4 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



only brief r6sumes, thus causing gresit inequality in the treatment of the various 

 questions. This could not well be otherwise, for it would have been manifestly impos- 

 sible to prepare a work of that scope, with all the labor and research it involves, in the 

 short time of .'U months which I have had at my disposal for writing this treatise. 

 Moreover, such an exhaustive work could not be done here in "Washington or even 

 in this country. It would have beeii necessary to consult records and archives in 

 San Francisco and in St. Petersburg, as well as the libraries in the latter city. 



In preparing this work I have had the hearty cooperation of the authorities of 

 the United States Fish Commission, and I wish ])articularly to express my grateful 

 appreciation of the truly scientific spirit and liberality shown by Mr. Eathbun in 

 giving me every possible latitude fin- working out the problems in my own fashion 

 without attempting to influence my opinion in any direction. His only injunction to 

 me has been a desire for the facts as I have seen them. It lias been my endeavor to 

 supply them to the best of my ability, 



ITINERARY. 



My first visit to the Commander Islands was undertaken in March, 1882, under 

 the joint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Signal 

 Service. With a notice of onlj^ two days, I left Washington on March 22, 1882, and 

 sailed from San Francisco in the Alehmnder II the following April .'5, landing on 

 Bering Island a month, later — on May 7. During the summer I studied the fur-seals 

 and rookei'ies on this island. In the fall of 1882 I undertook a circumnavigation of 

 Bering Island in open boat, returning to the village after a successful trip of two 

 weeks. The winter was passed on Bering Island, but part of the following summer, 

 particularly the sealing season, I spent on the various rookeries of Copper Island. In 

 October, 1883, I took passage in the Ht. Paul from PetropaiUski, Kamchatka, to San 

 Francisco, arriving in Washington the following November 2(). The results of this 

 trip have been i^ublished in numerous memoirs and papers, mostly issued by the 

 United States National Museum. 



Tlie itinerary of my trip in 1895 is as follows: After receiving my apiiointnient on 

 May 21, I left Washington on May 28 with letters from the Kussian legation, author- 

 ized telegraphically by the authorities in St. Petersliurg, and arrived in San Francisco 

 on Sunday, June 2. Various jireparations for the journey occupied me until June (>, 

 when I sailed in the steamship Bcrflin for Unalaska. In this port I was to join the 

 Fish Commission steamer Allxitros.s, which, it was calculated, would have returned to 

 Unalaska from its first trip to the Pribylof Islands at the time I was due there. In 

 such an event Captain Drake had orders to bring me to Bering Island viai the Pi'iby- 

 lofs, in order to afford me an opportunity to witness and compare the mode of driving 

 the seals on both groups. Upon my arrival at Unalaska on June 17 1 found, however, 

 that the Alhafross had only arrived there the day before, without having as yet been 

 to the Pribylofs. Tlie following week was consumed in Unalaska taking in coal. The 

 Alhafro.^s left Unalaska on June 23, and on June 2.5 we were landed at the village, 

 St. Paul Island. The rookeries near the village were inspected the same afternoon. 



Thanks to tlie zeal and courtesy of the Treasury agent, iVfr. J. B. Crowley, and 

 the company's general agent, Mr. J. Stanley-Brown, a small drive of seals was at once 

 arranged for the following morning. Mr. F. W. True, of the United States National 



