206 BERING ISLAND. [chap. 



Started in 1869 by two energetic Americans who alone recognised 

 the vahie of the seal islands at the time of the occupation of Alaska 

 bj the United States Government, it has saved a most valuable 

 animal from extinction, and the Pribylov and Bering groups are now 

 neither more nor less than stock-farms where every care is taken for 

 the preservation of the breeding animals. It is impossible to visit the 

 Korth Pacific without hearing the Company abused, but, as it seems 

 to me, entirely without justification. Their action, with the excep- 

 tion of the more than \'igorous measures which they have occasionally 

 taken for the defence of theu' property, appears to have always l)een 

 most moderate, and to tend quite as much to the benefit of their 

 successors as themselves. The profit upon the skins is by no means 

 excessive so far as can be gathered from Mr. Elliott's work. The 

 rental of the Pribylov Islands is $50,000, and, as has been stated, 

 the number of seals killed annually is about 100,000. Upon each 

 pelt a duty of S2 is paid to the United States Government, and as 

 each costs 40 cents for skinning, it will be seen that the actual sum 

 disbursed for every sealskin leaving the islands is twelve shillings, 

 — an amount that is further augmented by the addition of the 

 general expenses of the Company. The Bering group is, I believe, 

 Iield from the Piussians upon rather more advantageous terms. The 

 lease of all the islands expires in 1890. 



It was with much surprise and pleasure that we found Dr. 

 Leonard Stejneger, the accomplished and well-known naturalist, 

 established in Xikolsky. He had come to investigate the natural 

 history of the Komandorskis, and was prepared to devote himself to 

 an eighteen months' exile from civilisation in this dreary spot. 

 Surrounded by the large collections he had already made, it was 

 pleasant to chat over subjects in which w^e had a common interest, 

 and to learn many details of the island which he alone could give. 

 He had just returned from an expedition to the spot where Bering 

 and his crew had wintered in 1741, and had been successful in ol> 

 taining a quantity of bones of Steller's sea-cow — the huge mammal, 

 as far as we know peculiar to the island, which has been extinct 



