496 APPENDIX. 



these years a steady increase in the breeding herd. In 1876 he says 

 this amounts to 4 or 5 per cent. This of itself disproves the whole con- 

 tention of scarcity of adult males. An undue absence of males would 

 make itself felt in a diminished birth rate, and this in turn would affect 

 the breeding females as a class, which is recruited solely by the acces- 

 sion of young 3-year-old females as breeders. 



Charles Bryant, 1876: Page 93. 



It is here intimated that the diminution of the quota in 1873 for St. 

 George Island had the effect of steadily increasing the male seals, and 

 consequently it is held that the quota can now be increased again. Noth- 

 ing could be more absurd than this. The seals saved out by the reduc- 

 tion of the quota in 1873 could now be no more than 6 years of age, 

 and those of 1874 and 1875 still younger; none were then of breeding 

 age. The reduction of the quota therefore could not have had this 

 effect. A consideration of the whole matter shows that Captain Bryant 

 did not understand the circumstances fully, and finding a larger pro- 

 portion of females to males than he had made up his mind was proper, 

 he decided that the one sex was increasing and the other diminishing. 

 It is not possible for us to decide absolutely what was the fact, but it 

 is plain from the history of the herd for the years immediately follow- 

 ing that Captain Bryant's fears regarding the effect of the taking of 

 the quota of 100,000 skins were groundless. 



The killing of males could do no harm to the rookeries so long as the 

 males were really superfluous, as was certainly the case in the years in 

 question. At no time on any of the Pribilof hauling grounds has the 

 killing of males been nearly as close as is at present the case on Bering 

 Island, yet of all the rookeries of the Commander Islands those of 

 Bering Island held their own longest, because they were the last to 

 be affected by pelagic sealing. While actual overkilling of males might 

 be temporarily disastrous, there is no evidence that its supposed evils 

 have ever been felt. 



There is not the slightest reason why the males hauling out on Otter 

 Island (referred to on page 94) should not have been included in the 

 lease, and their killing by raiders had or could have only the effect 

 which similar killing on the hauling grounds of St. Paul could have, 

 namely, to reduce the number of killable (not breeding) seals. 



Charles Bryant, 1877 : Page 99. 



Mr. Bryant supposes that many pups were destroyed by the storm of 

 October 30 and 31. At this time they were three months and a half old, 

 and able to swim well. To what extent drowning in storms is a source 

 of loss at that age and later, has not yet been shown. Among the 

 younger pups drowning is a very rare accident. 



The "considerable loss in the product of this year" which Captain 

 Bryant anticipates, did not occur, as the killings of 1879 and 1880 show. 

 The full quota was obtained, and none of the decrease complained of in 

 1875 and 1876 was visible. 



Harrison G. Otis, 1879: Page 120. 



According to Mr. Otis "many of the natives profess to believe that 

 the seals are decreasing in numbers on St. Paul Island," and this fiict is 

 ascribed by them to the presence of the steam oil works. 



