174 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



certaiu that the publislied reports did not by any means convey a full 

 and correct statement of the condition of affairs and progress of events 

 on the breeding islands, 



676. It is agreed on all hands thatthePribyloff Islands were in excel- 

 lent condition wlien tiimlly ceded by liussia. The fact that the exces- 

 sive slaughter of 1868 did not lead to an immediate colhipse in vseal life 

 npon theiii is alone snflicient to show tliis. In a tallv had with six of the 

 oldest and most experienced natives on St. Paul Island, all attirmed tliat 

 the islands liad never since been so well stocked with seals. Entering 

 into details, they explained that the North-east Point was then com- 

 pletely occui)ied by seals both to the north and south of Hutchinson Hill. 

 Tolstoi was in like manner entirely covered, while the Keef Peninsula 

 was wholly occupied by cows and seacatchie as a breeding rookery, and 

 the killable seals found room to haul out only at its inner end, on tlie 

 sands. At this time, 3,000 to 4,000 holluschickie might easily be col- 

 lected in a single drive from Middle Hill, South-west Bay, or the haul- 

 ing* grouiuls nearest to the Eeef Point. 



677. Mr. Daniel Webster, who has been almost continuously on the 

 Pribyloff Islands since 1868, most of the time upon St. Paul Island, and 

 whose statements bore evidence of entire honesty, gave evidence fully 

 corroborative of that above quoted. He expressed himself as confident 

 that the seals were in greater abundance in 1868 than they had ever 

 been since. In that year of unrestricted slaughter, some 75,000 youn.g 

 males were kilk'd on North-east Point by the single Company with 

 which he was connected, and without exhausting the supply. In 1874 

 and 1875, from 35,000 to 36,000 skins were taken each year from the 

 same rookery without undue difficulty. According to Mr. Fowler, who 

 has been familiar with St. Paul Island since 1879, from 139,000 to 18,000 

 skins were taken from North-east Point in that and some subsequent 

 years. By the oflicial figures, it is shown that 15,076 skins were obtained 

 here in 1889, and 5,007 in 1890.* Mr. Fowler expressed the belief tliat 

 in 1891, if killing had not been restricted, at least double that number 

 might have been secured at North-east Point. 



678. Eeturning, however, to the earlier years of the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company's lease, it is found that in 1874 Lieutenant Maynard, as 

 the result of his inquiries in that year, expressed the belief, though not 

 without reservation, that the number of seals resorting- to the islands 

 had not decreased between 1872 and that time.* Captain Br^^ant notes 

 a slight improvement in this year as contrasted with the unfavourable 

 conditions observed in 1873. t It was not till 1875, however, that tlie 

 annual slaughter required to produce 100,000 marketable skins was 

 first officially reported as being too great for the Mell-bcing of seal life. 

 In this year Captain Bryant, as the result of seven years' experience 

 of the islands, wrote on this matter in some detail; but, without quot- 

 ing his observations at length, it may be sufficient to cite the following, 

 which expresses his main conclusions : 



When the lease was put in practical operation in 1871, there was a very large 

 excess of breeding males on hand ; since then this surplus has been diminished by the 

 dying out of old seals faster than there has been younger seals allowed to escape and 

 grow up to lill their places, until the present stock is iusuflicient to meet the ueces- 

 sities of the increasing number of breeding females. t 



679. Of the following- year, Bryant says that "the decrease in num- 

 ber of breeding males may be considered to have reached its minimum 



* House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 43, 44th Congress, Ist Session, 

 t" Monograph of North American Pinnipeds." 



t" Fur-seal Fisheries of Alaska," House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 83, 44th 

 Congress, 2ud Session, pp. 176 and 177. 



