RAIDS ON ROOKERIES NOT THE CAUSE. 301 



There was but one raid on the rookeries while I was there, and that 

 took place on Otter Island, about sixty skins be- 

 ing taken. After that raid the Government kept W. B. Taylor,}). 177. 

 a man on Otter Island during the entire summer 



to protect it from marauders. Raids on the islands never affected seal 

 life to any extent. 



I do not remember the precise date of the first successful raid upon 

 the rookeries by sealing schooners, but I do know 

 that for the past ten years theie have been many Danl. Webster, p. 183. 

 such raids attempted, and a few of them success- 

 fully carried out, and that as the number of schooners increased around 

 the islands, the attempted raids increased in proportion, and it has 

 been deemed necessary to keep armed guards near the rookeries to re- 

 pel such attacks. Although a few of the raids were successful, and a 

 few hundred seals killed and carried off, from time to time during the 

 past ten years, the aggregate of all the seals thus destroyed 's too 

 small to bementioneel when considering the cause of the sudden decline 

 of seal life on the Pribilof Islands. 



MANAGEMENT OF ROOKERIES NOT THE CAUSE. 

 Fage 176 of The Case. 



Jn studying the causes of diminution of seal life there were found a 

 variety of actual and possible sources of destruc- 

 tion which are effective \n varying degrees. For- j. Stanley Brown, p. n. 

 tunately the most important of these sources were 



directly under my observation, and the following facts presented them- 

 selves for consideration. 



The restrictions upon the molestation of the breeding grounds and 

 upon the killing of females has been imperative both on the part of the 

 Government and lessees since the American ownership of the islands, 

 so that in the taking of seals no injury could possibly have occurred to 

 the females and bulls found thereon. 



For some years past the natives were permitted to kill in the 

 fall a few thousand male pups for food. Such killing has been pro- 

 hibited. It is not apparent how the killing of male pups could have 

 decreased the number of females on the breeding grounds. 



If the seals were as numerous to-day on the Pribilof Islands and the 

 manner of driving and killing conducted in the 

 same manner as during my experience there, one chas. Bryant, p. 9. 

 hundred thousand male seals of from 2 to -4 years 



of age could be taken from the hauling grounds annually for an indefi- 

 nite period without diminution of the seal herd. 



Because of the manner of killing seals on the islands, the precautions 

 taken to kill only males of from 2 to 5 years, and 

 the careful limitation of the numbers taken, I am S- N. Buy nitsky p. 22. 

 fully convinced that the taking of seals on the 



Pribilof Islands could never affect the numbers of the seal herd or de- 

 plete the rookeries. 



