332 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



* 



once occurs, that the Government is exceedingly fortunate in having this great amphibious stock- 

 yard far up and away in the quiet seclusion of Bering Sea, from which it shall draw an everlasting 

 revenue, and on which its wise regulations and its firm hand can continue the seals forever. 



3. DESCRIPTION OF THE FUR-SEAL ROOKERIES OF SAINT PAUL AND SAINT 



GEORGE. 



DEARTH OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THE ROOKERIES. Before I can intelligently and 

 clearly present an accurate estimate of the aggregate number of fur-seals which appear upon these 

 great breeding-grounds of the Pribylov group every season, I must take up, in regular sequence, 

 my surveys of these remarkable rookeries which I have illustrated in this memoir by the accom- 

 panying sketch-maps, showing topographically the superficial area and distribution assumed by 

 the seal-life at each locality. 



It will be observed, that the sum total on Saint Paul Island preponderates, and completely over- 

 shadows that which is represented at Saint Geqrge. Before passing to the detailed discussion of 

 each rookery, it is well to call attention to a few salient features in regard to the present appear- 

 ance of the seals on these breeding-grounds. Touching the location of the fur-seals to-day, as I 

 have recorded and surveyed it, compared with their distribution in early times, I am sorry to say 

 that there is not a single line on a chart, or a word printed in a book, or a note made in manu- 

 script, which refers to this all -important subject, prior to my own work, which I present herewith 

 for examination. The absence of definite information in regard to what I conceive to be of vital 

 interest and importance to the whole business, astonished me; I could not at first believe it; and, 

 for four or five years, I searched carefully among the archives of the old Russian company, as I 

 searched diligently when up there, and elsewhere in the Territory of Alaska, for some evidence in 

 contradiction of this statement which I have just made. I wanted to find, 1 hoped to discover, 

 some old record, some clew, by which I could measure with authority and entire satisfaction to my 

 own mind, the relative volume of seal-life in the past, as compared with that which I recoid in 

 the present, but was disappointed. 



I am unable, throughout the whole of the following discussion, to cite a single reliable state- 

 ment which can give any idea as to the condition and numbers of the fur- seal on these islands, 

 when they were discovered in 1786-'87, or during the whole time of their occupation since, up to 

 the date of my arrival. I mark this so conspicuously, for it is certainly a very strange oversight, 

 a kind of neglect, which, in my opinion, has been, to say the least, inexcusable. 



RUSSIAN RECORDS. In attempting to form a conception of what the seals were or might 

 have been in those early days, as they spread themselves over the hauling and breeding grounds 

 of these islands, I have been thrown entirely upon the vague statements given to me by the natives 

 and one or two of the first American pioneers in Alaska. The only Russian record which touches 

 upon the subject* contains the remarkable statement, which is, in the light of my survey, simply 

 ridiculous now, that is. that the. number of fur seals on Saint George during the first years of 

 Russian occupation was nearly as great as that on Saint Paul. The most superficial examination of 

 the geological character portrayed on the accompanying maps of the islands will satisfy any 

 unprejudiced mind as to the error of such a statement. Only a mere tithe of the multitudes which 



* VENIAMINOV: Zapieskie ob Ooualashkenskaho Otdayla, 2 voln., St. Petersburg. i.-'.l-J. Tliis work of I'.ishop Inno- 

 cent Veniaminov is the only one which the Russians can lay claim to as inhibit in;; anything like a history of Western 

 Alaska, or of giving a sketch of its inhabitants and resources, that has the least merit of truth, or the faintest stamp 

 of reliability. Without it we should be simply in the dark as to much of what the IJnssians were about during the 

 whole period of their occupation and possession of that country. Veniaminov died at Moscow, Aprils, 1879, set. 94. 



