ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 697 



that in liis day there were 31 times as many harems and 17 times as 

 many cows on these tAvo rookeries. This is impossible, and nothing in 

 the appearance of the ground or the history of the herd would warrant 

 such an assumption. Fortunately in the log of St. Paul Island we have 

 evidence so nearly contemporaneous .with Mr. Elliott's time as to rei)re- 

 sent practically identical conditions. On May 24, 18S0, Mr. Beaman, 

 then agent on St. Paul, records that by actual count there were on that 

 date 275 bulls on these two rookeries. Not all the bulls, of course, 

 could be expected on the rookeries at this date, but the season wns a 

 normal one, as the bulls began arriving on the oOth of April. We 

 know from our experience of the past season that by the end of the 

 first week in June practically all the regnlar harem masters are in their 

 places. It is impossible for us to determine what proi)ortion of the bulls 

 would be present on the 24th of May, but we may reasonably infer that 

 if there were to be 10,000 present by the loth of June (when the cows 

 begin to arrive), 275 was a ridiculously small proportion to be found on 

 the 24th of May. 



Page 93: In this recapitulation for St. Paul we find the now aban- 

 doned rookery of "TsTah Spil" estimated at 8,000 breeding seals and 

 .young, or about 275 bulls and 3,500 cows. This was indeed a small 

 rookery, about one-half the size of Kitovi to day. It is to be regretted 

 that Mr. Elliott did not make an actnal count of its pups. In connec- 

 tion with this little rookery, however, we have the most conclusive evi- 

 dence of the exaggerated nature of Mr. Elliott's estimate. In the year 

 1879 we find it recorded in the log of St. Paul Island that a total of 

 23 bulls were counted on this rookery on the 20th of June after a con- 

 siderable number of cows had arrived. There can be no question that 

 at that date all the harem bulls were in place. 



This recapitulation also shows the most serions objection of all to 

 Mr. Elliott's survey of the rookeries. Here we find that for 9 of the 12 

 breeding grounds of St. Paul, involving 7 miles of breeding shore line, 

 each rookery is given an even average width of 150 feet. What the aver- 

 age should be we would not assume to say, but no one familiar with the 

 character of these rookeries would concede them all to be of this average 

 width. This average width is a matter of great im])ortance, for an 

 error in it is multiplied throughout the whole 7 miles of breeding- 

 grounds. Suppose the average width was in fact 100 or 140 instead 

 of 150. This, according to Mr. Elliott's method of the calculation would 

 require the adding to or subtracting of 184,000 animals from the total. 

 It is impossible to accept the results of such an estimate as even 

 approximating the facts. 



Page 100: In his final summary of the rookeries of the two islands 

 Mr. Elliott finds a total of 3,193,420 "breeding seals and young." This 

 includes, according to his subsequent statemtnt, all adult breeding 

 bulls and cows, the virgin 2-year old cows, and the pups of the year. 

 On page 102 he tells us that 1,000,000 of these were pups, and by his 

 calculation in the same connection of the survival of 2-year olds we find 

 that 225,000 of this class are included. For the million pups there must 

 have been an equal number of breeding cows, or in all 2,225,000 cows 

 and i)ups. The difterence between this figure and 3,193,420, or 868,420, 

 must have been breeding bulls. Mr. Elliott does not give an estimate 

 of the breeding bulls in connection with this report, but in 1890 he tells 

 us that there were 90,000 breeding bulls in 1872-1874. Mr. Elliott 

 would not himself accept what his figures necessarily show. Such a 

 proportion of breeding bulls could not have existed on the islands. 

 These discrepancies and others show conclusively that Mr. Elliott's 



