THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 57 



ties whether it would uot be the better policy to kill oft" the few leiuainiug' seals and to 

 abaiidou the island. If the seals were not killed by the company they were takeu by 

 the raiders, extermiuatiou was sure to follow, and it was only a question who were 

 going to liave the skins, the legitimate lessees, who were paying for the privilege and 

 acting under contract witli the legal owner of the island, the Eussian Government, or 

 tiie pirating poachers, who laiew well that they were doing lawless acts, and who, 

 luoicover, also knew that tlieir penalty for the criminal business, if caught, would be 

 eonfiscation and, possibly, hard work in the mines of Siberia. Under tliose circum- 

 stances it is hardly to be wondered at that the decision was to disregard the distinc- 

 tion between sex aud age in the killiug by the lessees, as it was done by tlie poachers. 

 This was undoubtedly done in LSS3, and it is quite possible that souje of the men, 

 wheu more seals had been clubbed than the little gang could properly skin, in their 

 zeal may have slashed the skins to prevent the raiders who were continually hanging 

 around, among them the schooners Nortk <S7((c, Otomv, Helcnc\ and Adclr, from profit- 

 ing to the extent of even having the seals clubbed for their benefit. It is utterly 

 unjustitiable to characterize the ^jroceeding as "barbarous" in contradistinction to 

 that of the poachers. The number of seals thus killed has been grossly exaggerated. 

 Some of the poachers have estimated it to be from l!i,()00 to 20,000 seals, but it is 

 pretty safe to say that there were not nearly so many seals at that time on the island, 

 all told. The number mentioned by another of the poaching captains (Pnr Seal Arb., 

 VIII, p. <>*j-l), viz, 3,500, is undoubtedly much nearer the mark. 



Notwithstanding all this, enough seals hauled up on Robbeu Island in ISS-i to 

 Justify the lessees in continuing the regular killing that season. They were particularly 

 encouraged to do so since the Government had stationed a manof-war, the Bazhoinilc, 

 to guard the rookery. Four seizures were made, among them the German schooner 

 Helena, Captain Golder, which had " raided that island five years." Others escaped, 

 like the Fdi.r, which got 500 skins (Fur Seal Arb., iii, p. 35S). The killing of other 

 classes of seals by the company on shore, however, was brought to a stop by Col. Nicolai 

 Voloshiuof (since deceased), who visited the island that year on a tour of inspection. 



The Government, seeing that energetic means had to be taken if the seals were to 

 be protected at all on Kobben Island, in 1885 stationed a regular naval force of l(i 

 sailors of the Siberian flotilla aud 1 officer on the island, which was removed, however, 

 before the middle of October. The company that year obtained less than 2,000 skins, 

 but the schooners, late in autumn, made additional hauls; thus t\ie Penelope, <J(ii>t. 

 E. P. Miner, on her part alone got "about 800 skins" (Fur Seal Arb., Viii, p. 702). 

 Captain Blair, of the Leon, estimated the number of seals on the island that year to 

 be about (),000. 



For four years, 188(5 to 1889, inclusive, the company refrained from taking any 

 skins on the island; but there were still some left for the raiders, who appear to have 

 visited the rock every year. The British Bering Sea Commission states that " these 

 schooners must have obtained at least 4,700 skins" (Rep., p. 89). In 1890, the last year 

 of the lease of Uutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co., 1,450 skins were secured by them. 



With the lease of the islands by the Russian Seal Skin Company the regular 

 killing was again resumed in 1891, but the poor result led to the abandonment of the 

 attempt in 1892. In 1893 the rookery had recovered suiliciently to yield the conq)any 

 1,500 skins; 1,000 were taken in 1894, and 1,300 in 1895. 



In all these years the raiders continued to prey upon the island in the autumn, 



