THE FUR SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 



143 



made, according to the testimony of the inhabitants, no more than 12,200 seals would or could have been taken from 

 the islands, it being thought that this number (12,200) was only one twenty-fifth of the whole ; but instead of killing 

 12,200, only 4,0.32 were taken, leaving in 1835, for breeding, 8,118 fresh young seals, males and females, together. 



In making this hypothetical table of seals that are to come, I take the average killing, that is, one-eighth part, 

 and proceed on the supposition that the number of saved seals will not be less than 7,060. 



In the number of 7,060 seals we can calculate upon 3,600 females; that is, a slight majority of males. With the 

 new females born under this "zapooska" I place half of those born the first year, and so on. 



Females, in the twelve or eighteen years next after their birth, must become less in number from natural causes, 

 and by the twenty second year of their lives they must be quite useless for breeding. 



Of the number of seals which may be born during the next four years of "zapooska", or longer, we may take 

 half for females. This number is included in the table, and the males, or " holluschickie", make up the total. 



Table No. II : Its showing. — From the table II observe that — * 



1. Old females, that is, those which in 1835 were capable of bearing young, in 1850 must be canceled (minus). 

 They probably die in proportion of one-eighth of the whole number every year. 



2. For the first four years of "zapooska", until the new females begin to bear, their number will be generally 

 less. 



3. A constant number of seals will continue during the first six years of their " zapooska" ; in twelve, these seals 

 will double ; in fourteen years they will have increased threefold ; and after fifteen years of this "zapooska" or saving 

 of 7,060, in the first year, 21,000 may be taken from thein ; in the second, 28,0U0 ; in the third, 32,000 ; in the fourth, 

 36,000; in the fifth, 41,000; thus in five years more than 160,000 can be. taken. Then, under the supervision of 

 persons who will see that one-fifth of the seals be steadily spared, 32,000 may be taken every year for a long time. 



4. Moreover, from the production of fifteen years' " zapooska", there can be taken from 60,000 to 70,000 

 "holluschickie", which, together with 160,000 seals, makes 230,000. 



5. If this " zapooska " for the next fifteen years is not made, for the seal-life, diminution will certainly ensue, and 

 all this time, with all possible effort, no more than 50,000 seals will be taken. 



Here it should be said that this hypothetical table of the probable increase of seals is made on the supposition 

 of the decrease of females, and an average is taken accordingly. Furthermore, on the island of St, Paul, in 

 1836-'37, instead of 7,900 seals being killed, but 4,800 were taken. Hence, it follows that these 1,500 females thus 

 saved in two years, and which are omitted from the table, will also make a very significant addition to the incoming 

 seals, t 



Table I, Part II. — Bishop Vcniaminoc's Zapieska, etc., showing the seal-catch daring the period of gradual diminution of life on the islands, from 



1817 down to 1837. 



Grand total for Saint Paul isl.ind 464,259 



Grand total for Saint George island 114, 605 



Total catch during nineteen years of diminution 578,924 



*The reader, in following the calculations of the Bishop, as exhibited by this table, must not forget to bear in mind, as he runs it 

 over, that it is arranged with a sliding scale of increase, that counts steadily down from 1840 to 1849; and also, a sliding down scale of 

 decrease, by reason of natural death-rates, that works steadily across these figures of increase, just specified. — H. W. E. 



1 1 translate this chapter of Veniaminov's without abridgment, although it is full of errors, to show that while the Russians gave this 

 matter evidently much thought at headquarters, yet they failed to send someone on to the ground, who, by first making himself acquainted 

 with the habits of the seals from close observation of their lives, should then be fitted to prepare rules and regulations founded upon this 

 knowledge. These suggestions of Veniaminov were, however, a vast improvement on the work as it was conducted, and they were 



adopted at once; but it was not until 1845 that the great importance of never disturbing the breeding-seals was recoguized.- 

 I Left to breed. 



-H. W. E. 



