REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 121 



to tlie rookeries, and without young- blood the fur-seal industry will be 

 something of the past iu a very few years."* 



440. Mr. W. H. Elliott, in his official report for 3890, remarks to the 

 same effect on the exhaustion of the supply of young male seals, and 

 their reduction to a " scant teuth of their number in 1872-74."t 



441. It is further noticed on the islands that the rookeries are more 

 scattered and less definite in outline than m foi-mer years, and that the 

 remaining holluschickie tend to lie close to the rookery edges for pro- 

 tection, a circumstance which materially adds to the difficulty of col- 

 lecting drives without unduly disturbing the breeding seals. 



442. It is also generally admitted that the dates of arrival of the seals 

 at the islands, and especially that of the arrival of the females, is becom- 

 ing on the average later each year. It is ditlicult to arrive at a precise 

 statement on this .subject, for obvious reasons, but some authorities 

 place the average delay in arrival of females as compared with earlier 

 years at as much as, or more than, two weeks. 



443. On the Commander Islands, where the officers in charge were 

 found ready to afford all information on such points with the utmost 

 frankness, it has likewise been noted that the seals now arrive some- 

 what later thau formerly. In 1891, seals capable of yielding 10 and 12 

 pound skins were about a- week later than usual in reaching Behring 

 Islancl, and the killing, which on Copper Island generally begins about 

 the 1st June, did not begin in 1891 till the 22nd June. 



444. Various other irregularities have also been noticed in late years 

 in or about the Commander Islands. Thus, iu 1890, there were rather 

 few holluschickie, and females appeared in smaller numbers. Again, it 

 was remarked particularly on Copper Island, that though there had 

 been a large number of young born in 1890, yearlings came ashore in 

 markedly small numbers in J 891. The natives professed themselves 

 unable to account for this, but it is almost certain that the yearlings, 

 in consequence of the unusually severe onslaught made on the seals in 

 1890, had simply remained at sea. This explanation is supported by 

 the observation, that an unusually large number of scattered seals 

 were reported at sea between Behring Island and the coasts of Kam- 

 schatka and Siberia, in 1891, by the vessels belonging to the Russian 

 Gover)iment and Company. In 1890, again, according to Mr. Tillman, 

 an unusual event occurred in the arrival of a number of holluschickie 

 and mature bulls quite fat, at Copper island, in August. His conjec- 

 ture was that these might have come from the Pribyloff Islands, but it 

 is possible that these seals had merely remained lishing at sea until 

 this exceptionally late date. 



445. The general effect of these changes in habits of the seals is to 

 minimize the number to be seen at any one time on the breeding islands, 

 while the average number to be found at seals at least proportionately, 

 though, ])erhaps, in face of a general decrease in total number of seals, 

 not absolutely increased. The regularity of the routes of migration has 

 no doubt been also to some extent interfered with, and it seems proba- 

 ble that the seals may now be more widely scattered at sea both in 

 their winter and summer habitats than formerly. 



446. As to the eventual results of such changes in habits, if perpetu- 

 ated and increased by the continued and further effect of the 



79 causes referred to, it is evident that they must ultimately be 



injurious to all industries based en the capture of the fur-seal. 



It is probable that the seals might altogether cease to frequent their 



present breeding grounds in mass, and instead, as has been recorded 



* Ibid., p. 9. t Parliameutary Paper [C. 6368], pp. 15, 16, 19, 21, 56, and 57. 



