84 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1918, 
length of time necessary to cook the carcasses, depending on size, in 
order to soften the bones sufficiently for proper handling in the press. 
This was with a load of 6,000 pounds of raw material in the digester. 
Pressure of between 2,200 and 2,500 pounds is required to remove 
the oil from the material after it comes from the digester. In drying, 
a steam pressure of 45 pounds was carried on the drier, the time 
required being 24 hours. It is reported that the meal is of very 
good quality and will not need grinding, as the largest piece of bone 
is not larger than a match head. 
In these two tests with 144 carcasses, or 12,644 pounds of raw 
product, 2,738 pounds of seal meal and 70 gallons of oil were secured, 
an average of 19 pounds of meal and one-half gallon of oil per carcass. 
This, however, is not considered to be a fair test of the quantity of 
oil obtainable because quite an amount of oil in spaces in the ma- 
chinery was not recovered, and moreover the seals were taken in the 
latter part of October just before the end of the migration, when they 
are poor and thin, with almost no blubber remainmg on them. 
During the regular killing season prior to August 10 much more 
blubber will remain on the carcasses, and it is estimated that an 
average of 2 gallons of oil will be obtained from each carcass. 
Arrangements are being made for tractors and trailers for use in 
the season of 1919 for transportation of carcasses principally from 
Northeast Point, where large killings are made. 
COLLECTIONS OF OLD SEAL AND SEA-LION BONES. 
Three shipments of old seal and sea-lion bones from the Pribilof 
Islands were made in 1918, which were delivered at Seattle as follows: 
July 7, gross weight 86,010 pounds; October 3, gross weight 108,726 
pounds, and January 3, gross weight, 30,631 pounds. These bones 
were delivered to Brady & Co., of Seattle, under contract to purchase 
at $29 per ton. The total net weight of the three shipments was 
205,611 pounds, and the net proceeds after dedngnng expenses for 
weighing, resacking, etc., were $2,785.66, of which the natives 
earned $1,119.80 for collecting the bones. The balance was turned 
into the Treasury of the United States. 
On account of the great expansion of activity in other lines of work 
on the islands, it has not been possible to devote much attention to 
the collecting of seal bones. It is planned that the bones now 
awaiting shipment will be sold on local propels at Seattle or San 
Francisco, as means for their transportation become available. 
NATIVES OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
HEALTH CONDITIONS. 
In the main the health of the people on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, 
during the calendar year 1918, has been good. Births have exceeded 
deaths, as shown by the census report, and no dangerous epidemic of 
infectious disease manifested itself. Through the greatest of good 
fortune Spanish influenza did not reach these isolated islands. Grave 
consequences were foreseen in case it should have broken out. Diph- 
theria occurred on board the Bureau’s supply vessel Roosevelt, but 
fortunately before there had been any exposures of consequence, the 
use of antitoxin by the St. Paul physician was effective in preventing 
the introduction of this disease. The vessel was quarantined in 
Unalaska until it was safe to return to the islands. 
