104 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



their time, acting- as officers, under the immediate command of tlie administrator aiid 

 his assistant. VVatcbhouses are erected overlooking the roolieries, and the guards 

 provided witli good spyglasses and rai)idtiring army I'itlcs. Stands of arms and 

 plenty of ammunition are kejit in the Government building al the settlements. 



The central authorities maintain the supervision of the local administration by 

 occasionally sending out an inspector, or "revisor," as he is called. His duty is to 

 ascertain the state of affairs generally, as well as the condition of the natives, to 

 receive any complaints of the latter, and iutestigate their grievances. 



A change has of late years been ett'ected in the higher administration of the 

 islands, inasmuch as they have been transferred from the Department of the Interior 

 to the Department of the Imperial Domains, without prejudice, however, to the terri- 

 torial Jurisdiction of the governor-general of the Amur Provinces. The administra- 

 tive status of the Commander Islands is therefore now exactly parallel to that of 

 the Pribylof Islands in their double relation to the United States Treasury and the 

 governor of the Territory of Alaska. 



CONDITION OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS ROOKERIES. 

 PKELIMINAKY UEMAltKS. 



When, in 18S2, Prof. S. F. Baird sent me to the Commander Islands to study their 

 natural history he also impressed upon me the desirability of obtaining some infor- 

 mation in regard to the fur seal and the sealing industry of the islands. Owing to 

 my hurried departure — I had only 48 hours in which to prepare for the expedition 

 destined to stay two years in the tield — 1 failed to take a photographic outfit with 

 me. In default of photographs, however, I made numerous sketches of the I'ook- 

 eries, and also undertook to construct maps of them by means of an azimuth compass 

 and a pediometer. I submit some of the sketches with this report in exact facsimile 

 of the originals; they have not been touched up in any manner (pis. 20, 41,42, 43). For 

 that reason they appear extremely crude, but it is thouglit that they will be accepted 

 with more confidence in their present shape and carry with them more conviction than 

 if they had been fixed up or "improved" in any way. 



The only photographs of the rookeries in their palmy days were taken by the 

 Russian Colonel Voloshinof, but with only a few exceptions they are not intended 

 to portray the totality of seal life on the individual rookeries, and for that reason 

 offer but scant material for comparison with my sketches of 1882-83, or my photo- 

 graphs of 1895, the more so since the points of view in all instances except one are 

 diiierent from mine. However, those that can be utilized in this connection I have 

 reproduced. 



Wlien photographing the rookeries last summer I made a special efi'ort to obtain 

 views from the identical points from which I had made my sketches in 1882 and 1883. 

 Taking into account the diflferent focus of the eye and the photograjjliic lens, I think 

 a comparison between the sketches and the photographs will establish the general 

 accuracy and truthfulness of the former. 



When studying the rookeries in 1882-83, 1 did it with II. W. Elliott's Monograph 

 of the Pribylof group in my hands. In the main I found that his observations in 

 regard to seal life were api)licable to the Commander Islands seals, and at the same 

 time that the conditions of the sealing industry were also nearly the same on the two 

 groups, so far as could be judged from descriptions alone. There were minor points 



