64 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



to a hearing on the point at issue, is most respectfully submitted to the 

 earnest consideration of all who are interested in the perpetuation of 

 the Alaskan fur seal. 



Mr. Joseph Stanley-Brown, whoalso was on the seal islands in 1891-92, 

 testifies as follows: 



No intelligent observer would, be so bold as to assert that during the season of 

 1892 there was not an abundance of males of competent virility, despite the occur- 

 rence of occasional large harems. The accompanying photographs 1 show that even 

 at the height of the season, and just previous to the disintegration of the breeding 

 grounds, there were, misapplied with cows, old males which had taken their stand, 

 and from which 1 was unable to drive them with stones. 



I should have been extremely glad to have been able to note a great many more 

 large harems, but the work of the pelagic hunter among the females has been so 

 effective, that the average size of the harems is growing smaller and smaller, while 

 the number of idle bulls is steadily increasing. 



The abundance of male life for service upon the rookeries was evidenced by the 

 number of young bulls which continually sought lodgment upon the breeding 

 grounds. 



It is highly improbable that the rookeries have ever sustained any injury from 

 insufficient service on the part of the males, for any male that did not possess suf- 

 ficient vitality for sustained potency would inevitably be deprived of hi* harem by 

 either his neighbor or some lusty young aspirant, and this dispossession would be 

 rendered the more certain by the disloyalty of his consorts. 



The seal being polygamous in habit, each male being able to provide for a harem 

 averaging twenty or thirty members, and the proportion of male to female born 

 being equal, there must inevitably be left a reserve of young immature males, the 

 death of a certain proportion of which could not in anyway affect the annual supply 

 coming from the breeding grounds. These conditions existing, the Government has 

 permitted the taking, with three exceptions up to 1890, of a quota of about 100,000 

 of these young male seals annually. When the abundance of seal life, as evidenced 

 by the areas formerly occupied by seals, is considered, I do not believe that this could 

 account for or play any appreciable part in the diminution of the herd. * * * 



From my knowledge of the vitality of seals, I do not believe any injury ever 

 occurred to the reproductive powers of the male seals from redriving that would 

 retard the increase of the herd, and that the driving of 1890 necessary to secure 

 about 22,000 skins could not have caused nor played any important part in the 

 decrease that was apparent on every hand last year. 



Karp Buterin, native chief of St. Paul Island (see Appendix): 



Plenty of bulls all the time on the rookeries, and plenty bulls have no cows. I 

 never seen a 3-year-old cow without a pup in July; only 2-year-olds have no pups. 



H. N". Clark, local agent for lessees : 



I never noticed any disproportion of the sexes that would lead me to suspect that 

 the bull seals were too few, nor more than an occasional barren cow. These latter 

 were so few as to excite no remark, but if any such disproportion did in fact exist 

 in 1888 and in 1889, it was the fault of those who killed them at sea, because it never 

 occurred at all until the marine hunters became numerous and aggressive. I mention 

 this matter here, because since I left the island 1 have heard it asserted that the mis- 

 management there caused the decrease of seal life. The management there was just 

 such as I would follow if all the seals belonged to me. 



C. L. Fowler, local agent for lessees: 



I never saw any impotent bulls on the rookeries, and do not believe there ever was 

 any, unless it was the result of age; nor do I believe that young male seals were ever 

 rendered impotent by driving. There has always been a plenty of bulls on the rook- 

 eries for breeding purposes ever since I have been on the islands. 



John Fratis, native sealer, St. Paul Island : 



I never knew of a time when there were not plenty of bulls for all the cows, and 

 I never saw a cow seal, except a 2-year old, without a pup by her side in the proper 

 season. I never heard tell of an impotent bull seal, nor do I believe : here is such a 

 thing, excepting the very old and feeble or badly wounded ones. I have seen hun- 

 dreds of idle vigorous bulls upon the rookeries, and there were no cows for them. I 

 saw many such bulls last year. 



1 Not given here. 



