376 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



10. THE RUSSIAN SEAL INDUSTRY AT THE PRIBYLOV ISLANDS.* 



From the time of the discovery of the Pribylov Islands up to 1805 (or, that is, until the time 

 of the arrival in America of General Resanov), the taking of fur-seals on both islands progressed 

 without count or lists, and without responsible heads or chiefs, because then (1787 to 1805, inclu- 

 sive) there were a number of companies, represented by as many agents or leaders, and all of them 

 vied with each other in taking as many as the could before the killing was stopped. After this, 

 in 1806 and 1807, there were no seals taken, and nearly all the people were removed to Oonalashka. 



In 1808 killing was again commenced, but the people in this year were allowed to kill only 

 on Saint George. On Saint Paul hunters were not permitted this year or the next. It was not 

 until the fourth year after this that as many as half the number previously taken were annually 

 killed. From this time (Saint George 1808, and Saint Paul 1810) up to 1822, taking fur-seals pro- 

 gressed on both islands without econemy and with slight circumspection, as if there were a race 

 in killing for the most skins. Cows were taken in the drives and killed, and were also driven 

 from the rookeries to places where they were slaughtered. 



It was only in 1822 that G. Moorayvev (governor) ordered that young seals should be spared 

 every year for breeding, and from that time there were taken from the Pribylov Islands, instead 

 of 40,000 to 50,000, which Moorayvev ordered to be spared in four successive years, no more than 

 8,000 to 10,000. Since this, G. Chestyahkov, chief ruler after Moorayvev, estimated that from the 

 increase resulting from the legislation of Moorayvev, which was so honestly carried out on the 

 Pribylov Islands that, in these four years the seals on Saint Paul had increased to double their 

 previous number, (that) he could give an order which increased the number to be annually slain to 

 40,000; and this last order, or course, directed for these islands, demanded as many seals as could 

 be got ; but with all possible exertion hardly 28,000 were obtained. 



After this, when it was most plainly seen that the seals were, on account of this wicked killing, 

 steadily growing less and less in number, the directions were observed for greater caution in kill- 

 ing the grown seals and young females, which came in with the droves of killing-seals, and to 

 endeavor to separate, if possible, these from those which should be slain. 



But all this hardly served to do more than keep the seals at one figure or number, and hence 

 did not cause an increase. Finally, in 1834, the governor of the company, upon the clear (or 

 "handsome") argument of Baron Wrangel, which was placed before him, resolved to make new 

 regulations respecting them, to take effect in the same year (1834), and, following this, on the 

 island of Saint Paul only 4,000 were killed, instead of 12,000. 



of any kind is allowed to stand around the dwellings or lie in the streets. It required much determined effort on the 

 party of the whites to effect this sanitary reform, but now most of the natives take equal pride in keeping their sur- 

 roundings clean and unpolluted. 



The sight of the Saint George settlement is more exposed and bleak than is the one we have just referred to on 

 Saint Paul. It is planted directly on the rounded summit of one of the first low hills that rise from the sea on the 

 north shore ; indeed, it isthe only hill that does slope directly and gently to the salt water on the island. Here are 

 twenty-four to thirty native cottages, laid with their doors facing the opposite sides of a short street between, running 

 also east apd west, as at Saint Paul. There, however, each house looks down upon the rear of its neighbor, in front 

 and below. Here the houses face each other, on the top of the hill. The treasury agent's quarters, the company's six 

 or seven buildings, the school-house, and the church are all neatly painted, and this settlement, from its prominent posi- 

 tion, shows from the sea to a much better advantage than does the larger one of Saint Paul. The same municipal 

 sanitary regulations are enforced here. 



* Translated, by the author, from Veniaminov's Zapieskie, &c., St. Petersburg, 1842, vol. ii, pp. 568. The italics 

 are the author's, and the translation is nearly literal, as might be inferred by the idiom here and there. H. W. E. 



