



It became my duty, as a special agent of the Treasury Department, to 

 reside on St. Paul Island during the season of 1869 for the purpose of 

 studying the habits of the fur seals with a view to determining the 

 practicability of preserving and deriving a revenue from the animals. 

 At that time no opportunity was afforded of visiting the island of St. 

 George to compare the number of seals breeding there with those on 

 St. Paul Islaiid, but from the best information obtainable it was believed 

 to be equivalent to one-third of the latter island, and the proportion of 

 the quota of that island was fixed at 25,000. In the year 1873 it was 

 found that the proportion was too large, and for reasons set forth in 

 my report of September 30 of that year the number of seals to be taken 

 from St. George was fixed at 10,000, and 15,000 added to the quota of 

 St. Paul. From the report of Assistant Treasury Agent Samuel Fal- 

 coner, now in charge of that island (a copy of which is herewith trans- 

 mitted), it will be seen that since that date the breeding seals have so 

 increased as to warrant an increase in the quota of that island of 5,000, 

 making it 15,000. 



Constant and careful attention has been given to the conditions and 

 changes in the different classes of seals and the data kept for compari- 

 son from year to year, and the result, as summed up the present year, in 

 comparison with 1870, shows the present stock of breeding females has 

 steadily increased in a ratio of 5 or 6 per cent per annum added to the 

 original stock, while the stock of breeding bulls has decreased by loss 

 from age and other causes so much faster than there has been young 

 seals grown up to replace them that its present condition is only equal 

 to the present demand, and the stock of half bulls, or those to mature 

 in the next two years, is not sufficient to meet the wants of the increase 

 in the family. [Juder these circumstances I feel it my duty to recom- 

 mend that for the next two years the number of seals to be taken for 

 their skins be limited to 85,000 per annum, to be ai)portioned between 

 the two islands as follows : From St. Paul, 70,000, and from St. George, 

 15,000. 



The civil ati'airs of the natives have been conducted by themselves 

 through their chiefs of their own selection, and with two exceptions 

 good order and quiet have been maintained. One of these occasions was 

 while the chief was making his rounds at 2 o'clock in the morning to 

 wake and send a party of men to drive seals, he came upon a party of 

 four young men who had during the night been drinking quas, or native 

 beer, and got into a drunken quarrel. While he was attempting to quiet 

 them one of them struck him, intiicting a severe wound over the left eye. 

 At this others interfered and separated the combatants, and while the 

 chief went to the surgeon to have his wound dressed the party dispersed 

 to their homes. The next day an investigation of the matter was had 

 at my office, and the man was clearly proven in the wrong. The three 

 chiefs, who exercise both the judicial and executive functions, decided 

 to punish the offender by creating a lower class in the division of the 

 seal fund for tiie i)urpose of punishing misdemeanors of this kind, and 

 placing him in it, which would be equivalent to a fine of $80. This 

 condition was accepted by the offender and finally executed in the 

 regular order of settlement of the fund derived from the killing of 

 seals and other labors done by the people as a community. 



