SKAL LIFE ON THK PiUIULOF ISLANDS. 15 



and after coming ashore they lay in the snow and ice that covered the 

 rookeries. 



About June 10-12 the young killable males began hauling out in 

 goodly numbers, but at no time during the whole season of 181)4 were 

 there as many seals on the islands as hauled out in 189:5. 



The indications of decrease are to be seen on all sides in all classes of 

 seals, but more particularly in the cows on the breeding grounds. 



Beginning October 1*3 and ending November .'JO, 1<S93, there were 

 killed on St. Paul Island, for natives' food, 774 killable seals, whose 

 skins were merchantable and have since been accepted by the lessees. 



Beginning October 20 and ending November 17, 181)3, there were 

 killed on St. George. Island, for natives' food, 245 seals, whose skins have 

 since been accepted, thus making the total of 1,019 skins on hand at 

 the beginning of the season of 1804. 



Beginning the season of 1894 May 9 and ending August 4, 12,190 seal 

 skins were taken on St. Paul Island; and from May 23 to August 9, 

 2,817 seals were killed on St. George Island. The date of the drive, 

 the rookery driven from, and the number taken at each killing during 

 the season are attached and marked Exhibits 1) and E. 



I have also attached copy of shipping receipts for the total number 

 of skins taken by lessees during the fall of 1893 and killing season of 

 1894, marked Exhibit F. 



Also report of distribution of the "Community fund" as Exhibits G 

 andH. 



The total number of skins shipped by the lessees in 1894 was 16,032, 

 including the 1,019 food skins taken in the fall of 1893. 



For taking, salting, and lading these skins the natives were paid 50 

 cents per skin, or $8,016. 



The amount actually distributed was only $7,946, leaving $70 of a 

 balance to be distributed next season. 



The distribution of the $7,946 had really been made before the accept- 

 ance of 140 skins which were not considered first class, bill which were 

 afterwards accepted by the lessees' agent, and the natives will be paid 

 next year. 



DRIVING. 



Only two drives from each rookery were permitted during the season, 

 of 1894. All long drives were avoided, and yet, in my opinion, there 

 were as many skins taken as could have been obtained by the lessees 

 had they been allowed to drive oftener. 



I was anxious to have the driving done so carefully that there should 

 not be any possibility of disturbance on the rookeries, and I feel satisfied 

 that the plan adopted was a good one. 



Had there been the number of young killables on the rookeries that 

 Mr. Henry W. Elliott tells about in his work on Alaska, 1872-1880, there 

 would have been no trouble in securing 100,000 skins, but the "amphibi- 

 ous millions" which Mr. Elliott saw in 1876 have passed away and where 

 they swarmed by the million then is now a grass plat upon which a seal 

 is never seen. 



That the seal herd has been steadily decreasing during the past ten 

 years is so self-evident now that no one denies it. Had the decrease 

 been due to bad management on the islands it would most certainly 

 have been proven during the years of the "modus vivendi," when not 

 to exceed 7,500 seals were taken annually; but, in spite of a long rest 

 of nearly five years, we could not get 20,000 killable seals on the islands 

 in 1894, which shows beyond contradiction, I think, that the cause of the 



