T'he Days of a Man 1:1896 



Paris 3. Denial of the right of seizure of sealing vessels at large, 



Award a^j requirement that vessels already seized should be paid for. 

 4. Provision for "the protection and preservation of the 

 Fur Seal" in the common interest. 



The last object it was sought to accomplish through a series 

 of regulations by which pelagic sealing, while recognized as 

 legal, was subjected to certain restrictions. Thus during May, 

 June, and July it was prohibited everywhere on the American 

 side, and at all times within sixty miles of the Pribilofs. Around 

 the Commander group no time limit was set, and the other 

 restriction was for thirty miles only. As already implied, these 

 regulations, though in a degree useful, were quite inadequate. 



The duty of the American commission of 1896 

 (continued in 1897) was to make a fresh and com- 

 plete study of all the facts concerned, and then 

 recommend means for saving the herd. A British 

 commission under similar instructions worked jointly 

 with us. A Japanese group had also been appointed, 

 but its members were unable to reach Bering Sea; 

 they did, however, join us at Washington in De- 

 cember. 



Concurrent with our efforts, it was of course 

 necessary to review those of previous investigators. 

 Early For this, a basis was furnished by the work of the 

 records Russiau bishop, Ivan Veniaminof, venerable "apostle 

 of the Aleuts," whose very precise and concise 

 account of the seal islands appeared in 1839, and 

 to which later Russian investigation added little. 

 The first report after our purchase of Alaska was 

 that made by Captain Charles Bryant in 1870. 

 This was followed in 1874 by the elaborate account 

 of Henry W. Elliott, then a young artist employed 

 at the Smithsonian Institution. Elliott's original 

 observations were in general keen and graphic, and 



n 550 3 



