432 Biology in America 



million animals to about four hundred thousand. The early 

 abortive efforts at protection of the seals are but one of many 

 striking illustrations of the folly of so-called "practical" 

 economists and amateur legislators to control natural wealth 

 without any adequate knowledge of the methods of its pro- 

 duction. 



The fur seal leads a roving and picturesque existence. As 

 a pup he gains acquaintance with Nature in a wild and savage 

 mood. His puppyhood is spent amid the rocks and breakers 

 of the bleak and barren islands of the north Pacific. When 

 a few months old he makes a long sea journey with his mother 

 to the south and spends his first winter fishing off the 

 California Coast. Early each summer he returns as a young 

 "bachelor" to the ancestral home, where he lives with fellow 

 "bachelors," while the old seals are rearing a new lot of 

 puppies. When five or six years old the mating instffiet 

 grows strong within him and on his arrival at the breeding 

 grounds he selects for himself a little patch of rocks in which 

 he establishes a "harem," which may number from thirty 

 to one hundred females, depending on his success in "round- 

 ing up" the "cows." During this time, like a jealous lover, 

 he stands guard over his "harem," engaging ofttimes in 

 combats to the death with intruding "bulls," not leaving his 

 stand for about two months, even to feed, and becoming 

 greatly emaciated during the summer as a result of his long 

 fast. Soon after the arrival of the females the young (usually 

 but one) are born, shortly after which mating occurs, gesta- 

 tion lasting a year. During the nursing season the mother 

 seals frequently leave their puppies and make long journeys 

 to sea in search of food, and it is at this time that the destruc- 

 tive effects of pelagic sealing are most apparent. 



Sealing privileges in Behring Sea have long been a bone of 

 bitter contention between Americans, Russians, Canadians 

 and more recently the Japanese. The Pribilof Islands, the 

 principal sealing grounds, originally belonged to Russia, the 

 sealing rights on the islands, being a perquisite of the govern- 

 ment. With the sale of Alaska to the United States in 1867, 

 these rights passed to our government, and for forty years 

 were leased by it, as had been previously done by Russia, 

 to private concerns. For this lease the government received 

 $50,000 annually besides a royalty of $2 a head, and it is 

 an interesting commentary on the foresight of the opponents 

 of the Alaska purchase proposition, that from 1870 to 1890 

 our government received in leases, royalties and duties on 

 furs made up in London, but most of which came originally 

 from Alaska, some $13,000,000, or nearly double the price 

 paid for the entire territory. 



