FUR SEALS AND OTHER LIFE, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, 1914. I7 



for various courtesies are due also to the representatives of Canada and Japan, with 

 whom the most cordial relations were maintained during daily association. 



Finally, it should be stated that certain of the suggestions made in the present 

 report have been previously urged, some of them repeatedly. To former observers in 

 the field and to many others who in the past have been more or less directly concerned 

 with the acti^aties on the islands, acknowledgment is made for such ideas and facts 

 found in their printed reports as were confirmed by observations in 1 914. To give 

 credit in each case is impracticable, but passing acknowledgment is made in various 

 instances in the body of the report. 



THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 

 GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



The Pribilof Islands are situated in Bering Sea in latitude 57° north and longitude 

 170° west, and are of volcanic origin. The nearest land is Unalaska Island, 214 miles to 

 the southward; the next nearest is St. Matthew Island, 220 miles to the north. The 

 distance from the mainland of Alaska is a little over 300 miles. The group comprises 

 five islands, St. Paul and St. George, lying about 40 miles apart, being the principal 

 ones. The others are Otter Island, Walrus Island, and Sea Lion Rock, which lie close 

 to the shores of St. Paul. 



St. Paul is about 13K miles long and "]% miles wide and has a shore line of about 45 

 miles, composed of alternate stretches of sand and broken rock, in some cases backed by 

 cliffs, the highest of which attain an elevation of nearly 400 feet. Several cinder cones 

 are distributed over the island, the highest being Rush Hill, which is 665 feet above 

 mean high tide. Much of the surface is very rough in character but extensive stretches 

 of comparatively smooth ground, clothed with lichens and herbaceous plants, occupy 

 many of the valleys and low plateaus. There are many fresh water ponds, the largest 

 about 2 miles in length, but all are very shallow. 



St. George Island is about 12 miles long and 4^2 miles wide and has a coast line of 

 about 30 miles. It is bordered mainly by abrupt cliffs, the highest of which rise nearly 

 a thousand feet sharply from the water. There are several hills in the interior of the 

 island, the highest of which is 946 feet above sea level. Various shallow ponds and 

 many marshes, from which a few small streams descend to the sea, distinguish St. 

 George from its larger companion, which is devoid of running water. 



Otter Island, 6 miles south of St. Paul, is only three-fourths of a mile in length; its 

 shore is mostly precipitous, rising in one place to a height of 300 feet. The other islets, 

 Walrus Island and Sea Lion Rock, also near St. Paul, are merely ledges of rock scarcely 

 elevated above the wash of the sea. 



On the shores of the two larger islands the fur seals have most of their breeding 

 rookeries and hauling grounds. The seals when breeding choose rocky beaches or 

 bowlder-strewn ledges. The rookeries are usually separated from each other by 

 stretches of sand or by abrupt cliffs, or in some cases by sections which have been 

 abandoned. The breeding masses usually extend back from the water's edge but a 

 short distance. 



Sea Lion Rock has a breeding rookery, and Otter Island formerly had a hauUng 

 ground, and once, in 1896, a single harem, but so far as known was not resorted to by 



