REPORT OF AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS. 365 



females killed duriiiir this period are aivinrr Nui«uig females 

 milk, and are away from the islands in search of 

 food. Their young starve to death on the rook- 

 eries. 'We saw vast nmnbers of dead pups on Deafipiipsontiio 



^ ^ rookeries. 



the island of St. Paul last summer (1891), which, 

 from their emaciated condition, had evidently 

 died of starvation. The total number of their 

 carcasses remaining on the Pribilof Islands at 

 the end of the season of 1891 has been esti- 

 mated by the United States Treasury agents at 

 not less than twenty thousand. 



Pelagic sealing is now carried on in the North ;„?T"?n?*'^' '^^•^'' 

 Pacitic Ocean from January until late in June, 

 and in Bering Sea in July, August, and Septem 

 ber. Some sealing schooners remain as late as 

 November, but they do so for the purpose of 

 raiding the rookeries. 



The number of seals secured by pelao-ic Catch of scaling 



J i. & vessels. 



sealers is exceedingly difficult to ascertain, 

 because no complete record has been kept of 

 any except those sold in Victoria, British Co- 

 lumbia. Many thousands have been sold in 

 San Francisco, concerning which we have not 

 been able as yet to obtain reliable information. 



