116 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



(ieatlis from Uncliiaria were greater tlieu in proportion as the herd was greater. The 

 whitened bones of pups on Tolstoi sands, in areas not ocenpied in 1891, show jjlainly 

 that it antedates even that time, and there is no reason to suppose that it did not exist 

 thronghont the period when tlie herd was in its nrime. It was ])robal)ly tlie determining 

 ebeelv which prevented the herd's indefinite increase. We may infer from the lighting 

 and strnggling of the limited number of bulls at present on the rookeries that in a 

 state of nature, when the nmles were practically e<iual to the females, the destruction 

 from such lighting among all classes of seals must have been enormous. 



THE REAL CAUSE OF DECLINE AN ARTIFICIAL ONE. 



We may therefore assume that the cause or causes which have lead to the decline 

 of the herd are not inherent in the herd itself. In short, we may come at once to the 

 conclusion arrived at in 1802 that interference by man, and that alone, is chargeable 

 with the decline. 



LAND AND SEA KILLING. 



There are two ways and two only by which the acts of man have come to aftect 

 the fur-seal herd. These are (1) by killing on laud, which has been practiced ever 

 since the islands were discovered in 1786, and for the last half century, at least, 

 with(nit change; and (-) killing at sea, which has been practiced to a limited extent 

 by the Indians off the west coast of America from a very early date, but which since 

 about 1880 has been greatly extended by the introduction of sailing vessels under 

 the management and direction of white men. We may consider first the 0])eratious 

 of land killing and their effect on the herd. 



A. LAND KILLING— ITS METHODS. 

 ANIMALS KILLED. 



Land killing on the Pribilof Islands has since about the year 1835 been confined 

 strictly to the removal of a definite number of young males, chiefly 3-year-olds, 

 with occasional "long'' 2 year-olds and "short" 4-year-olds, which approximate the 

 3-year-olds in size. At times the average si/,e of seals killed has varied from this 

 standard, leaning to the larger seals and again to the smaller animals, as the demands 

 ot the market or the condition of the hauling grounds have dictated. 



KILLING SEASON. 



The regular killing season on the i.slands lies between the 1st of June and the 1st 

 ot August. During the period from about the middle of August until about the 

 middle of October the skins of the seals are not in prime condition, being stagy, as 

 it is called, owing to the shedding of the hair. After the middle of October killing is 

 resumed to a limited extent to furnish meat for the natives. In like manner the seals 

 are killed for food as soon as they arrive in the spring, usually early in May. These 

 food skins are acce])ted as part of the quota and are included with those taken in the 

 regular killing seasoii. 



THE DinVlNc; OF THE SEALS. 



The young bachelor seals, which are the class taken for their skins, haul out on 

 the sand beaches or in the rear of the rookeries and at a distance from them. In the 



