PINNIPEDIA 239 



dren and even sleeping men. 4 Hyaenas killed two persons in India in 

 i895. 5 They often desecrate graveyards in the East, 6 a ghoulish habit 

 for which they are held in horror by many people. We are told of their 

 killing sheep for their brains alone, leaving the flesh untouched. 7 



ORDER PINNIPEDIA SEALS, SEA-LIONS, 

 WALRUSES, SEA-ELEPHANTS 



The pursuit of seals and other pinnipeds, in connection with the 

 whaling industry, constituted a prominent item of "big business" in 

 America many years ago, the influence of which upon history and ex- 

 ploration is discussed in Chapter XVH. The efforts of the United 

 States to prevent the extermination of the great Alaskan fur-seal herds 

 once threatened to disrupt the friendly relations of Great Britain and 

 the United States, also involving Japan. The controversy was finally 

 settled by international arbitration and treaties. The publication of 

 the arbitration proceedings and evidence required many volumes. 



It is impracticable, if not impossible, to wholly separate the dis- 

 cussion of the fur seal from that of the hair seal, many of the pub- 

 lications not clearly designating which kind is meant. The fur-seal herd 

 of Pribilof Islands (Callorhinus dascaniis) has long been a source 

 of wealth. From 1786 to 1834, under the Russian regime, 1,800,000 

 were killed. Restrictions thereafter caused an increase in numbers from 

 1835 to 1867, when it was estimated that the herd numbered between 

 2,000,000 and 5,000,000. In 1870, under the American regime, the 

 sealing privilege was leased for twenty years, during which time 

 1,977,377 were taken on the islands, but promiscuous killing at sea, 

 thus destroying the unborn pups and young seals, caused great loss. 

 Under more rigid restrictions the herd steadily increased from 1912 

 to 1 92 1. 1 Contract sealing from 1890 to 1909 yielded a government 

 revenue of $3,752,415 on 339,180 skins, while pelagic sealers from 

 1870 to 1890 got 1,840,364 skins, which would have produced a reve- 

 nue of $6,010,565. From 1910 to 1921 the government revenue from 



4 Drake-Brockman, The mammals of Somaliland, p. 41, 1910. Roosevelt, African 

 game trails, p. 59, 1910. 



5 F. C. K., Amer. Nat., xxxi, 77-78, 1897. 



6 Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 86, 1927. 



7 Buxton, The gadett or brain-eater, Journ. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. 

 Soc., No. 15, p. 498, 1919; Journ. Mammalogy, i, 151, 1919. 



treble, Mammals of the Pribilof Islands, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 46, p. no, 1923. 

 Osgood, Preble and Parker, The fur seals and other life of Pribilof Islands, Alaska, 

 Bull. U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, xxxiv, 1-172, 1914 (1916); Scientific Monthly, rv, 

 386-409, 1917. Stejneger, The Russian fur seal islands, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., xvi, 

 3-149, 1896. 



