168 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



brief bio2:raphy of the walrus of Bering Sea, I desire to say that the 

 graphic and detailed account given by Sir Edward Parry, in the nar- 

 rative of his third voyage to the North Pole, of the manner in which 

 the Eskimos hunt and use the walrus of Prince Regent Inlet {Odobce,- 

 nus Tosmarus) fitly expresses my own observations made at St. Law- 

 rence Island among the Tschukchie Eskimos there. Hence I shall not 

 embody them in type. My illustrations will supply the vacancy 

 which his accurate and lengthy description alone allows.^ I call atten- 

 tion to this economic history of the Atlantic walrus by Parrj^, for in 

 my opinion, it is written with great fidelity. 



SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS OF LIEUT. WASHBURN MAYNARD, U. S. N. 



A SYNOPSIS OF Lieutenant Maynard's report. — In closing this 

 biology of the seal life on the Pribilof Islands, it is not superfluous 

 on my part to present to the reader a brief review of the writings 

 which have been ordered by the Government uj)on the condition of 

 the subject at the islands. I have previously called attention to the 

 fact that prior to my work in 1872 and 1874, inclusive, a singular 

 absence of a business-like and succinct method of comprehensive 

 information existed in the archives of the Treasury Deijartment, 

 which is charged by law with the absolute control of these interests, 

 and is responsible to Congress for the same. In order, therefore, 

 that this statement of mine shall not pass as a mere assertion on my 

 part, I deem it due to the history of the subject of this memoir, at 

 the present writing, to give a brief abstract of the labors of those 

 officials of the Government who have made the fur seals of Alaska 

 the thesis of their publications and correspondence. These papers 

 are so scattered that a combination here of their substance may not 

 be uninteresting. I shall comment only upon those documents which 

 have a direct reference to the Pribilof Islands. 



Special report op Lieut. Washburn Maynard, U. S. N. — 

 Before touching upon the special labors of the Treasury officials, I 

 wish to direct the attention of the reader to the following synopsis 

 of an exceedingly concise and interesting contribution to the subject 

 of the business on the seal islands. It is from the pen of Lieut. Wash- 

 burn Maynard, U. S. N., and was submitted by him to the Secretary 

 of the Navy on the 30th of November, 1874. His work of investi- 

 gation was in obedience to the order of CongreSiS expressed in an act 

 approved April 22, 1874. The occasion of this gentleman's labor 

 arose directly from the constant and reiterated charges, made more 

 by insinuation than by specific writing, against the correctness of my 

 published position in regard to the conduct of the business on the seal 

 islands, and he proceeded to that field of duty conscious of the fact, 

 and determined to settle it as far as he was able to by a thorough and 

 personal scrutiny of 'the whole subject. He did so; and I now desire 

 to embody the substance of his communication above referred to. 



The only fault which can be found with Lieutenant Maynard's report 

 is that it is exceedingly brief, though explicit. I should say here that 



' As the natives of the Pribilof Islands do not hunt the walrus, I have in my 

 studies of this animal introduced the figures, metliod, and costumes of the St. 

 Lawrence Eskimos, which faithfully typify the entire Alaskan people, who live 

 largelj' upon the flesh of this animal. I do so not only on account of its being 

 wholly germane to the subject of my discussion in this monograph, but more so as 

 it is the first pictorial presentation of the ideas involved ever given. 



