CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 



For the summer of 1896 I was called upon Fut Seal 

 to undertake a totally new and most interesting P^'^^^^^ 

 scientific task. In the spring Charles Sumner 

 Hamlin, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, 

 came to see me at the University, bringing President 

 Cleveland's request that I take the headship of the 

 American division of a Joint High Commission of 

 Investigation of the Fur Seal ^ problem in Bering 

 Sea. For though the questions in dispute between 

 Great Britain and the United States had been 

 placed in 1893 before a Tribunal of Arbitration at 

 Paris, the verdict or award was ineffective for the 

 preservation of the herd. 



The failure of the Paris Award (which failure had 

 been used as an argument against Mr. Cleveland's 

 proposed general Treaty of Arbitration with Great 

 Britain, put forward during his first administration) 



^ It must be noted that, zoologically speaking, the "Fur Seal" is not really 

 a Seal, but rather an aquatic Bear. True seals or hair seals — Phocidcr — have 

 no external ears; their fur is short and thick, mostly yellow-gray in color; 

 the position of their hind legs prevents them from walking on land; and their 

 short digitigrade feet are not provided with flippers. Among land animals 

 their nearest relative is the Otter. 



The various species of Fur Seal, Sea Lion, and Walrus have external ears 

 and plantigrade feet in which long flippers extend beyond the small toenails; 

 they can walk on land, though a bit clumsily. The males are strong, courageous, 

 and pugnacious. Among land animals their nearest relative is the Bear. 



The Fur Seals of Bering Sea are not all of one species. That of the Pribilof 

 Islands — - Callorhinus alascanus — is the largest and most valuable. 1 he Rus- 

 sian species — Callorhinus ursinus — is darker in color, with longer neck and 

 coarser fur. The Japanese form — Callorhinus curilensis — is still smaller and 

 (unlike the others) has the under fur of a yellowish shade. The sealskin ot com- 

 merce, I should here explain, has all the long hairs drawn out, after which the 

 pale under fur is dyed a warm brownish black. 



n 545 :i 



