ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 77 



tion at this island is a scant 2^ miles; but for that matter there 

 was, at the time of my arrival and in the beginning of my investiga- 

 tion, a score of equally wild and incredible legends afloat in regard to 

 the rookeries on St. Paul and St. George. Finding, therefore, that 

 the whole work must be undertaken de novo, I set about it without 

 further delay. 



Immense mortality of the seals in 1836. — Prior to the year 1835 

 no native on the islands seemed to have any direct knowledge, or was 

 acquainted with a legendarj^ tradition, even, in relation to tlie seals, 

 concerning their area and distribution on the land here; but they all 

 chimed in after that date with great unanimity, saying that the win- 

 ter preceding this season (1835-36) was one of frightful severity ; that 

 many of their ancestors who had lived on these islands in large bar- 

 rabaras just back of the Black Bluffs, near the present village, and at 

 Polavina, then j)erished miserably. 



They say that the cold continued far into the summer; that immense 

 masses of clearer and stronger ice floes than had ever been known to 

 the waters about the islands, or were ever seen since, were brought 

 down and shoved high up on to all the rookery margins, forming an 

 icy wall completely around the island, looming up 20 to 30 feet above 

 the surf; they further state that this wall did not melt or in any way 

 disappear until the middle or end of August, 1836. 



They aflirm that for this reason the fur seals, when they attempted 

 to land, according to their habit and their necessity, during June and 

 July, were unable to do so in any considerable numbers. The females 

 were compelled to bring forth their young in the water and at the wet, 

 storm-beaten, surf margins, which caused multitudes of the mothers 

 and all of the young to perish. In short, the result was a virtual anni- 

 hilation of the breeding seals. Hence, at the following season, only a 

 spectral, a shadowy imitation of past times could be observed upon the 

 seal grounds of St. Paul and St. George. 



On the Lagoon rookery, now opposite the village of St. Paul, there 

 were then only two males, with a number of cows. At Nah Speel, 

 close l^y and right under the village, there were then only some 2,000; 

 this the natives know because they counted them. On Zajjadnie 

 there were about 1,000 cows, bulls, and pups; at Southwest Point 

 there were none. Two small rookeries were then on the north shore 

 of St. Paul, near a place called Maroonitch; and there were seven 

 small rookeries running around Northeast Point, but on all of these 

 there were only 1,500 males, females, and young; and this number 

 includes the "holluschickie," which, in those days, lay in among the 

 breeding seals, there being so few old males that they were gladly 

 permitted to do so. On Polavina there were then about 500 cows, bulls, 

 pups, and "holluschickie;" on Lukannon and Keetavie about 300; 

 but on Keetavie there were only 10 bulls and so few young males 

 lying in altogether, that these old natives, as they told me, took no note 

 of them on the rookeries just cited. On the Reef, in Gorbotch, were 

 about 1,000 only; in this number last mentioned some 800 "hollus- 

 chickie" may be included, wliich lay in with the breeding seals. 

 There were only 20 old bulls on Gorbotch, and about 10 old males on 

 the Reef. The village was placed on its present site ten years prior 

 to this period of 1835-36. 



Such, briefly and succinctly, is the sum and the substance of all 

 information which I could gather f)rior to 1835-36; and while I do not 

 entirely credit these statements, yet the earnest, straightforward 

 agreement of the natives has impressed me so that I narrate it here. 



