REPORT OP BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 135 



sLiiigly and rocky beaclies. Wliat little is known of its history is per- 

 haps particularly interesting, in showing how persistently the fur-seal 

 may continue to resort to its favourite haunts in the face of slaughter 

 and disturbance provided these are not actually continuous. 



When first discovered, it is reported that the seals frequented all 

 parts of the periphery of the little island, but especially the east and 

 north-east sides; at present, in reduced numbers, they congregate 

 chiefly on the south-easterly beach. 



510. According to Mr. D. Webster, now employed on the Pribyloff 

 Islands by the North American Commercial Company, Eobbeu Island 

 was cleared of fur-seals by raiding vessels in 1851-53, and was thereafter 

 not again visited by sealers till he himself went there in 1870. The 

 slaughter here referred to is no doubt the same with that mentioned in 

 greater detail by Scammon, who says, however, that it occurred in the 

 "midst of the Crimean War " (probably, therefore, in 1854 or 1855), and 

 was carried out by a clipper bark sent thereby "an enterprising firm in 

 New London, Connecticut." He gives some further particulars of this 

 raid upon Eussian territory, and adds that a valuable cargo of skins 

 was obtained, which brought an unusually high price in the European 

 market because the regular Russian supply was cut oft' by the war.* 



Webster thinks that aiter the above date the seals gradually increased 

 again in number, but nothing is known of the conditions till he himself 

 visited Robbeu Island in 1870. Webster did not name the vessel in 

 which he visited the reef, but it was probably either the "Mauna Loa" 

 or "John Bright," as these two vessels, nominally engaged in whaling, 

 are known, from information afterwards obtained from M. Kluge on 



Copper Island, to have raided Eobben Island in that year. Web- 

 89 ster, at this time, according to his own account, assisted in 



taking 15,000 skins, though Kluge's estimate of the number 

 taken was 10,000. Webster further informed us that he had hoisted 

 the United States flag on the island, and though warned that it was 

 Eussian territory by a vessel of that nationality, he paid no heed. A 

 little later, however, a Eussian Government vessel appeared, and the 

 officer in command ordered him to leave within twenty days. He had 

 already sent most of the skins to San Francisco, probably on one of 

 the vessels above mentioned, but continued killing until he had taken 

 about 2,000 more skins. 



511. In 1871, this island, with the Commander Islands, was leased to 

 Messrs. Hutchinson, Kohl, Phillipeus, and Co., who transferred their 

 rights to the Alaska Commercial Company. Mr. Kluge went there in 

 the same year in the interests of the lessees, and found that, in conse- 

 quence of the raid in 1870, there were not over 2,000 seals to be found 

 on the entire island. The island was watched in that year, but no 

 seals were killed. A few may have been killed in 1872, though, if so, 

 the number is not known ; but from 1873 to 1878 rather more than 

 2,000 skins were on the average taken annually by the Company from 

 this one small reef. 



512. About the year 1879, schooners sailing from Japan began to 

 frequent the island, and were in tlie habit of raiding it in the autumn, 

 after the guardians had been Avithdrawn. In 1881, the Company's 

 agent remained on the island as late as the 5th November, at which 

 date five or six Japanese schooners were still hovering about, looking 

 for a chance to land. The Dutch sealer " Otsego " was warned off by 

 the Company's trading steamer "Alexander." In consequence of such 

 raids, the number of seals declined from year to year. 



• " Marine Mauiuialia," pp. 149 to 151. 



