270 EVIDENCE OF DECREASE 



There seemed to be also a large surplus of full-grown bulls for rookery 

 service, aud enough escaped from the slaughter ground to keep the 

 number good as the old ones passed the age of usefulness. I do not 

 believe the condition of the rookeries nor the manner of driving and 

 killing the seals at this time could have been improved. It was perfect 

 in every respect, and the lessees, employes, and natives, as well as the 

 seals, all appeared to be and were, I believe, contented and happy. 



In 1886 the conditions had somewhat changed. The natives com- 

 plained that big seals were growing scarcer, that there Avere many dead 

 pups on the rookeries, and the superintendent intimated to me that he 

 did not like the outlook as compared with a few years previous, and 

 said he thought either the number killed or the size of the animals taken 

 for their skins would have to be reduced if things did not improve. 

 Still we had no particular scarcity of killable seals, and the work went 

 on as during my first year (1882) in the service. 



But the trouble of which they complained grew more serious in the 

 following years, and 1 think it was in 1888 the superintendent told the 

 "bosses" they must kill less large seals and more "yellow bellies," or 

 2-year olds. In 1880 a very large proportion of the catch was made 

 up of this (lass. 



It was then perfectly apparent to everybody, myself included, that 

 the rookeries were "going to the bad," and that a smaller number must 

 inevitably be killed the following year. 



Report of American The aggregate size of the areas formerly occu- 

 Commissionera, p. 310 of p j oc i j s a t least four times as great as that of the 



" ( 'nip " i 



present rookeries. 



I have noticed a great decrease in the numbers of the fur-seals since 



1887, both on the rookeries of St. Paul island, 



C. H. Anderson, p. 205. which are much shrunken, in the area covered by 



seals, and in the waters of the Pacific and Bering 



Sea. On the rookeries, ground formerly hauled over by seals is now 



grown up with a scattering vegetation of recent growth. 



The skins taken prior to 188G weighed from 6 to 10 pounds each, av- 

 eraging about 8 pounds per skin; but I under- 

 John Armstrong, p. l. stand from those who remained there on duty 

 that much smaller ones were afterwards taken, 

 because the large seals had become scarce and were needed for rook- 

 ery service. 



From 1870 to 1884 the seals were swarming on the hauling grounds 

 and the rookeries, and for many years they spread 



Kenick Artomanoff, p. out more and more. All of a sudden, in 1881, we 

 "• noticed there was not so many seals, and they 



have been decreasing very rapidly ever since. 



Johnny Baronovitch, p. There are not nearly as many seal on the coast 

 276 - as there was two or three years ago. 



There are certain physical as well as historical sources of information 

 upon the island from which the relation of the 

 J. Stanley Brown, P . 17. present to the past condition of the rookeries can 

 be very clearly made out. 



