440 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



POOR RESULTS. 



After this, when it was most ])laiiily seen that the seals were, on account of this 

 ■wicked killing, steadily growing less and less in number, the directions were observed 

 for greater caution in killing the grown seals and young females which came in with 

 the droves of killable seals, and to endeavor to separate, if possible, these from those 

 which should be slain. 



PARTIAL CHECKS AGAIN ORDERED. 



But all this hardly served to do more than keep the seals at one figure or nixmber, 

 and hence did not cause an increase. Finally, in 1834, the governor of the company, 

 upon the clear {or ^'handsome") argument of Baron Wrangel, which was placed 

 before him, resolved to make new regulations respecting them, to take effect in the 

 same year (1834), and, following this, on the island of St. Paul only 4,000 were killed 

 instead of 12,000. 



On the island of St. George the seals were allowed to rest in 1826 and 1827, and 

 since that time greater caution and care have been observed, and headmen, or fore- 

 men, have ke])t a careful account of the killing. 



From this it will be seen, that no anxiety or care as to the preservation of the seal 

 life began until 1805 (i. e., with the united companies). 



It is further evident that all half measures, seen or not seen, were useful no longer, 

 as they only served to preserve a small portion of the seal life, and only the last step 

 (1834) with the present people or inhabitants has proved of benefit. And if such 

 regulations of the company continue for fifteen years (i. e., until 1849), it may be 

 truly said that then the seal life will be attracted quite rapidly, under the careful 

 direction of headmen, so that in quite a short time a handsome yield may be taken 

 every year. In connection with this subject, if the company is moderate, and these 

 regulations are carried out, the seal life will serve them, and be depended upon, as 

 shown in this volume, Table No. 2. 



IDEAS OF THi; OLD NATIVES, AS TO VIRILITY OF DRIVEN SEALS. 



Nearly all the old men think and assert that the seals which are spared every year 

 ("zapooskat kotov"), i.e., those which have not been killed for several years, are 

 truly of little use foi breeding : lying about as if they Avere outcasts or disfranchised. 

 About these seals, they show that after the seals were spared, they were always less 

 than they should be : as, for instance, on the island of St. George, after two years of 

 saving or sparing of 5,500 seals, in the first year they got, instead of 10,000 or 8,000 

 as they expected, only 4,778. 



WHY THE SEALS DIMINISHED. 



But this diminution, which is shown in the most convincing manner, is due to 

 wrong and injustice, because it would not have been otherwise v/ith auy kind of 

 animals — even cattle would have been exterminated — because a great many here 

 think and count that the seal mother brings forth her young in her third year, i. e., 

 the next two years after her own birth.' As it is well shown here the spared seals 

 ("zaijooskie") wore not more than 3 years old, and therefore it was not possible to 

 discern the correct and true numbers as they really were. Taking the females killed 

 by the people, together with all the seals Avhich were purposely spared, it was seen 

 that the seal mothers did not begin to bear earlier than the fifth year of their lives. 

 Illustrative of this is the following: 



(a) On the island of St. George, after the first zapooka, in 1828, the killing of 

 5-year-old seals was continued gradually up to five times as many as at first. With 

 those of 5 years old the killing stopped. Then next year twelve times as many 

 6-year-olds were observed on the islands, as compared with their number of the last 

 year; and with, or in the seventh year, came seven times as many. This shows that 

 females born in 1828 did not begin to bear young until their fifth year, and become 

 with young accordingly ; that the large ones did not appear or come in six years 

 (from 1828), as is evident, for in the fifth year all the females did not bring forth. 



(b) It is known that the male seals can not become "seecatchies" (adult bulls) 

 earlier than their fifth or sixth year. Following this, it may be said that the female 

 bears earlier than the fourth year. 



'And these natives were right. The females do bear their first young in the 

 third year of their lives. Veniaminov falls into an error when he concludes that 

 they do not. He has read a little too much of Bufibn. Better not have read him at 

 all.— H. W. E. 



