194 



REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



amonntiBj? ill some years to many tliou sand seals; that the practice 

 involves the barbarous slaughter of very large numbers of females and 

 pups of immature growth; and that it is an evil for which the remedy 

 is extremely simjile and easy of application, consisting merely of the 

 most rudimentary police arrangements for insuring the execution of 

 the local laws. 



V. — I^UMBEB OF Fur-Seals Killed upon the Pribyloff 



Islands. 



771. While the foregoing account of the methods of control and the 

 manner in which seal killing has been and is conducted on the Priby- 

 loff Islands shows that the official returns cannot absolutely represent 

 the whole annual slaughter, these returns are of great interest for the 

 ])urpose of instituting general comparisons as between the amount of 

 the killing in various years, and particularly in their bearing on the 

 fact of the unprecedented character of the draft which has been continu- 

 ously made on the seal life of the islands since they passed under the 

 control of the United States, which has already been referred to at 

 length. Much care has been given to the compilation of the subjoined 

 table, which, it will be remarked, does not represent either the number 

 of accepted skins actually got in each year or the shipments of such 

 skins actually made, but is intended to show, as far as the returns 

 admit, the whole number of seals killed according to the official count. 

 The unrecorded causes of loss and waste would, of course, add con- 

 siderably to the figures actually given: 



132 Table showing the Number of Fur-seals killed on the Pribyloff Islands i7i each year, 



from 1817 to 1891. 



Year. 



1817. 

 1818. 

 1819. 

 1820. 

 1821. 

 3822. 

 1823. 

 1824. 

 1825. 

 1826. 

 1827. 

 1828. 

 1829. 

 1830. 

 1831. 

 1832. 

 1833. 

 1834, 

 1835. 

 1836. 

 1837, 

 1838. 

 1839. 

 1840, 

 1841, 

 1842 

 1843, 

 1844 

 1845 

 1846 

 1847 

 1848 

 1849 

 1850 

 1851 

 1852 

 1853 

 1854 



Number of 

 Seals killed. 



188 



856 



225 



220 



995 



469 



873 



400 



1(10 



250 



700 



228 



811 



034 



034 



446 



412 



751 



580 



590 



802 



OOD* 



000' 



000> 



000' 



370 



240 



924 



637 



070 



703 



650 



450 



770 



564 



725 



035 



146 



Number of 

 Pups killed. 



Includes 

 pups. 



Tear. 



1855, 



18.56, 

 1857, 

 1858, 

 1859, 

 1860 

 1861, 

 1862, 

 1863. 

 1864 

 1865, 

 1866 

 1867 

 1868, 

 1869 

 1870 

 1871 

 1872 

 1873 

 1K74 

 1875 

 1876 

 1877 

 1878 

 1879 

 1880 

 1881 

 1882 

 1883 

 1884 

 1885 

 1886 

 1887 

 1888 

 1889 

 1890 



1891 



Number of 

 Seals killed. 



23, 

 21, 

 31, 

 32, 

 21, 

 29, 

 34, 

 25, 

 26, 

 40, 

 42, 

 75, 

 242, 

 87. 

 23. 

 97, 

 101, 

 101, 

 107, 

 101 

 89, 

 77, 

 101 

 106, 

 100 

 101, 

 101 

 77, 

 101 

 101 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 100 

 20 



585 



550 



082 



810 



000 



590 



699 



294 



000 



000? 



000? 



000? 



000 



000* 



000 

 773 

 002 

 698 

 555 

 932 

 249 

 478 

 956 

 394 

 908 

 634 

 734 

 736 

 063 

 013 

 509 

 772 

 795 

 450 

 135 

 995 



12, 071 



Number of 

 Pups killed. 



Average 

 annual 

 killing of 

 about 

 4, 600 pups 

 not in- 

 cluded. 



Not includ- 

 iug pups. 



* Approximate, probably 270,000 if St. George Island be included. 



