THE FUR SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 359 



they leave in the autunm ; while the general southerly winds waft to them the odor and sounds 

 of the village of Saint Paul, not over 200 rods south of them, and above them, in plain sight. All 

 this has no effect upon the seals they know that they are not disturbed and the rookery, the 

 natives declare, has been slightly but steadily increasing. Therefore, with regard to surveying 

 and taking these boundaries assumed by the breeding-seals every year, at that point of high tide, 

 ami greatest expansion, which they assume between the 8th and 15th of July, it is an entirely 

 practicable and simple task. You can go everywhere on the skirts of the rookeries almost within 

 reaching distance of the harems, and they will greet you with quiet, inoffensive notice, and permit 

 close, unbroken observation, when it is subdued and undemonstrative, paying very little attention 

 to your approach. 



Ten years have passed, with the end of last season, in which nearly 100,000 young males have 

 been annually taken on St. Paul and St. George ; 75,000 from the former, and 25,000 from the 

 latter, as a rule ; and we now have the experience with which to enlighten our understanding, and 

 to make our statements correct. That affirmation is, that if the effect of annually killing 100,000 

 young male seals is either to increase or diminish the seal-life on the Pribylov Islands, it cannot 

 be seen ; it cannot be noticed ; it has not to a certainty wrought injury, and it has not promoted 

 an increase. I advanced this hypothesis in 1873 ; and I now find it completely verified and con- 

 firmed by the united, intelligent testimony of those who have followed on the ground in my foot- 

 steps. The last reports received from the seal islands, filed in the Treasury Department, by 

 gentlemen of the best character, and of excellent ability, with whom, I regret to say, I have not a 

 personal acquaintance, declare that the seals are increasing ; that the rookeries have expanded 

 perceptibly over the margins which I have laid down on these maps. They had my data, because 

 I left a copy of these manuscript surveys, reproduced herein, in their respective offices on the two 

 islands. 



PECUNIARY VALUE OF THE SEAL-LIFE ON THE PRIBYLOV ISLANDS. The theoretical value 

 of these interests of the Government on the Pribylov Islands, represented by 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 

 fur-seals, male and female, in good condition, is not less than $10,000,000 to $12,000,000 ; taking, 

 however, the females out of the question, and from this calculation, and looking at the "hollus- 

 chickie " alone, as they really represent the only killable seals, then the commercial value of the 

 same would be expressed by the sum of $1,800,000 to $2,000,000 j this is a permanent prin- 

 cipal invested here, which now nets the public treasury more than 15 per cent, annually ; a very 

 handsome rate of interest, surely. 



STRANGE IGNORANCE OF THIS VALUE IN 1867. Considering that this return is the only one 

 made to the Government by Alaska since its transfer, and that it was never taken into account 

 at first, by the most ardent advocates of the purchase of Russian America, it is in itself highly 

 creditable and interesting ; to Senator Sumner the friends of the acquisition of this territory in 

 1867 delegated the task of making the principal argument in its favor. Everything that was 

 written in strange tongues was carefully translated by the Government, so that the choice bits of 

 mention which could be found of Alaska's value should be placed in Sumner's hands. Hence his 

 speech * on the subject possesses this interest : it is the embodiment of everything that could be 

 scraped together, having the faintest shadow of authenticity, by all of the eager friends of the 

 purchase, which gave the least idea of any valuable natural resources in Alaska; therefore, 

 when, in summing all this up, Sumner makes no reference whatever to the seal islands, or the 

 fur-seal itself, the extraordinary ignorance at home and abroad relative to the Pribylov Islands 

 can be well appreciated. 



* Speech on cession of Russian America, U. S. Senate, 1867 ; " Summary," p. 48. 



