THE RUSSIAN HERD. 487 



We left on the Hancock in October, 1891, to go on a sealing expe- 

 dition in the south seas. We started in sealing 



off the coast of Patagonia and sealed in those seas Caleb Lindahl, p. 456. 

 until March. The seals are nearly all killed off 



down there, so that we got only about 20 skins. It is no use for vessels 

 to go there sealing any more. I was there twelve years ago on a seal- 

 ing expedition and the rookeries were full of seals. Now they have 

 most all gone. They never gave the seals a chance to breed there. 

 They shot them as soon as they came up on the rocks. * * * 



If the seals on the South Shetland Islands had been protected, I 

 think they would have been there by the million, because in one year 

 they took 300,000 seals from the Shetland Islands. 



THE RUSSIAN HERD. 

 Page 220 of The Case. 



My first ideas of the areas of seal rookeries were gathered on the 

 Pribilof Islands. Afterwards, upon going to the 



Commander Islands, I was struck with the com- { S^ZlitlZui^ 

 parative insignificance ot the rookeries upon the 

 latter group; yet we have been able to secure the catch, as shown by 

 the appended statement, not only without detriment, but, as I believe, 

 with positive benefit to the rookeries. I can not think, therefore, that 

 the same methods pursued under my direction upon the Pribilof group 

 worked any other result, and in this conclusion I am borne out by the 

 testimony of every one conversant with the matter. 



The history of sealing upon Robben Island substantiates the con- 

 clusion in regard to the other groups. From information gathered from 

 various sources I learn that the Robben Bank was first visited and ex- 

 ploited by whalers about 1852 or 1853, and that in two seasons they 

 obtained some 50,000 or 00,000 skins, almost completely "cleaning it 

 out." I understood for several years thereafter the occasional vessel 

 which touched there found the rookeries practically deserted. In 1870 

 the expedition in the bark Mauna Loa went to the island and secured 

 about 15,000 seals. There was at this time no restriction upon the 

 killing. 



In 1871, in August, I think it was, the lease being already in force, I 

 visited the island for the first time, having previously sent a guard ship 

 there to protect the rookeries. It is an insignificant affair, being only 

 about 2,000 feet long and 200 feet wide. The rookeries were also very 

 small, and contained at that time of all classes about 800 seals, as I as- 

 certained by a careful count, and in addition, a small number in the 

 waters adjacent. I prohibited all killing from that year until such time 

 as seemed prudent to resume, so as to give the rookeries opportunity 

 to recuperate, leaving strict orders to the guard ship to protect them 

 against molestation. Two years afterward it was evident that the 

 rookeries had sufficiently recovered to warrant us in commencing seal- 

 ing on a small scale, knowing that the killing of the useless male seals 

 would accelerate the increase of the herd. From this time forward the 

 herd showed a steady and healthy growth, enabling us to secure catches 

 as per appended statement until 1873, when our guard was assaulted 

 by the combined force of eleven marauding schooners and driven away. 

 The rookeries were again badly depleted by these poach trs. The lol- 

 lowing year the Russian Government stationed a military force on the 

 islands, which was removed every fall, but so early that marauders 



