ALASKA AND ITS FUE-SEAL INDUSTRY. 



of seal-furs is principally derived from the for- 

 mer locality, where the seal population is, by 

 wise management, kept up unimpaired. 



The Pribylov Islands lie in the heart of Behr- 

 ing Sea, 192 miles north of Oonalaska, 1,400 

 miles west-northwest from Sitka, and 2,250 miles 

 west-northwest from San Francisco. They 

 include the Islands of St. Paul and St. George, 

 which lie from twenty-seven to thirty miles 

 apart, and of which St. George lies southeast- 

 ward of St. Paul. The Island of St. Paul, the 

 larger of the two, has an area of about 33 

 square miles, or 21,120 acres, and 42 miles of 

 shore-line, of which 16 miles are k ' hauled" 

 over by fur-seals. St. George has an area of 

 about 27 square miles and 29 miles of coast-line, 

 of which 2 miles only are visited by the seals. 

 The islands are inhabited by 390 Aleuts (298 

 on St. Paul and 92 on St. George), who dwell 

 in comfortable houses in the villages of their 

 respective islands, and are employed in killing 

 the seals. 



The fur-seal, which resorts to these islands 

 to breed and shed its hair and fur, is the high- 

 est organized of all the animals of the order 

 (Pinnipedia) to which it belongs, and exhibits 

 an instinct of an extraordinarily high order. It 

 is distinguished from the hair-seal (Phoca vitu- 

 lina), with which it has not even a generic af- 

 finity, by its erect habit and black or ochre- 

 colored body. The male, or " bull," when fully 

 grown, measures between six and a half and 

 seven and a half feet in length, and will weigh 

 between four hundred and six hundred pounds. 

 The head appears disproportionately small in 

 comparison with the thick neck and shoulders, 

 but is nearly all occupied by the brain; the 

 eyes are bluish hazel, with a changing expres- 

 sion ; the muzzle and jaws are of about the 

 same size and form as those of a Newfoundland 

 dog, but with firmly lined and compressed lips ; 

 it has a long, yellowish-white and gray mus- 

 tache ; and it carries its head about three feet 

 from the ground. The females, or " cow-seals," 

 are between four and four and one half feet in 

 length, are much more shapely in their pro- 

 portions than the bulls, and have handsome 

 heads and eyes, and an expression of consider- 

 able intelligence. They resort to the islands for 

 the purpose of giving birth to their young, 

 reaching there at the end of their period of 

 gestation, and generally within a day or two of 

 their time of delivery. The selection of the 

 Pribylov Islands for resort is determined by 

 the peculiar adaptation of the beaches to the 

 habits and comfort of the animals during the 

 breeding-season. The shores present, at the 

 places selected for the "hauling" and breed- 

 ing-grounds, gentle slopes of shingle or a firm, 

 well-drained surface, to which the seals can 

 travel without discomfort, and where they can 

 lie without annoyance from mud or sand, v from 

 May till October, every year, in perfect phys- 

 ical peace and security. 



The " bull-seals " seek the islands considera- 

 bly earlier in the season than the cow-seals, 



the first arrivals taking place early in May, and 

 the great body reaching the grounds about the 

 first of June, while the females do not come up 

 till three weeks or a month later than the lat- 

 ter time. Each bull selects a spot about six or 

 eight feet square, which he defends as his own 

 against all rivals, and to which he invites the 

 females when they have come to the shore, 

 till he has collected a "harem" of fifteen or 

 more cows around him. The breeding-season 

 is at its height from the 10th to the 15th of 

 July in every year, after which it subsides at 

 the end of that month and in August. It is 

 also established that the breeding is confined 

 entirely to the land, and that it is never effect- 

 ed in the sea ; the females bear their first young, 

 a single pup each, when they are three years 

 old, after about twelve months of gestation. 

 The animals begin to scatter from the definite 

 limits of their breeding-places about the 25th 

 of July, and the " rookeries " are entirely 

 broken up after the middle of September, when 

 the " pups '* have all learned to swim. By far 

 the largest number of the male seals, including 

 those which are not yet six years old, fail in 

 the competition to establish themselves on the 

 breeding-grounds and to secure harems of fe- 

 males. They are called "bachelor-seals," or, 

 in Russian, " holluschickie," and are allotted 

 distinct grounds, called " hauling-grounds," 

 after the seal's peculiar mode of progression. 

 The hauling-grounds, with the passages lead- 

 ing to them through the breeding-grounds, are 

 definitely marked off, and the boundaries are 

 strictly respected by both the breeding and the 

 bachelor seals. The bachelor-seals are the par- 

 ticular objects of the chase which is conducted 

 on the islands. The hunting-season nearly cor- 

 responds with the breed ing- season, the greater 

 proportion of the work being done in June and 

 July. The process of hunting is rather one of 

 driving the animals from the "hauling-grounds" 

 to the "killing-grounds," as domestic animals 

 are driven, for the seals are quite tame and 

 obey the commands of their drivers with do- 

 cility. Only, care has to be taken to avoid 

 over-driving and heating them, which destroy 

 the quality of the fur. The killing is done by 

 the native inhabitants of the islands, who, 

 armed with clubs about five or six feet in 

 length and three inches in diameter (which 

 are made in New London for the purpose), and 

 knives, knock them on the head, stab them to 

 the heart, and skin them speedily, before a pe- 

 culiar reaction, which they call "heating," has 

 had time to set in. The skins, which weigh 

 from five and a half to twelve pounds each, 

 according to the age of the animal, are salted, 

 and piled, "hair to fat," in bins, whence, after 

 having lain two or three weeks, till they are 

 "pickled," they may be taken out at any time 

 and rolled into bundles of two skins each, with 

 the hairy side out, ready for shipment. 



The business of hunting the seals and curing 

 the skins is, by act of Congress, a monopoly of 

 the Alaska Commercial Company of San Fran- 



