18 ALASKA FUR-SEAL ROOKERIES, 1910. 



To an outsider the practice of having Japanese stewards aboard 

 the cutters is not above criticism. They must inevitably come into 

 possession of valuable information that may be of service to Japanese 

 prisoners, for whom they act as interpreters, if I am informed cor- 

 rectly. Furthermore, the Japanese detained for 10 days on St. Paul 

 this year were in constant communication with the natives of the 

 village, and it was no fault of theirs if they did not learn more of the 

 island than is disclosed by the chart. One has a certain amount of 

 sympathy for the pelagic sealer, who receives a mere pittance for his 

 services and is the only sufferer when his boat is captured ; but his 

 imprisonment is not a serious hardship, especially if he be allowed 

 to work on the coal pile at $2 per day and is ultimately sent back to 

 Japan. 



These are, after all, matters of comparative unimportance. The 

 arrest, and even the severe punishment, of such offenders do 

 not seriously interfere with the activities of the schooners and their 

 owners. Such devices as branding to partially destroy the value of 

 the skins, and of penning up male seals released from the drives, are 

 not complete preventives, so that until an agreement is consummated 

 the international struggle between watcher and watched must forever 

 go on with all of the attendant aggravating features. It is possible 

 that the herd is not in a state of equilibrium, but is actually dimin- 

 ishing. If this continue the hunter on the high seas must ultimately 

 vanish from the scene of his pernicious activity; but is the Govern- 

 ment of the United States compelled to place the seal herd on the 

 altar of sacrifice in order to bring about this desired result? 



If this, indeed, be true then we must decide, and that right early, 

 whether tins be a lesser evil than the other, hypothetical to a certain 

 degree, of branding the females, which form the greater portion of 

 the pelagic catch, and by the depreciation of their skins, making it 

 necessary for a greater number than at present to be taken with 

 profit by the pelagic sealer. At the same time this would render 

 it possible for an increased number of cows to escape and breed on 

 the rookeries, and so add materially to the bachelor herd and conse- 

 quently to the land catch. 



THE PELAGIC CATCH. 



Regarding the pelagic catch of this year, our evidence must rest 

 upon a very slender reed — the reports of the Japanese themselves. 

 According to these, 4,213 skins were taken prior to August 15, of 

 which 2,098 came from Bering Sea. Last year the reported Japanese 

 catch up to August 15 was 4,954 skins. As a matter of fact, it was 

 then probably twice as large, for the entire season's catch, as reported 

 from the London market, was 10,561 skins. This year it is safe to 

 predict that there will be at least 8,000. 



