THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 63 



or elude the murderous teeth and carnivorous attacks of basking sharks* and killer- whales t. By these agencies, 

 during their absence from the islands until their reappearance iu the following year, and in July, they are so 

 perceptibly diminished in number that I do not think, fairly considered, more than one-half of the legion which left 

 the ground of their birth, last October, came up the next July to these favorite landing-places; that is, only 250,000 

 of them return out of the 500,000 born last year. The same statement, iu every respect, applies to the going and 

 the coming of the 500,000 female pups, which are identical in size, shape, and behavior. 



As yearlings, however, these 250,000 survivors, of last year's birth, have become strong, lithe, and active 

 swimmers; and, when they again leave the hauliug-grouuds as before, in the fall, they are fully as able as are the 

 older class to take care of themselves: and when they reappear next year, at least 225,000 of them safely return in 

 tbe second season after birth; from this on I believe that they live out their natural lives of fifteen to twenty years 

 each; the death-rate now caused by the visitation of marine enemies affecting them, in the aggregate, but slightly. 

 And again, the same will hold good touching the females, the average natural life of which, however, I take to be 

 only nine or ten years each. 



Out of these 225,000 young males, we are required to save only one-fifteenth of their number to pass over to the 

 breeding-grounds, and meet there the 225,000 young females; iu other words, the polygamous habit of this animal 

 is such that, by its own volition, I do not think that more than one male annually out of fifteen born is needed on 

 the breeding-grounds in the future; but in my calculations, to be within the margin and to make sure that I save 

 two year-old males enough every season, I will more than double this proportion, and set aside every fifth one of 

 the young males iu question; that will leave 180,000 seals, in good condition, that can be safely killed every year, 

 without the slightest injury to the perpetuation of the stock itself forever iu all its original integrity. t 



In the above showing I have put the very extreme estimate upon the loss sustained at sea by the pup-seals 

 too large, 1 am morally certain; but, in attempting to draw this line safely, I wish to place the matter in the 

 very worst light in which it can be put, and to give the seals the full benefit of every doubt. Surely I have 

 clearly presented the case, and certainly no one will question the premises after they have studied the habit 

 and disposition of the rookeries ; hence, it is a positive and tenable statement, that no danger of the slightest 

 appreciable degree of injury to the interests of the government on the seal-islands of Alaska, exists as long as the 

 present law protecting it, and the management executing it, continues. 



Course pursued by the skals after leaving the islands. — These fur-seals of the Pribylov group, after 

 leaving the islands iu the autumn and early winter, do not visit land again until the time of their return in the 

 following spring and early summer, to these same rookery- and hauling-grounds, unless they touch, as they are 

 navigating their lengthened journey back, at the Eussian Copper, and Bering islands, 700 miles to the westward 

 of the Pribylov group. They leave the islands by independent squads, each one looking out for itself; apparently 

 all turn by common consent to the south, disappearing toward the horizon, and are soon lost in the vast expanse 

 below, where tiny spread themselves over the entire North Pacific as far south as the 48th and even the 47th 

 parallels of north latitude. Over the immense area between Japan and Oregon, doubtless, many extensive 

 submarine fishing-shoals and banks are known to them; at least, it is definitely understood that Bering sea does 



* Somniosua microcepJialus. Some of these sharks are of very largo size, and when caught by the Indians of the northwest coast, 

 basking or asleep on the Burface of the sea, they will, if transfixed by the native's harpoons, take a whole fleet of canoes in tow and 

 run swiftly with them several hours before exhaustion enables the savages to finally dispatch them. A Hudson Bay trader, William 

 Maiison (at Ft. Alexander, in 1865), told me that his father had killed one in the smooth waters of Millbank sound, which measured v>4 

 feet in length, and its liver alone yielded :'• i gallons of oil. The Somnwsus lays motionless for long intervals in calm waters id' the North 

 Pacific, just under and at the surface, with its dorsal fin clearly exposed above; what havoc such a carnivorous fish would be likely to 

 effect in a "pod" of young fur-seals, cau be better imagined than described 



t Orca gladiator. While revolving this particular line of inquiry in my mind when, on the ground and among the seals. I 

 involuntarily looked constantly for some sign of disturbance in the sea which would indicate the presence of an enemy; and, save seeing 

 a few examples of the Orca, I never detected anything: if the killer-whale was common here, it would be patent to the most casual 

 eye, because it is the habit of this ferocious cetacean to swim so closely at the surface as to show its peculiar sharp, dorsal fin high above 

 the water ; possibly a very superficial observer could and would confound the long, trenchant fluke of the Orca with the stubby node upon 

 tin- spine of the humpback whale, which that animal exhibits only when it is about to dive. Humpbacks feed around the islands, but 

 not commonly — they are the exception; they do not, however, molest the seals in any manner whatever; and little squads of these 

 pinnipeds seem todelight themselves by swimming in endless circles around and under the huge bodies of those whales, frequently leaping 

 out and entirely over the cetacean's back, as witnessed on one occasion by myself and the crew of the "Reliance'', off tho coast of 

 Kadiak. June, l-"?4. 



tWhen regarding the subject in l872-'73, of how many surplus young males could be wisely taken from the Pribylov stock, I satisfied 

 myself that more than 100,000 could be drawn upon annually for their skins, and hence was impressed with the idea that the business 

 might lie safely developed to a greater maximum; since then, however, 1 have been giving attention to the other side of the question, 

 which involves the market for the skins and tho practical working of any sliding scale of increased killing, such as I then recommended. 

 A careful review of the whole matter modifies my original idea and causes me to think that, all things considered, it is better to *' let well 

 enough alone". Although it would be a most interesting commercial experiment to develop the yield of the Pribylov islands to their full 

 capacity, yet, in view of the anomalous and curious features of the case, it is wiser to be satisfied with the assured guarantee of 

 perpetuation in all original integrity, which the- experience of the last ten years gives us on the present basis of 100,000, than to risk it 

 by possibly doubling the revenue therefrom. Therefore, I am not now in favor of my earlier proposition of gradually increasing tho 

 killing, until the maximum number of surplus "holluschickie" should be ascertained. 



