76 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



rookeries. In 1884 about 4,000 skins were taken in Bering Sea by three vessels, and 

 starved pups were noticed upon the islands that year for the first time. In 1885 

 about 10,000 skins were taken in this sea, and the dead pups upon the rookeries 

 became so numerous as to evoke comment from the natives and others upon the 

 islands. (H. H. Mclntyre.) 



NO DEAD PUPS PRIOR TO 1884. 



Poaching in Bering Sea had not begun in those years (from 1868 to 1876), and it 

 was a rare thing to find a dead pup about the shores or on the rookeries. I had 

 frequent occasion, after the close of the breeding season, to visit all parts of the 

 island, and there was no appearance of gaunt or starved seals. Occasionally a dead 

 pup was found that had been crushed To death by the bulls in their encounters with 

 each other. (George R. Adams, lessees' agent.) 



A dead pup was rarely seen, the dead being a small fraction of 1 per cent to the 

 whole number of pups. I do not think while I was there I saw in any one season 50 

 dead pups on the rookeries, and the majority of dead pups were along the shore, 

 having been killed by the surf. (Charles Bryant, Treasury agent.) 



There were not, in 1880, sufficient dead pups scattered over the rookeries to attract 

 attention or to form a feature on the rookery. (W. H. Dall, naturalist.) 



During the time I was on the islands I only saw a very few dead pups on the 

 rookeries, but the number in 1884 was slightly more than in former years. I never 

 noticed or examined dead pups on the rookeries before 1881, the number being so 

 small. (H. A. Glidden, Treasury agent.) 



In performing my official duty I frequently visited the breeding rookeries, and 

 during my entire stay on the island I never saw more than 400 dead pups on all the 

 rookeries." (Louis Kimmel, Treasury agent, 1882-83.) 



I never saw but a few dead pups on the rookeries until the schooners came into 

 the sea and shot the cows when they went out to feed, and then the dead pups 

 began to increase on the rookeries. (Nicoli Krukoff, native chief, St. Paul Island.) 



I am informed that of late years thousands of young pups have died on the islands 

 while the season was in progress. Certainly such condition did not exist during my 

 residence on the Pribilof group. The pups were sometimes trampled upon by the 

 larger animals, and dead ones might be seen here and there on the rookeries; but 

 the loss in this particular was never enough or important enough to excite any 

 special comment. (J. M. Morton, Treasury agent, 1877-78.) 



Never while I was on St. George Island did I see a dead pup on the rookeries, and 

 I certainly should have noticed if there had been any number on the island. (B. F. 

 Scribner, Treasury agent, 1879-80.) 



While I was on the island I never saw more than 25 dead pups on the rookeries 

 during any one season. I have seen occasionally a dead one among the bowlders 

 along the shore, which had probably been killed by the surf; but these dead pups 

 were in no instance emaciated. (George Wardrnan, Treasury agent, 1881-1885.) 



While on St. George Island there were practically no dead pups on the rookeries. 

 I do not think I saw during any one season more than a dozen. On St. Paul Island 

 I never saw any dead pups to amount to anything until 1884, and then the number 

 was quite noticeable. (J. H. Moulton, Treasury agent.) 



NUMBER OF DEAD PUPS IN 1891. 



One thing which attracted my attention was the immense number of dead young 

 seals; another was the presence of quite a number of young seals on all the rook- 

 eries in an emaciated and apparently very weak condition. I was requested by the 

 Government agent to examine some of the carcasses for the purpose of determining 

 the cause or causes of their death. I visited and walked over all the rookeries. On 

 all, dead seals were to be found in great numbers. Their number was more apparent 

 on those rookeries, such as Tolstoi and Halfway Point, the water sides of which were 

 on smooth ground, and the eye could glance over patches of ground hundreds of feet 

 in extent which were thickly strewn with carcasses. 



Where the water side of the rookeries, as at Northwest Point and the reef (south 

 of the village), were on rocky ground the immense number of dead was not so ap- 

 parent, but a closer examination showed that the dead were there in equally great 

 numbers scattered among the rocks. In some localities the ground was so thickly 

 strewn with the dead that one had to pick his way carefully in order to avoid step- 



