REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 183 



tbe "tnaior portion of the catcli" consisted of two-aiul tliree-year-old 

 seals,* while at other times even yearlings have been killed. 



720. In addition to the injury caused by the physical strain of driv- 

 ing, its probable effect on the mental organization of a naturally timid 

 and somewhat intelligent animal like the fur-seal must be great. The 

 killing grounds themselves are always strewn with the carcasses of for- 

 mer victims in various stages of decomposition, and even in the small 

 drive witnessed by us on St. George Island, the various "pods" of seals, 

 including both those turned away and those killed, were actually driven 

 over and among numbers of putrid bodies, by which the whole atmos- 

 phere in the vicinitj^ was infected. It is believed, in fact, that this 

 si^ecial feature ot the driving is responsible to a large extent for the 

 increasing disinclination of the seals to remain ujjon the breeding 

 islands, a new but not unnatural tendency specially noticed and reported 

 on in regard to the Commander Islands, and evidently still further oper- 

 ative on the Pribylotf Islands. 



721. Eeviewiug, then, the subject of driving as a whole, and without 

 laying stress on the more extreme statements which have been made as 

 to its deleterious effects, it is quite evident that even if a small meas- 

 ure of the injury referred to this cause actually happens, the proportion 

 of loss of seals to the whole number of skins obtained on the Pribyloft' 

 Islands, due to this one cause, must very considerably add to the waste 

 of about 7 per cent., wdiich is admitted by the official figures. The 

 aggregate loss incurred is thus the result of various causes, which 

 together involve the killing of many seals which ought not to be killed, 

 and it is evident that the methods of driving and killing on the Priby- 

 loft' Islands, as now practised, are susceptible of very great improve- 

 ment. 



124 (E.) — Protection of EooJceries from Disturbance. 



722. Eeverting to the general question of the management of the 

 seal industry of the Pribyloft' Islands, it is conceded by every one that 

 the most important single matter is the safeguarding of the breeding 

 rookeries from disturbance of all kinds. Generally speaking, the sys- 

 tem adopted on the islands has this end in view, but in addition to the 

 specific disturbance caused in the ways already mentioned, other and 

 uncalled for eftects of the same kind have been and are produced in 

 consequence of a certain want of discipline and vigilance. Chief among 

 these is the raiding upon the shores of the islands, which might and 

 should be stopped by efficient protection. This is referred to at greater 

 length below. Some of the means adopted in the government and 

 preservation of the Commander Islands have already been alluded to, 

 and nothing is more obvious to any one comparing the conditions on 

 the Pril)ylottand Commander Islands than the greater efficiency of the 

 general (iontrol of the latter. This is particularly notable in the supe- 

 rior discipline maintained among the natives, who, as a direct corollary 

 of their favoured position as j)articipants in the proceeds of the islands, 

 are understood to be entirely at the service and under the orders of the 

 Superintendent on the islands. The appearance of vessels in the offing 

 is reported to headquarters with the utmost promptitude, as noted in 

 the case of our own arrival both on Copper and Beliring Islands. The 

 seals are more carefully assorted before being driven to the killing 

 grounds than on the Pribylotf Islands, and the killing of young seals 



* United States Census Rej^ort, p. 77. 



