150 MANAGEMENT OF THE SEAL ROOKERIES. 



Coutroi auci do- Several otlier Pribilof islanders and white men 



mcstication. 



long resident there make similar statements. 



This peculiar susceptibility to control has also 

 been and is recognized by such a well-known 

 scientist as Dr. E. von Middendorff, of Russia, 

 who, in a letter dated May 6/18, 1892, says: 

 *'This animal is of commercial importance and 

 was created for a domestic animal, as I pointed 

 out many years ago. (See my 'Siberian Jour- 

 ney,' Vol. IV, Part I, p. 846.) It is, in fact, the 

 most useful of all domestic animals, since it re- 

 quires no care and no expense and consequently 

 yields the largest net profit."^ 

 Eegniixtious for Tliis BOWcr of domcstication has made it pos- 



killiug. ^ . . 



sible to discriminate most carefully between the 

 classes of seals killed and to enforce rules and 

 regulations for the general management of the 

 herd. Rear-Admiral Sir M. Culver-Seymour, in 

 a dispatch to the British Admiralty, says: "The 

 seals killed by the Alaska Commercial Company 

 are all clubbed on land, where the difference of 

 sex can easily be seen."^ 

 Protection of The first regulation enforced by the Govern- 

 ment of the United States was that no female 



1 John Fratis, Vol. II, p. 109; Daniel Webster, Vol. II, p. 182; J. 

 C. Redpatli, Vol. II, p. 152; Simeon Melovedoff, Vol, II, p. 147. 



2 Letter of Dr. E. von Middendorff, Vol. I, p. 431. 



3 British Blue Book, U. S. No. 2 (1890), C-6131, p. 4. 



