232 THE SEALS. 



No person is allowed to go near a rookery unless by special order of 

 the Treasury agent; and when driving from the hauling grounds the 

 natives arc forbidden to smoke or make any unusual noise, or to do any- 

 thing that might disturb or frighten the seals. 



The breeding rookeries are never disturbed in any way. The rule 



that "the use of firearms is forbidden between 



Thomas F. Ryan, p. 174. May 1 and December 1, except as permitted by the 



Government officer,''' was enforced while I was on 



the island. No dogs are ever allowed upon the islands. 



Great care was always taken not to disturb the breeders; no one was 



ever allowed to goon the breeding grounds during 



W. B. Taylor, p. 176. the rutting season, all observations as to the 



habits being made from overhanging cliffs or some 



elevation in the vicinity of the harems. 



During this period it has been my duty as a trusted employe of the 

 lessees to observe and report, each year, the con- 

 Danl. Webster j>. 180. dition of the rookeries. My instructions were ex- 

 plicit and emphatic to never permit, under any 

 circumstances, any practices to obtain that would result in injury to the 

 herds. These instructions have been faithfully carried our by myself 

 and other employes of the lessees of the islands, and the laws and regu- 

 lations governing the perpetuation of seal life have been rigidly enforced 

 by all the Government agents in charge of the islands. 



The killing grounds are situated as near the rookeries and hauling 



grounds as is possible without Inning the breed- 



Danl. Welsier,p, 183. ers or bachelors disturbed by the smell of blood 



or putrefaction, and most stringent regulations 



have always been enforced to prevent disturbing or frightening the 



breeding seals. 



NUMBER KILLED. 



Page 153 of The Case. 



(Sep nlso the tallies under " The Seal-skin Industry— Dependence on / lnslcan nerd." 



The number of bachelors permitted to be taken in ar , one season is 

 entirely within the control of the! reasury Depart- 

 J. Stanley Brown, p. 10. meat, which control has been exercised. 



The seal being polygamous in habit, each male being able to pro- 

 vide for a harem averaging twenty or thirty mem- 

 J. Stanley Brown, p. 18. bers, and the proportion of male to female born 

 being equal, there must inevital l.y be left a re- 

 serve of young immature males the death of a certain proportion of 

 which could not in any way affect the annual supply coming from the 

 breeding grounds. These conditions existing, the Gove: nmeut has per- 

 mitted the taking with three exceptions up to 1800 of a quota of 

 about .100,000 of these young male seals annually. When the abun- 

 dance of seal life, asevidenccd by the areas formerly occupied by seals, 

 is considered 1 do not believe that this could account for or play any 

 appreciable part in the diminution of the herd. * * * 



For some years past the natives were permitted to kill in the fall a few 

 thousand male pups for food. Such killing has been prohibited. 



