ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 351 



positively quiet, save the subdued sheep-like^ calling of the females 

 and the lamb-like answer of their offspring. 



As this breeding- ground of Zapadnie was the second one in size and 

 importance on St. Paul in 1872, the figures which my survey of last 

 July warrant, show an extraordinary decrease here and make a melan- 

 choly exhibit. 



Detailed analysis of the survey of Lower Zapadnie rookery July 11, 1890. 



[Sea margin beginning at Q and ending at Zapadnie Point.] 



Square feet. 



2,700 feet sea margin between Q and Zapadnie Point, with 20 feet average 



depth, massed 54, 000 



Jag A is 400 feet deep above sea margin, with 50 feet average width, massed. 20, 000 



Jag B is 300 feet deep above sea margin, with 60 feet average width, massed. 18, 000 



Jag C is 380 feet deep above sea margin, with 35 feet average width, massed. 13, 300 



Jag D is 200 feet deep above sea margin, with 75 feet average width, massed. 15, 000 



Jag E is 175 feet deep above sea margin, with 75 feet average width, massed. 13, 125 



Jag F is 350 feet deep above sea margin, with 60 feet average width, massed. 21, 000 



Jag G is 200 feet deep above seS. margin, with 60 feet average width, massed. 12, 000 



Jag H is 125 feet deep above sea margin, with 40 feet average width, massed. 5, 000 



Total square feet 171,425 



making ground for 85,705 seals — bulls, cows, and pups — against a total 

 of345,000inl872. 



The figures for Upper Zapadnie are not much better. I regard it as 

 apart and parcel of but one rookery, i.e., Zapadnie: but, for clearness 

 of definition in survey, separate the wings. 



Detailed analysis of the survey of Upiier Zapadnie rookery July 11, 1890. 



[Sea margin beginning at Q, ending at V, resumed at W, and ending at E.] 



Square feet. 

 1,200 feet sea margin between Q and V, with 40 feet average depth, massed. . . 48, 000 

 2,300 feet sea margin (beach) between W and K, with 10 feet average dejith, 

 massed 23, 000 



Total square feet 71, 000 



making ground for 35,000 seals — bulls, cows, and pups — against a total 

 of 97,800 in 1872, or a total to-day of 121,205 for Zapadnie entire against 

 442,800 in 1872. 



POLAVINA ROOKERY (1872-1874). 

 [Its condition and appearance July, 1874.'] 



Halfway between the village and Northeast Point lies Polavina: 

 another one of the seven large breeding grounds on this island. The 

 conspicuous cone-shaped head of Polavina Sopka rises clearly cut and 

 smooth from the plateau at its base, which falls 2 miles to the eastward 



'Indeed, so similar is the sound that I noticed that a number of sheep which the 

 Alaska Commercial Company had brought up from San Francisco to St. George 

 Island, during the summer of 1873, were constantly attracted to the rookeries, and 

 were running in among the holluschickie: so much so, that they neglected the good 

 pasturage on the uplands beyond, and a small boy had to be regularly employed to 

 herd them where they could feed to advantage. These transported Ovida;, though 

 they could not possibly find anything in their eyes suggestive of companionship 

 among the seals, had their ears so charmed by the sheep-like accents of the female 

 pinnipeds as to persuade them against their senses of vision and smell. 



The sound which arose in 1872 from these great breeding grounds of the fur seal 

 when thousands upon tens of thotisands of angry, vigilant l)ulls were roaring, chuck- 

 ling, and piping, and multitudes of seal mothers were calling in hollow bleating 

 tones to their young, that in turn responded incessantly, is simply defiance to verbal 

 description. It was, at a slight distance, softened into a deep booming, as of a cata- 



