.hiicricaii rislirrics Society. 113 



willing" to pav the advance, rather accepting cheap substitutes in- 

 stead. 



But it is of tlieni as the life support of Alaskan coast natives 

 that I am inclined to sjjeak at present. L'ntil another mode of 

 supplying food, clothing, shelter, boats and fishing implements, 

 and even fuel, has been instituted for the extreme coast natives, 

 thev must have whales and walruses, or perish. It is the diminu- 

 tion in the number of these that has sent tribes of natives far from 

 their usual resorts. It has been the seasons when only one or two 

 of the great animals a])peared that have made primitive settle- 

 ments desolate and reduced the inhal)itants to pitiless destitution. 

 This state of atYairs has not been S(nuKled from one end of the 

 world to the other, because the Alaskans are neither a warlike nor 

 a complaining people. 



For the sake of humanity, as well as for the very momentous 

 item of wealth, there should be legislation limiting the catch of all 

 other mammals as well as their acknowledged superior, the seal, 

 until they have been permitted to increase, and after that there 

 should still be a close guard against over-stepping a proper mar- 

 gin. It is not yet too late, but delay will certainly lead to the 

 total destruction of a once most lucrative traflfic in bone, oil and 

 ivory, for the latter of which the immense walrus was hunted un- 

 til his presence is seldom found in his former haunts. 



The histor^• of these fisheries will tell how all the civilized 

 world sent large fleets for tlie capture of the animals, and how 

 reports gave glowing accounts of their inexhaustible numbers. 



But what were they in comparison with the millions of salmon 

 than can literally be forked out of the water as fast as a man's arm 

 can use an ordinary drag net? They are said to haunt some of the 

 rivers during their run in such compact masses that the barefoot 

 natives can walk over them and dip baskets down into the moving 

 schools, removing hundreds, only to make room for thousands 

 more. .Speculation has pointed the way. and canneries have 

 appeared with enormous capacitv. It was so in Karluk 

 River some vears ago: now. the l^iited States Treasury De- 

 partment has officialh' sto])ped salmon fishing in Karluk, ex- 

 cept that sufficient fish may be captured to supply the hatcheries 

 along the river banks; and this is done to prevent threatened de- 

 pletion. Yet it is stated that the Pacific coast fisheries will recpiire 

 about 80,000,000 cans for their year's catch, as they have used 

 that number annually for several years. Many of the fish are 

 taken in traps, and from 10,000 to 40,000 salmon are taken in one 

 trap. It must be remembered that all this number cannot possibly 



