TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT. 137 



down to us from an immense antiquity through the slow process 

 of evolution. It is no longer generally conceded that the local 

 inhabitants of any given district have a divine commission to 

 pollute the streams with sawdust, to destroy the forests by axe or 

 fire, or to slaughter every living thing within reach of rifle, 

 trap or poisoned bait. This must be thoroughly understood in 

 advance. The game and the forests belong to the nation and not 

 to the individual, and the use of them by the individual citizen 

 is limited to such privileges as may be accorded him by law. 

 The mere fact that he has the power to destroy without inter- 

 ference by the law^ does not in itself confer a right. The de- 

 struction of game is far more often eiTected by local residents 

 than it is by visiting sportsmen, but the chief evildoer, and the 

 public enemy of all classes, is the professional hunter, either 

 Indian or white, who kills for the market. Worse still, perhaps, 

 is the professional dealer in heads and antlers, who employs such 

 hunters to provide game heads for the decoration of the banquet 

 halls of the growing class of would-be sportsmen, who enjoy the 

 suggestion of hunting prowess conferred by a selected collection 

 of purchased heads, mixed in with those of their own killing. 



However efficient the game laws may be in limiting the killing 

 to a given number of individuals, and to certain seasons of the 

 year, or, better still, to the adult males of certain species, the 

 only permanently effective way to continue in abundance and in 

 individual vigor any species of game is, to establish proper 

 sanctuaries, as thoroughly controlled as the Yellowstone 

 Park, and these must contain both summer and winter ranges. 

 In such areas no hunting or trapping, nor perhaps even dogs, 

 should be allowed ; and in them the game will then retain its 

 native habits and breed freely, while the overflow would populate 

 the adjoining districts. This principle has been applied in East 

 y\frica with brilliant success, where a protected strip of land on 

 either side of the Uganda Railway is now absolutely swarming 

 with game. 



Such preserves should be set aside in Alaska, while land is yet 

 of little value. Districts should be selected wdiere there is but 

 little, if any, mineral wealth ; and there are abundant areas of 

 that description in Alaska. Certain islands should also be util- 

 ized, particularly in southeastern Alaska. Beyond doubt such 

 refuges will be ultimately established, but it is to be hoped that it 

 can be done before the game has been decimated and the forests 

 cut down or burned. 



