236 



ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



diminished ratio of one-eigbth, in 1840 or 1842 there would not have 

 been a single seal left, as aj)pears by the following table : 



1825 



1826 



1827 



1828 2, 816 



1829 



1830 



1831 



1832 



Seals. 



1,360 



1,190 



1, 040 



850 



700 



580 



500 



400 



10. liESULTS OF THE " ZAPOOSKA". — Following two years of '-zapoo- 

 ska" (saving), the seal life is enhanced for more than ten years, and 

 the loss sustained by the comi)any in the time of " zapooskov" (about 

 8,500) is made good in the long run. The case may be thus stated: If 

 the company had not S])ared the seals in 1826-27 they would have 

 received, from 1826 to 1838 (twelve years), no more than 24,000, but 

 by making this zapooska regulation for two years, they got in ten 

 years 31,576, and, beyond this, they can yet take 15,000 without another, 

 or any, zapooska, 



11. And in this case, where such an insignificant number of seals 

 was spared on St. George (about 8,500), and in such a short time (two 

 years), the result was at once significant every year; that is, three 

 times more appeared than the number spared. The result, therefore, 

 must be large annually on the island of St. Paul, where, in consequence 

 of the last orders or directions of the governor, already four years of 

 saving have been in force, in which time over 30,000 seals have been 

 left for breeding. 



On this account, and in conformity with the above, I here present a 

 table, a prophecy of the seals that are to come in the next fifteen years 

 from 7,060 seals saved on the island of St. Paul in 1835. 



On the island of St. Paul, at the direction of the governor, a " zapoosk" 

 or saving was made of 12,700 seals; that is, before the year 1834 there 

 were killed 12,700 seals, and on the following year, if this saving had 

 not been made, according to the testimony of the inhabitants, no more 

 than 12,200 seals would or could have been taken from the islands, it 

 being thought that this number (12,200) was only one twenty fifth of 

 the whole ; but instead of killing 12,200, only 4,052 were taken, leaving in 

 1835, for breeding, 8,118 fresh young seals, males and females, together. 



In making this hypothetical table of seals that are to come, I take 

 the average killing, that is, one-eighth ]>art, and proceed on the sup- 

 position that the number of saved seals will not be less than 7,060. 



In the number of 7,060 seals we can calculate u])on 3,600 females; 

 that is, a slight majority of males. With the new females born under 

 this "zapooska" I i)lace half of those born the first year, and so on. 



Females, in the twelve or eighteen years next after their birth, must 

 become less in number from natural causes, and by the twenty-second 

 year of their lives they must be (piite useless for breeding. 



Of the number of seals which may be born during the next four years 

 of "zapooska," or longer, we may take half for females. This number is 

 included in thetable, and the males, or " hollnschickie,"makeup thetotal. 



Table No, II: Its showing. — From the Table II observe that — ' 



1. Old females, that is, those which in 1835 were capable of bearing 



1 The reader, in following the calculations of the Bishop, as exhihited hy this 

 table, must not forget to bear in raind, as he runs it over, that it is arranged with 

 a sliding scale of increase that counts steadily down from 1840 to 1849; and also 

 a sliding down scale of decrease, by reason of natural death rates, that works steadily 

 across these figures of increase just specified. — H. W. E. 



