ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



293 



think it necessary to take into consideration tlie actual number of seal» 

 in order to decide the question of how many can be taken each year 

 without injury to the fisheries. The law (discovered by Mr. Elliott) 

 which governs the breeding seals in hauling, viz, that the size of the 

 rookery varies directly as the number of seals, seems to me, after close 

 and repeated observation, to be correct. All the rookeries, whether 

 large or small, are uniform in appearance, alike compact, without waste 

 of space, and never crowded; such being the case, it is unimportant to 

 know the actual number of seals ui)on the rookeries, for any change in 

 the number of seals, which is the point at issue, any noteworthy increase 

 or decrease in the size of the rookeries, taken collectively, will show a 

 corresponding increase or decrease in the number of breeding seals, 

 consequently in the number of pups born, upon which, of course, the 

 extent and safety of the fisheries depend. If, then, a plan or map of 

 each rookery be made every year, showing accurately its size and form 

 when at its greatest expansion, which is between the 10th and 25ta of 

 July, a comparison of them would give the relative number of the 

 breeding seals from year to year. I will submit with this report maps^ 

 of St. Paul and St. George islands, showing the extended location of 

 breeding rookeries and hauling grounds from surveys in July, 1874, 

 made by Mr. Elliott and myself, and a map of each rookery on both 

 islands, drawn from careful surveys made by Mr. Elliott in 1872, show- 

 ing them as they were in the season of 1874 as compared with that of 

 1872. I respectfully recommend that enlarged copies of these latter 

 maps be furnished to the Government agents in charge of the islands, 

 and that they be required to compare them each year with the res^jec 

 five rookeries, and note the change in size and form, if any exist, upon 

 them. This, if carefully done, will afford data, after a time, by which 

 the fisheries can be regulated with comparative certainty, so as to pro- 

 duce the greatest revenue to the Government without injury to the 

 seals. 



Since 1870 there have been killed on both islands, in round numbers, 

 112,000 young male seals each year. Whether this slaughter has pre- 

 vented the seals from increasing in numbers or not, and if so, to what 

 extent, can only be deduced from their past history, which unfortunately 

 is imperfectly known. In 1839 there were fewer seals upon the islands 

 than had ever been seen before since their discovery in 178G. On St. 

 Paul there were not more than twelve or fifteen thousand of all kinds. 

 The killing of them was then stopped, and not resumed until 1845, when 

 it was done gradually, and, as had never been the case before, only the 

 young males were killed. The rookeries continued to increase in size 

 until 1857, since which time they have remained about the same, al- 

 though a less number were killed yearly between 1857 and 1868 than 

 have been killed since. This would seem to show that there is a limit 

 beyond which they will not increase and that this limit has been reached. 

 If they could be under our control and protection at all times, aiid if 

 a sufficient supply of food for them could be procured, we should doubt- 

 less be able to cause them to multiply, for there are more of both sexes 

 born each year than necessaryto meet the loss from the natural causes 

 of old age, disease (unless epidemic), and accident. But in reality we 

 do not even know where they are for seven months in each year, while 

 we do know that they have deadly enemies, which make sad havoc, par- 

 ticularly among the pups and yearlings, as a single killer- whale has 

 been found to have 14 young seals in his stomach when killed. Our 

 protection of them ean only be partial; that is to say, we can limit 

 the number to be killed when they are within our reach, and prevent 



'Missing. See Eeport of H. W. Elliott, ante, pp. 776-778. 



