28 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



What Mr. Murray did say on that memorable 19th of August, 1891, 

 is a matter of record, as follows : 



Accompanied by Agent Barnes, Mr. Fowler, of the North American Commercial 

 Company, and by the British commissioners, I visited Tolstoi rookery on August 19, 

 and we found thousands of dead pups, covering a space of about 5 acres, and their 

 mothers had disappeared. Dr. Dawson, one of the commissioners, took kodak views 

 of the place, and when he asked me what I thought was the cause of their death, I 

 answered, " Their mothers have been killed at sea." 



Since I left St. Paul Island I have received a letter from Agent Barnes, in which 

 he says: " You remember the appearance of Tolstoi? I visited Halfway Point along 

 with Mr. Fowler and found the same state of affairs, or worse; and those who have 

 been to Northeast Point say it is still worse there." 



Bearing in mind that Northeast Point is the largest rookery in the world, it is no 

 exaggeration to say that between 20,000 and 30,000 pups are lying dead at St. Paul 

 Island whose mothers were slaughtered by sealing schooners in the open sea and the 

 pups left to starve upon the rookeries. 



The theory of an occasional epidemic among the seals has been broached, and 

 plausible arguments advanced to prove that the decrease in seal life can be accounted 

 for without blaming the sealing schooners, but as the "oldest inhabitant" on the 

 islands has no recollection of anything of the sort, and aa no one ever saw a dozen 

 dead cows on any rookery, it is safe to say there is no foundation for or truth in 

 the epidemic theory. (Murray's Report, 1891, Senate Ex. Doc. No. 107, Fifty-sec- 

 ond Congress, second session.) 



It does not seem possible that the person who wrote in 1891 the report 

 from which the foregoing has been copied could have " admitted the 

 mortality to be local," and, as a matter of fact, he never did. On the 

 contrary, because of a thirty months' continuous residence on the islands 

 and a personal acquaintance and very intimate and friendly relations 

 with every person on both, I was well aware of the annual increase of 

 dead pups on the rookeries from the time of the first-confirmed shrink- 

 age of the seal herd in 1886. That the terrible sight which met our 

 gaze on Tolstoi rookery should have caused exclamations of surprise 

 from all of us, who knew its real meaning, is not to be wondered at, I 

 think, for the starved carcasses emphasized the fact that in spite of 

 the efforts of the fleets of the United States and of Great Britain, the 

 pelagic sealers' deadly work was being done with an energy and suc- 

 cess beyond all preceding seasons, and that unless some other mode of 

 protection could be devised by the nations directly interested the seal 

 herd would soon be annihilated. 



In section 362 the commissioners say : 



Dr. Acland, who had jnst been installed as medical officer on St. Paul, also told us 

 that he had within a few days examined the bodies of six of the pups from Tolstoi ; 

 * * * he had been unable to find any signs of disease, but that all those examined 

 were very thin and without food in the stomachs. 



Dr. Akerly it was who visited the rookeries and examined the dead 

 pups, and whose affidavit will be found in the Appendix. 

 Commenting on section 255, they say: 



(1) The death of so many young seals on the islands in 1891 was wholly exceptional 

 and unprecedented, and it occurred in the very season which, in accordance with the 

 modus vivendi, every effort was being made to drive all pelagic sealers from Bering 

 Sea. Those familiar with the islands were evidently puzzled and surprised when 

 their attention was first drawn to it, and were for some time in doubt as to what 

 cause it might be attributed. 



It is true we were rather astonished at the number of dead pups on 

 the rookeries, and being aware "that every effort was being made to 

 prevent pelagic sealing," we were puzzled to account for it at the time, 

 for we knew of no cause other than the killing of the females at sea by 

 which it could be accounted for. 



Subsequently, however, we learned of the unprecedented catch made 

 that ueason by the sealing fleet, and, naturally, we concluded that our 



