164 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



at some earlier day, lost its testicles either by fighting or accident while at sea ; perhaps shaven off by the fangs of 

 a saw toothed shark, and also gravely asked to subscribe to the presence of a hermaphrodite ! 



Undoubtedly some abnormal birth-shapes mnst make their appearance occasionally ; but, at no time while I 

 was there, searching keenly for any such manifestation of malformation on the rookeries, did I see a single 

 example. The morphological symmetry of the fur-seal is one of the most salient of its characteristics, viewed as 

 it rallies here in such vast numbers ; but the osteological differentiation and asymmetry of this animal is equally 

 surprising. 



P. The derivation of the nomenclature of the rookeries. The Reef rookery — "The Eeef ", so-called 

 on account of that dangerous line of submerged rocks, scarcely awash, which makes out to the southward from 

 the point. The very first seals of the season usually land here every spring. 



Zoltoi hauling-grounds.— From "Zolotoi", or "golden", a Russian title given to the beach on account, perhaps, 

 of its beauty, contrasted with the rough, rocky coasts elsewhere on the island. There is no trace of precious mineral 

 in its composition, however, or even the glint of iron pyrites. 



Gorbotch rookery. — "Gorbotch", or "humpback"; this name doubtless given it from the broken-backed outline 

 to the west shore of the reef peninsula, on which the rookery is located. 



Nali Speel rookery. — " Nah Speel ", corrupted from " speetsah ", or point, why so distorted I have not satisfactorily 

 learned from the people. It arises from some localism, undoubtedly, pertinent long ago, but since forgotten. 



Lukannon rookery. — "Lukannon"; so named after one of tlie Russian pioneers, a sailor, who is said to have 

 taken from St. Paul island in 1787, over 5,000 sea-otters, aided by another promyshlenik, named Kaiekov ; in the 

 following year they only secured 1,000; and since then none have ever been taken from there to notice; while 

 during the last forty years not one, even, has been seen. 



Keetavie rookery. — " Keetavie", from "Keet", or Whale. When the whaling fleets were active in these waters, 

 1849-'5G, a very large right whale, killed by some ship's crew, drilled ashore at the point here, and has thus given 

 this name to it. 



Tolstoi rookery. — ''Tolstoi", or "thick". This is an indefinite name which the Russians use all over their 

 geography of Alaska, just as we employ "Deer Creek" or "Muddy Fork" in our topographical nomenclature of 

 the West. This point at St. Paul is, however, a thick and solid one; more so than any other headland there. 



Zapadnie rookery. — "Zapadnie," or "westward"; one of the few bear stories, which the natives told me, in 

 response to my queries as to the presence of polar "medvaidskie" in early times, is located between Boga Slov and 

 Zapadnie point; there are one or two rude basaltic caves on the slopes of this hill, into which the natives can 

 squeeze themselves by great effort; here, they have declared to me, that as recently as 1848, a large polar bear 

 lived and infested the island for some time. It was finally shot by a posse comitatus of the people, who were assisted 

 by an English whale-boat's crew that, noticing the skurry on land, came ashore and joined in the hunt, armed with 

 their lances. No record is made of bruin on the Pribylov since the death of this one. It undoubtedly was astray 

 from St. Matthew island, two hundred miles to the northward. Prior to this event, the natives count several bear 

 lights and routs — at wide intervals, however — since the occupation of the islands. 



Polavina rookery. — "Polavina", or "halfway"; so named because the point and the old deserted village site 

 contiguous was nearly half-way between Novastosknah and the village. An officer of the government, C. P. Fish, 

 United States Signal Service, in 1874, started out to measure anew the height of Polavina Sopka; he strapped a 

 barometer to his shoulders, and left the village early one July morning. The fog thickened up that noon rather 

 more solidly than usual, and when he came down he missed the sealers' well-defined trail between Northeast point 

 and Lukannon, and brought up on the shore of that little round lake, just southwest of the point. He actually 

 passed the whole of the remaining daylight, six or seven hours, in walking around it, and declared that he would 

 never have left this unconscious circular tramp had the fog, as is usual, not lifted just at late evening and given him 

 better bearings. He never knew or suspected until then that he was walking in his own tracks. This is a true fog 

 story. 



Novastosknah rookery. — "A place of recent growth," so named from the fact that in early times — 1787-'90 — 

 Hutchinson's hill formed an island distinct and well-defined from St. Paul; the people then used to go from Vesolia 

 Mista over to Northeast point in boats. 



The St. George rookeries. — There is nothing peculiar to the nomenclature of the St. George rookeries; 

 they all bear English names around the village, while " Zapadnie" is named simply as it lies west therefrom, and 

 " Starry Ateel" because it is near the site of an old settlement on the island. 



First arrivals of " hollus^hickie " usually appear May 14th-15th.— The first "driving", for the 

 season, of the "holluschickie" seldom takes place sooner than the 12th or 15th of May; then only small numbers 

 are secured, usually on the Reef point at St. Paul, and at the Great Eastern rookery on St. George; they are driven 

 thus early for food, though the skins are always carefully taken and accepted by the company; the sealing season 

 opens lawfully by the 1st of June and closes on the 15th of August. But in practice it does not begin until the 

 12th-14th of June and ends by the 20th-25th of July. 



Annual croaking by the sealers. — I noticed in this connection a very queer similarity between the sealers 

 on St. Paul and our farmers at home; they, just as the season opens, invariably prophesy a bad year for seals and a 



