364 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



NORTH ROOKERY (1890). 

 [_Its condition and appearance July, 1890."] 



I came upon this breeding ground to-day, July 19, 1890, after an 

 absence of just sixteen years. I find tbe topography unchanged ; the 

 hauling grounds all grass-grown, and the usual flowering plants which 

 seem to follow (on all of these declining rookeries) the abandonment of 

 hitherto polished rock and hard- swept soil traveled over and laid upon 

 by the seals. The breeding animals on the several areas of this rookery 

 are in the usual form, and characteristic of those which I have described 

 on St. Paul — the same scanty supply of old bulls; no young bulls on 

 the rookery or outside at the water's edge ; large scattered harems and 

 every evidence of imperfect service. In all these forms, precisely as 

 they are over on St. Paul. 



Yet this, the chief rookery of St. George, which held 76,250 breeding 

 animals and their young in 1874, has suffered a loss of only one-half of 

 its cows and pups — but, the bulls, fully five- sevenths of them are miss- 

 ing. This rookery was the largest on St. George in 1874. It has been 

 so ever since, and is to-day; but, large as it was, there was only one on 

 St. Paul smaller in 1874, the Lagoon rookery: (Kah Speel we can not 

 count). However, to-day there is still another one on St. Paul smaller, 

 and that is Ketavie, though it was twice as large as this North rookery 

 in 1874. 



It is an admirable point of seal ground, well drained and free from 

 muddy i^ools during rain storms. It is in full sight of the village, and 

 only a short half-mile walk away. 



Detailed analysis of the survey of North rookery, July 19, 1890. 



[Sea margin begins at a and ends at 1, 3,306 feet.] 



Square feet. 



150 feet sea margin, from a to b, with 15 feet average depth, massed 2, 250 



300 feet sea margin, from b to c, with 60 feet average depth, massed 18, 000 



95 feet sea margin, from c to d, with no depth (a few scattered seals.) 



245 feet sea margin, from d to e, with 60 feet average depth, massed 20, 700 



250 feet sea margin, from e to f, with 10 feet average depth, massed 2, 500 



186 feet sea margin, from f to g, with 12 feet average depth, massed 2, 232 



220 feet sea margin, from g to h, with 60 feet average depth, massed 13, 200 



240 feet sea margin, from h to i, with 12 feet average depth, massed 2, 880 



280 feet sea margin, from i to j, with 12 feet average depth, massed 3, 360 



1,300 feet sea margin, from j to 1, with 10 feet average depth, massed 13, 000 



Total square feet 77,122 



making ground for 38,561 seals — bulls, cows, and pups — against a total 

 of 76,250 in 1873-74. 



LITTLE EASTERN ROOKERY i (1873-74). 



\^It8 condition and appearance July, 1874.'] 



From the village to the eastward about half a mile again, is a little 

 eastern rookery, which lies on a low, bluffy slope and is not a piece of 

 ground admitting of much more expansion. It has superficial area for 

 the reception of nearly 13,000 breeding seals and their young. 



1 The site of this breeding ground, and that of the marine slope of the killing 

 grounds to the east of the village on this island, is where sea lions held exclusive 

 possession prior to their driving off' by the Russians, so the natives affirm. The only 

 place on St. George now, where the Eumetopias breeds, is that one indicated on the 

 general chart between Garden Cove and Tolstoi Mees. 



