136 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



eries were fouiid covered with dead pups, but a careful and technical 

 examination was made on several of the dead bodies without discover- 

 ing a trace of organic disease, while starvation was so apparent that 

 those who examined them decided that it was the true cause of their 

 death. Had sickness or disease attacked the seal herd, it is only reason- 

 able to suppose a few grown seals would be found dead where so many 

 young ones had died so suddenly, but the most diligent search has 

 failed to find a grown seal dead upon the islands from unknown causes. 



From the discovery of tbe islands until the present time the flesh of 

 the fur seal has been the daily meat ration of the natives and of the 

 white people, and yet it is a fact that a tainted or diseased carcass 

 has never been known. 



In my opinion the solution of the problem is plain. It is the shotgun 

 and rifle of the pelagic hunter which are so destructive to the cow seals 

 as they go backward and forward to the lishing banks to supply the 

 waste caused by giving nourishment to their young. 



At this time they are destroyed by thousands and their young of but 

 a few weeks old must necessarily die of starvation, for nature has pro- 

 vided no other means of subsistence for them at this time of life. 



Unless the pelagic hunter is prevented from taking seals in Bering 

 Sea and in the North Pacific, the Alaskan fur seal will soon cease to be 

 of commercial value. 



L. A. NOYES, M. IX 



HABITS AND MANAGEMENT OF SEALS AND RULES OF FUR COM- 

 PANIES PELAGIC SEALING. 



Deposition of J. C. Redpath, agent of lessees on St. Paul Island. 



ST. PAUL ISLAND, PRIBILOF GROUP, 



Alaska, ss: 



J. C. Redpath, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I am an Ameri- 

 can citizen, a native of Connecticut, and I am 48 years of age. At 

 present I am a resident of St. Paul Island, Alaska. I have resided on 

 the seal islands of St. George and St. Paul since my first coming to 

 Alaska in 1875. My present occupation is that of local agent on St. 

 Paul Island for the present lessees, the North American Commercial 

 Company. I have a practical knowledge of, and am thoroughly con- 

 versant with, the habits and conditions of the fur seal as it exists on 

 the Pribilof Islands of St. George and St. Paul, and also of the methods 

 adopted and practiced in the taking of the skins, and of the several 

 efforts made by the former and present lessees, as experience taught 

 them, to increase the herd and to build up the rookeries and perpetuate 

 seal life. I have had a personal experience of seventeen seasons on 

 the killing grounds, in different situations, from that of seal clubber to 

 foreman, several years of which I have been the resident local agent. 

 My position as local agent has led me to make a careful study of the 

 seal question, and it is my duty to report from time to time to the gen- 

 eral agent of the lessees the result of my observations. 



The Alaskan fur seal is a native of the Pribilof Islands, and, unless 

 prevented, will return to these islands every year with the regularity of 

 the season. All the peculiarities of nature that surround the Pribilof 

 group of islands, such as low and even temperature, fog, mist, and per- 

 petually clouded sky, seem to indicate their fitness and adaptability as 

 a home for the Alaskan fur seal; and with an instinct bordering on 



