2G2 PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION. 



Fogs in Bering in searcli of food, and because fo^-s are so preva- 



Sea. \ _ ^ j^ 



lent about those islands that it would be impos- 

 sible to enforce any such prohibition."^ Captain 

 Abbey, also of the United States Revenue Marine, 

 who seized several sealing vessels in 188G in 

 Berhig- Sea, says: "Fogs are almost constant in 

 Bering Sea in the summer time. During the 

 fifty-eight days I cruised in those waters fifty- 

 - four days were foggy and rainy, the other four 

 days partly clear. On this account it is most 

 difficult to seize vessels in Bering Sea. The re- 

 ports of the guns of the hunters might often be 

 heard when no vessel could be seen. For fifteen 

 or twenty days at a time I did not see ihe sun, 

 and never wdiile in Bering Sea did I see a star, 

 the nights being continually overcast and 

 foggy. "^ Captain Bryant, already mentioned as 

 the Government agent on the Pribilof Islands 

 from 1870 to 1877, and who prior to that time 

 had been captain of a whaling vessel which for 

 several years had been in Bering Sea, says : '' A 

 zone thirty, forty, or fifty miles about the island 

 in which sealmg is prohibited would be of little 

 or no protection, as the females, during the 

 breeding season after their pups are born, wan- 

 der at intervals over Bering Sea in search of 

 food. But, to suppose an impossibility, even if 



'Vol. II, p. 189. 

 = Vol. II, p. 186. 



