ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 75 



timately, these warm, sunny days on the Pribilof Islands are so rare 

 that the seals certainly can have no ground of complaint, even if we 

 may presume they have any at all. Some curious facts in regard to 

 their selection of certain localities on these islands and their aban- 

 donment of others I will discuss in a succeeding chapter, descriptive 

 of the rookeries. This chapter is illustrated by topographical surveys 

 made by myself. 



Albinos.— I looked everywhere and constantly, when treading my 

 way over acres of ground which were fairly covered with seal pups, 

 and older ones, for specimens that presented some aDnormity ; that is, 

 monstrosities, albinos, etc., such as I have seen in our great herds of 

 stock; but I was, with one or two exceptions, unable to note anything 

 of the kind. I have never seen any malformations or "monsters" 

 among the pups and other classes of the fur seals, nor have the natives 

 recorded anything of the kind, so far as I could ascertain from them. 

 I saw only three albino pups among the multitudes on St. Paul, and 

 none on St. George. They did not differ in any respect from the 

 normal pups in size and siiape. Their hair, for the first coat, was a 

 dull ocher all over; the fur whitish, changing to a rich brown, the 

 normal hue ; the flippers and muzzle were a pinkish flesh tone in color, 

 and the iris of the eye sky blue. When they shed the following year 

 they are said to have a dirty, yellowish- white color, which makes them 

 exceedingly conspicuous when mixed in among a vast majority of 

 black pups, gray yearlings, and " holluschickie " of their kind. (See 

 note, 39, O.) 



Where do the seals die ?— It is perfectly evident that a large 

 percentage of this immense number of seals must die every year from 

 natural limitation of life. They do not die on these islands; that 

 much I am certain of. Not one dying a natural death could I find or 

 hear of on the grounds. They evidently lose their lives at sea, pre- 

 ferring to sink with the rigor mortis into the cold, blue depths of 

 the great Pacific, or beneath the green waves of Bering Sea, rather 

 than to encumber and disfigure their summer haunts on the Pribilof 

 Islands. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FUR-SEAL ROOKERIES OF ST. PAUL AND ST. 



GEORGE. 



Dearth of information concerning the facts about the rook- 

 eries.— Before I can intelligently and clearly present an accurate 

 estimate of the aggregate mimber of fur seals which appear upon 

 those great breeding grounds of the Pribilof group every season, I 

 must take up, in regular sequence, my surveys of these remarkable 

 rookeries which I have illustrated in this memoir by the accompany- 

 ing sketch maps, showing topographically the superficial area and 

 distribution assumed by the seal life at each locality. 



It will be observed that the sum total on St. Paul Island preponder- 

 ates and completely overshadows that which is represented at St. 

 George. Before passing to the detailed discussion of each rookery, it 

 is well to call attention to a few salient features in regard to the pres- 

 ent appearance of the seals on these breeding grounds, which latter 

 are of their own selection. Touching the location of the fur seals 

 to-day, as I have recorded and surveyed it, compared with their dis- 

 tribution in early times, I am sorry to say that there is not a single 

 line on a chart or a word printed in a book or a note made in manu- 

 script which refers to this all-important subject prior to my own work, 



