SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIIilLOF ISLANDS. 139 



miles of the hauling grounds, and all skins taken at the Point are salted 

 there. At Zapadnie the same year a killing ground was made within 

 a mile of the hauling ground, and the skins taken there are taken to 

 the village salt hoase in boats, or when the weather is unfavorable by 

 team and wagon. 



Since 187S there has not been a drive made on St. Paul Island to 

 exceed U miles. At /apadnie, St. George, a salt house was built about 

 1ST."* and the (J-mile drive prohibited and a trail made at great expense 

 across the island, over which the skins are taken on pack saddles to the 

 village. Since 1874 no seals have been driven on St. George Island to 

 exceed U.J miles. 



Although the seals are comparatively tame after being on the land 

 for a short time and do not get scared so easily as is commonly supposed, 

 the rules and regulations of the Treasury Department are very strict 

 on the question of absolute protection to the seals on the islands, and 

 the Treasury agents have always most rigidly enforced them. 



It is uulawi'ul to fire.a gun on the islands from the time the first seal 

 appears in the spring until the last one leaves at the end of the season; 

 and in order to properly enforce this law the firearms are taken from 

 the natives and locked up in the Government house in care of the 

 Treasury agents. 



No person is allowed to go near a rookery unless by special order of 

 the Treasury agent, and, when driving from the hauling grounds, the 

 natives are forbidden to smoke or make any unusual noise, or to do any- 

 thing that might disturb or frighten the seals. All driving is done 

 when the weather is cool and moist, and when the condition of the 

 weather demands it the drives are made in the cool of the night, and 

 in no case are seals driven at a higher rate of speed than about half a 

 mile an hour. So carefully is the driving done that it has been found 

 necessary to divide the native drivers into several " watches," which 

 relieve each other on the road, because the pace being so slow the men 

 get cold. 



From 1875 to 1883 it was no uncommon thing for the lessees to take 

 the annual quota of 100,000 skins between June 1 and July 20, and yet 

 there was no sign of any decrease, but rather an expansion of most of 

 the rookeries 



I do not pretend to be able to say how many seals there are, or ever 

 were, on the rookeries; nor do I believe anybody else can tell; for the 

 rookeries are so broken and filled with rocks it is impossible to esti- 

 mate the number of seals upon them with any approach to accuracy. 

 The lines of expansion and contraction are plain enough, and can be 

 seen and understood by the whole community. 



Unt 1 1884 sealing schooners were seen but very seldom near the 

 islands or in Bering Sea, and the few seals taken by the hunters who 

 raided the rookeries occasionally are too paltry to be seriously con- 

 sidered, because the raids were so few, and the facilities for taking 

 many seals oft so utterly insignificant. In 1884 the sealing schooners 

 became numerous. I believe there were about 30 in the sea that year, 

 and they have increased very rapidly every year since, until now they 

 are said to be about 120. As the schooners increased the seals decreased, 

 and the lines of contraction on the rookeries were noticed to draw nearer 

 and nearer to the beach, and the killable seals became fewer in num- 

 bers and harder to find. In 1886 the decrease was so plain that the 

 natives and all the agents on the islands saw it and were startled, and 

 theories of all sorts were advanced in an attempt to account for a cause. 



A dearth of bulls on the breeding rookeries was a pet theory of one 



