88 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



RFI'I.Y Ol DR. <:. HARTF.A115. 



BKI:MKN. April ?;', 189:.'. 

 Mr. C. HART Mi RRIAM. 



DFAR SIR: Your excellent report on tlie northern I'nr seal I have read and reread 

 with intense interst. 



I am t'ar from attributing to myself a competent judgment regarding tliis matter, 

 but eon>idering all facts which yon have so cle.irly and convincingly combined and 

 expressed, it seems to me thai, the measures yon propose in order to prohibit the 

 threatening decay of the northern fur seal are the only correct ones promising an. 

 effective result. 



I sincerely regret that for practical reasons it can not be thought of to prohibit 

 fur-seal hunting for a lew years entirely, as this would naturally assist numerically 

 the menaced animal. 



There is at any rate danger in view, and it can not be too strongly emphasized that 

 your so well founded proposal^ should be executed at the earliest time possible. 



With sincere thanks for the confidence yon have placed in my judgment. I am, 

 dear sir, your most obedient. 



Dr. (J. IlARTLAl'H. 



REPLY OF I'ROF. KOIIKHI CnLLKTT, OF Till. /OOLO< i I i'A I. MTSF.I'M "V TIFF, CXIVKRSITY 



OF C1I1US1IAMA, NORWAY. 



ClIKIsTIANIA, April 2. J , IS!).?. 



MY DF.AR Sin: It would be, a very easy reply to your highly interesting treatise 

 of the fur seal, which you have been kind enough to send us, when I only answered 

 yon that I agree with you entirely in all points. No doubt it would he the greatest 

 value for the rookeries on the Prihilof Islands, as well as for the preservation of the 

 existence of the seal, if it would be possible to stop the sealing at sea at. all. Hut 

 that will no doubt lie very difficult when so many nations partake in the, sealing, 

 and how that is to go about I can not know. My own countrymen are killing every 

 year many thousands of seals. Cjixto phora 1 , on the ice barrier between Spit/.bergeu 

 and Greenland, hut never females with young: either are the old ones caught or 

 and that is the greatest number the young seals. Hut there is a close time, accepted 

 by the different nations, just to prohibit the killing of the females with young. 

 Perhaps a similar close time could be accepted in the Bering Sea, but that is a ques- 

 tion about which I can not have any opinion. 



Many thanks for the paper. 



Yours, very truly. I\. COLLKTT. 



RI.I'LY OF I.F.OPOLM YON S( IIRKN< K. 



ST. PF. rF.i;snri:<;. April /,'!/;.'>, LW2. 



DI:AR SIR: Having read with ea^er and critical attention the memoir you have 

 addressed 1o me upon the condition of the fur-seal rookeries on the Pribilof Islands 

 in Bering Sea, the causes of decrease, and the measure's necessary lor the restora- 

 tion and permanent preservation of the seal herd, 1 can not bur, completely agree 

 with you in considering tin; conclusions and recommendations yon arrived at qnito 

 justified and necessitated by t he facts. 1 am also persuaded that the pelagic sealing, 

 if pur>ned in the same manner in future, will necessarily end with the extermination 

 of the fin- seal. 



Very truly, yours. 



LF.OPOLD VON SniRi:.\<'K, 

 Mimlnr of lltr Impi-rlnl Ara<l<-in</ of Science*. N/. I'etc)'nburg. 



I "IRFN/.I:, 1! VIA KOMANA, .!/<;// .', /,v.9?. 



Di;\i: SIP.: Years ago. in November, l^o'T. I had the ^ood fortune to be able to 

 visit an e\tensi\ .- rookery of one of the South 1'icilic eaied sea Is. t he \\ ell- known 

 Otiirin jiil'/iin. \\ was duriim m\' voNa^ 1 ' round the world on the Mdf/fula. The 

 rooker\ in 1 1 ue>t ion 1 j.-s j n -I ln-h ; ud ( 'a pe Stokes in the ( i n 1 1 of I 'en as. on the south- 

 ern cosi-1 of ('bile, and i> the one seen by Darwin during his memora ide \ oya-c, in 

 the, limt/lr. I shall never forget that day. when m\ astonished ga/e rested on hun- 

 dreds of these, eared seals l\in^ r about, in e\erv attitude, oi repose, on the, beach and 



