ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 135 



Fragile character of fur-seal bones. — I looked at tlie fur-seal 

 bones, and at first sight it seemed as though a hone factory might be 

 established there, but a little examination of the singularly light and 

 porous osseous structure of the Callorhinas quickly stifled that enter- 

 prise. The skull and larger bones of the skeleton are more like paste- 

 board than the bone which is so common to our minds. When dried 

 out, the entire skeleton of a 3-year-old male will not weigh 7 pounds. 

 Indeed I am inclined to think it would be much less than that if thor- 

 oughly kiln dried as after the fashion of the bone mills. Therefore, 

 although 100,000 of these skeletons bleach out and are trodden down 

 annually upon the Pribilof Islands, j^et they have not the standing 

 for any commercial value whatsoever, considering their distance and 

 difficulty of access from those impoverished fields where they might 

 serve our farmers as fertilizing elements.^ 



Decay of seal carcasses. — Another singular and striking char- 

 acteristic of the island of St. Paul is the fact that this immense slaugh- 

 tering field, upon which 75,000 to 90,000 fresh carcasses lie everj^ season, 

 sloughing away into the sand beneath, does not cause any sickness 

 among the people who live right over them, so to speak. The cool, 

 raw temperature and strong winds, peculiar to the place, seem to pre- 

 vent any unhealthy effect from the fermentation of decay. The elymus 

 and other grasses once more take heart and grow with magical vigor 

 over the unsightly sj)ot, to which the sealing gang again return, repeat- 

 ing their bateau, which we have marked before upon this place three 

 years ago. In that way this strip of ground, seen on my map between 

 the village, the east landing, and the lagoon, contains the bones and 

 the oil drippings and other fragments thereof of more than 3,000,000 

 seals slain since 178(3 thereon, while the slaughter fields at No vastosh- 

 nah record the end of a million more. 



I remember well the unmitigated sensations of disgust that possessed 

 me when I first landed, April 28, 1872, on the Pribilof Islands, and 

 passed up from the beach at Lukannon to the village over the killing- 

 grounds. Though there was a heavy coat of snow on the fields, yet 

 each and every one of 75,000 decaying carcasses was there, and bare, 

 having burned, as it were, their way out to the open air, polluting the 



''The bones of CUtllorldmis, though apparently strong, are surprisingly light and 

 porous: indeed, they resemble those of Aves more than those commonly credited 

 to mammalia. The osseous structure, however, of Phuca iritidina, the hair seal 

 which I examined there, side by side with that of the fur seal, was very much 

 more solid and weighed, bone for bone of equal age, just about one-third more, 

 the skiill especially; also the shoulder blades and the pel vie series. If the bones of 

 the animals were not divested of their cartilaginous continuations and connec- 

 tions, then the aggregate weight of the fur seal is equal to its hairy-skinned rela- 

 tive. The entire skeleton of a 3-year-old male Callorhinus, completely divested by 

 sea_ fleas {Anipldpoda) of all flesh and fat, but with every ligamentary union and 

 articulation perfect (the cartilaginous toe ends all present), was just 8 pounds, 

 and 1 have reason to believe that when it became air dried and bleached it did not 

 weigh more than 4 or 5. The bones of the older seals are relatively very much 

 heavier, but only relatively. The frailness and fragility are constant through life, 

 thoiigh the skulls of the old males do thicken up on their crests and about the 

 rami of their jaws very perceptibly. Sea-lion bones are, however, normally 

 strong and heavy. The bone of the" fur seal is evidently stout enough, but it is 

 singularly light, while tiie walrus, that dull, sluggish brute, has a massive 

 osteological frame. I made these relative examinations more especially to ascer- 

 tain something which might pass for a correct estimate of what the bony waste 

 on the killing grounds of the Pribilof Islands amounted to annually, with a view 

 of its possible utilization. The spongy bones of the whole 100.000 annually laid 

 out would not render, according to my best judgment, 50 tons of dry bone meal — 

 an insignificant result and unworthy of further notice on these islands. 



