ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 409 



day of October, 1892, up to the 12th day of August, 1893, yet the num- 

 ber of skins counted out of the salt house by myself and Agent Adams, 

 August 24, 1893, on St. Paul Island was 5,418, and as counted out by 

 myself and Agent Hall on St. George Island, August 26, 1893, was 

 2,007, making a total of 7,425 skins, leaving a shortage of 75 skins. 

 Out of this shortage only 7 can be accounted for, which were small 

 road skins killed in the several drives during the season, and the com- 

 pany rejected them and refused to take them from the island, so I gave 

 them to the natives. This left an unaccountable shortage of 68 skins. 

 A very remarkable coincidence is that this shortage all seems to occur 

 on St. Paul Island, and, from the best possible information to be ob- 

 tained, I find on this island an equal or greater shortage to have been 

 an annual occurrence for years past. 



As to the taking of seals upon the islands from the 20th day of 

 October, 1892, to the 12th day of August, 1893, a daily journal or regis- 

 ter was kept, showing the number of seals taken, the date of taking, 

 the rookery from which they were taken, and the skins accepted and 

 rejected by the lessees. (See Exhibits A and B.) A reference to 

 Exhibit A will show that 5,313 ijrime skins were accepted, 52 under 

 size rejected, 121 stagey rejected, and 14 cut rejected. But the fact is 

 that on the 24th of August, the day of shipment from St. Paul, George 

 E. Tingle, superintendent of the lessee's company, and myself over- 

 hauled the rejected undersized and cut skins, and out of the number 

 formerly rejected by the local agent 23 were accepted as prime skins, 

 leaving the actual number of undersized and cut skins rejected 36. 



By reference to Exhibits A and B it will be seen that the killing of 

 seals for food in the fall of 1892 on the island of St. George began 

 October 20 and ended November 19, while on St. Paul it began Novem- 

 ber 11 and ended December 16. During this period out of 349 seals 

 killed on St. George there was not a stagey skin found, while on St. 

 Paul, although the killing began a month later and continued almost a 

 mouth longer, out of 784 skins taken 121 were found to be stagey, some 

 of these as late as December 16. I was unable to obtain a reasonable 

 explanation for this state of affairs from any natural cause from the 

 oldest and best informed residents of the island. 



There were a few seals seen at Northeast Point rookery on St. Paul 

 Island as late as January 7, 1893. The first seals seen in the spring 

 were a few bachelors swimming in the water close ofl' Keef rookery on 

 April 12. At Zapadne, on St. Paul, the 27th day of April, the first 

 bulls hauled up. Bachelor seals began hauling up May 1, and cows 

 were first noticed during the first days of June. The first puj) discov- 

 ered was on Reef rookery on St. Paul Island June 12, by which time 

 the cows were coming in pretty fast. It was observed that the pup 

 was born a few days after their arrival. It was plain to be seen that 

 there was an ample number of bulls upon each island to serve all the 

 cows that hauled up on the rookeries. Quite a number of bulls were 

 observed on the several rookeries during the entire season unable to 

 secure a single cow. It was not infrequent to see harems formed of 

 from 3 to 7 cows. The largest number observed in any one harem dur- 

 ing the season that could be counted to a certainty was 37. As to the 

 increase or decrease of the seal herd, I can only arrive at a conclusion 

 from information obtained from Agent Murray, who has been on these 

 islands the past four years, and from the native inhabitants, and from 

 the condition and appearance of the rookeries and grounds covered by 

 the seals this year as compared with former years. I think there is 

 little change as to the increase or decrease of the seal herd from last 



