102 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Many inaccuracies are to be found in Mr. Elliott's report of 1890, due, 

 perhaps, to the hurried manner in which it was prepared, and the 

 bitterness, excitement, and many disappointments attending it all the 

 way through; nearly all of which were of a private character, and 

 which can not well be made public, even had I a desire to do so, which 

 I have not by any means. One instance more and I am done. 



In his " Held notes" on the state of the rookeries in 1890, Mr. Elliott 

 writes : 



June 19. Not a single holluschak of aiiy age whatsoever on Zoltoi Sands this day, 

 and there has not been a killable seal thus far there this season. (Elliott's report 

 1890 (Paris print), pp. 263-264.) 



June 22. Fine weather for seals to haul in continues, but the seals do not haul; 

 not a single seal on Zoltoi Sands this morning; has not been a holluschak there vet. 

 (Ibid., p! 264.) 



June 22. Now, not a single young male seal has hauled on Zoltoi thus far this sea- 

 son. (June 22, 6 a. m.) (Ibid., p. 265.) 



June 22. Not a seal on Zoltoi Sands this morning, and not one since during the 

 day. (Ibid., p. 266.) 



June 22. Not a holluschak or any other class of fur seal on Zoltoi Sands this morn- 

 ing or noon. (Ibid., p. 274.) 



June 30. Not a holluschak on Zoltoi Sands to-day. (Ibid., p. 276.) 



July 8. Also, not a holluschak has as yet hauled upon Zoltoi Sands. (Ibid., 

 p. 284.) 



July 19. I observe that not a single young male is on Zoltoi Sands thi.s morning 

 not one has hauled there thus far this season. (Ibid., p. 295.) 



The official records of the drives and killings made on the seal islands 

 in 1890 are on file in the Treasury Department, and a copy will be found 

 in the appendix to this report. I quote from the records the following 

 drives from Zoltoi in 1S90: "May 24, 1 drive; July 19, 1 drive." 



According to Mr. Elliott there was not a seal on Zoltoi on the 19th of 

 July; according to the island records a drive was made from Zoltoi on 

 that very same day. 



Another error of like importance are the two passages in the same 

 report which read as follows: 



The importance of understanding this fact as to the readiness of the holluschickie 

 to haul promptly out on steadily " swept '' ground, provided the weather is inviting, 

 is very great, because when not understood, it was deemed necessary, even as late as 

 the season of 1872, to -'rest'' the hauling grounds near the village (from which all 

 the driving has been made since), and make trips to far away Polavina and distant 

 Xapadnie. an unnecessary expenditure of human time and a causeless infliction of 

 physical misery upon phocine backs and flippers. (Elliott's report, 1890, p. 122.) 



Nobody in 1872 ever thought of such a thing as coming over from the village to 

 make a killing at Zapaduie. (Ibid., p. 246.) 



At page 122 Mr. Elliott remembered and acknowledged that drives 

 were made in 1872 from Zapadnie and Polavina, and the records con- 

 firm his story. 



He might have included 1871, for the records show drives were made 

 from both places in that year also. 



At page 246 he seems to have forgotten some of what he had already 

 written, for he gravely tells us: u Nobody in 1872 ever thought of such 

 a thing as coming over from the village to make a killing at Zapadnie." 



Enough has been said, I think, for the purpose of showing the public 

 how it happens, sometimes, that matters of small moment in themselves 

 may beget questions so momentous that it requires international arbi- 

 tration to settle them: and that the report of one overzealous officer 

 and the official report of another, made in anger and bitterness, have 

 cost the United States a whole fur-seal herd, worth, originally, nearly 

 $100,000,000. 



Ho numerous and so palpable were the inaccuracies all through the 



