CHAPTER XVIII 



A FISH OR AN ANIMAL 



N a congressional investigation of Bering Sea 

 affairs, an eminent senator began the discussion 

 with this question, " Is the Fur Seal a Fish or 

 an Animal ? " It is to answer this question for 

 anglers that the present chapter is written. Some people 

 doubtless think that the fur seal is a fish, even if we do not. 

 It was in the latter part of the eighteenth century that 

 the Russian commander, Gerassim Pribilof, sailing eastward 

 from the Komandorski Islands, after a voyage of almost a 

 thousand miles, discovered the group of rock-bound islands 

 in the eastern part of Bering Sea which to this day bears his 

 name. 



The group consists of two principal islands and two small 

 outlying islets. The first of the islands discovered was St. 

 George, so named from the vessel in which Pribilof sailed. 

 A year later the second and more important island, St. Paul, 

 was discovered. Pribilof found a great colony of fur seals 

 on these islands, and loaded his vessel with their skins. 

 Since that day St. Paul and St. George have become the 

 principal source of supply for the seal skins of the world. 



This little group of islands is the most important point in 

 the whole territory of Alaska, and outweighs all the rest in 

 interest to the naturalist. Indeed, it is doubtful if in all the 

 earth there is a more interesting exhibition in zoology than 

 is to be found in the little island of St. Paul. The islands 

 have also great economic importance. There is probably 

 no other spot of ground of its size in the world capable of 



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