1 86 



Sport and Life. 



as sniff across the broad pathway which separates the two spaces, 

 and by which the young generation passes to and from the sea. 



The Prybiloff Islands were discovered much subsequent to all 

 the other Alaskan islands, for in spite of most assiduous search by 

 the fur hunters, who knew perfectly, well that breeding grounds 

 existed somewhere in that ocean, their efforts in this direction had 

 failed until the year 1786,- when a trader, after whom they are 

 called, more or less accidentally stumbled upon these fog-hidden 

 specks in the broad Behring Sea. When he left them a few weeks 

 later, he had 31,100 sealskins in the holds and on the decks of his 



THE NATIVE VILLAGE ON ST. PAUL (PRYBILOFF ISLANDS), WITH A 

 SEAL DRIVE IN THE FOREGROUND. 



two vessels. The islands were found quite uninhabited, but, in 

 order to assist the fur hunters, a colony of Aleuts was imported 

 and the present population, some 350 souls, consists of the third 

 and fourth generation of the first immigrants. Their lot is a remark- 

 ably comfortable one, for thr. company, besides providing them 

 with the necessaries of life, have to pay them a royaky of 40 cents 

 a skin, which is divided among them in certain proportion, and in 

 their eyes represents wealth. No other natives are permitted on the 

 islands, the killing and skinning of the seals being exclusively their 

 prerogative. The former is done in a methodical manner, entirely 

 free from wanton cruelty, and is accomplished by surrounding 



