202 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



wlio should be required to compare these each year with the respective 

 breeding rookeries. "Tliis, if carefully done, will aftbrd data, after a 

 tiuic, by which the fisheries can be regulated with comparative cer- 

 tainty." Eespecting the number of seals killed, he says: ''Since 1870 

 there have been killed on both islands, in round numbers, 112,000 young- 

 male seals each year. Whether this slaughter has prevented the seals 

 from increasing in number or not, and, if so, to what extent, can only be 

 deduced from their past history, which, unfortunately, is imperfectly 

 known." He is inclined to think that no decrease had occurred between 

 1872 and 1874, but states that the period was too short to decide whether 

 the killing was excessive. He adds : " The number now killed annually 

 is entirely exjierimental, and we have nothing to start from as a basis." 

 Maynard further states that the number of bulls in this year was not 

 more than one-tenth that of the females. (House of Representatives, 



Ex. Doc. i^o. 43, 44th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 5, 6.) 

 138 [Mr. D. Webster states that the skins taken in 1874 and 1875 



ranged in weight from 6 lbs. to 11 lbs.] 

 Elliott believes that the number of seals did not materially alter in 

 the twelve or fifteen years previous to 1874. He estimated the number 

 of breeding seals on the islands at 3,10o,420, the whole number of seals 

 on the islands at 4,700,000. (Census Keport, pp. 57-07.) 



816. 1875, The killing was this year confined to seals less than 5 

 years old, and more 2-year-olds were taken than in any year since 1870. 

 This left a large number of males to mature. Many young were, how- 

 ever, born as late as August. (Bryant in Monograph of North Ameri- 

 can Pinnii)eds.) In his official Eeport for this year, Bryant protests 

 against the killing of pups for food, characterizing it as " a great waste," 

 and adding, " I can find no precedent for this previous to the transfer 

 of the island to the United States, only that the former Russian Fur 

 Company allowed, as an extra indulgence to the natives, after the close 

 of the season's sealing, to take 500 of these young seals for feasting." 

 (House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 83, 44th Congress, 2ud Session, 

 p. 174.) 



Bryant also states in the same Eeport (p. 175) that a residence of 

 seven successive seasons on the islands had convinced him that the 

 killing of 100,000 annually did not leave a sufficient number of males 

 to mature for the wants of the increase in the number of females. He 

 exi)]ains his reasons for this in some detail. 



817. 1876. No marked change in the conditions this year, but many 

 females landed to bring forth their young after the 20th July. A heavy 

 gale with snow occurred on the 30th October, driving seals into the 

 water, from which only a small number returned, many puj)S being lost. 

 Bryant anticipates that the result of this loss will appear in 1880, when 

 the pups should reach maturity. The decrease in breeding males, con- 

 sequent on excessive slaughter of 18G8 and 18G0, was in this year 

 greatest. (Bryant in Monograph of North American Pinnipeds, p. 399.) 



Bryant again states that he believes the number 100,000 fixed for 

 killing to have been too high, and that in his report he had recom- 

 mended that it be reduced Ijy 15,000. (House of Representatives, Ex. 

 Doc. No. 623, 44th Congress, 1st Session, Eeport on Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company, p. 99.) 



John F. Miller, President of Board of Directors of Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company, says: "Our agents report a very considerable increase 

 in the number of females since 1871. We cannot tell that there is 

 much increase in the number of males." (Eeport on the Alaska Com- 

 mercial Company, p. 41.) 



