>EAL LIFE ON THE P1UBILOF ISLANDS. 235 



not such skins as we wanted, but the superintendent on the islands 

 reported tliat they were the best he could get. (Leon Sloss.) 



The number of seals on the Pribilof Islands is decreasing. 1 saw 

 positive proof of this on St. Paul Island last season. (X. L. Tanner.) 



I had an excellent opportunity to observe some, of the seal rookeries 

 during my first visit to the islands, and spent much time in studying 

 the habits of the seals, both on the rookeries and in the adjacent waiters. 

 I was particularly impressed with the great numbers to In- seen, both 

 on land and in the water. During the summer of 18SJ) the Rush was 

 engaged cruising in pursuit of vessels engaged in illegal sealing, so that 

 our anchorages off the seal rookeries that season were short and infre- 

 quent, hence I did not have the opportunity to observe them as closely 

 on land as the preceding year. During 18JH) the Kmh was not engaged 

 in preventing sealing outside the shore limit, and we spent much time 

 in full view of the seal rookeries and cruising" about the seal islands, 

 and I also made frequent visits to the breeding grounds. The deserted 

 appearance of the rookeries and the absence of seals in the water was 

 very noticeable and was a matter of general remark among the officers 

 of the vessel who had been on former cruises. Very large tracts of the 

 rookeries which I had formerly seen occupied by the seals were entirely 

 deserted, and the herds were much smaller than those of 18S8. My 

 attention was also called, by those conversant with the facts, to the 

 grass growing on the inshore side of some of the rookeries, and to the 

 three different shades of grass to be ween, indicating the spaces that 

 had not been occupied by the seals for several years, owing to their 

 diminished number. The darker shade showed where the growth first 

 commenced, and a lighter shade for each succeeding year. There were 

 three or four differently shaded growths, reaching down to the sand of 

 the rookeries, and on that portion of the rookeries occupied by seals 

 they were not lying near as compact as in 1888. In our frequent pas- 

 sages during LS'JO between the Aleutian group and the seal islands we 

 sometimes made an entire trip without seeing a seal. This was entirely 

 different from the experience of preceding years, indicating a great 

 falling off of seal life, (Francis Tuttle.) 



In the year 1880 I thought I began to notice a falling off from the 

 year previous of the number of seals on Northeast Point rookery, but 

 this decrease was so very slight that probably it would not have been 

 observed by one less familiar with seal life and its conditions than 1; 

 but I could not discover or learn that it showed itself on any of the 

 other rookeries. In 1SS1 and 1885 I noticed a decrease, and it became 

 so marked in 18S(J that everyone on the islands saw it. This marked 

 decrease in 1SS(> showed itself on all the rookeries on both islands. 

 I'm il 1887 or 1.SS8, however, the decrease was not felt in obtaining skins, 

 at which time the standard was lowered from (> and 7 pound skins to 5 

 and 14 pounds. The hauling grounds of Northeast Point kept up the 

 standard longer than the other rookeries, because, as I believe, the 

 latter rookeries had felt the drain of the open-sea sealing during 1885 

 and ISSiJ more than Northeast Point, the cows from the other rookeries 

 having gone to the southward to feed, where the majority of the sealing 

 schooners were engaged in taking seal. (Daniel Webster.) 



In pursuance of Department instructions to me of May 127, 1891, 1 made 

 a careful examination during the sealing season of the habits, numbers, 

 and conditions of the seals and seal rookeries, with a view of reporting 

 to the Department from observation and such knowledge on the subject 



