284 THE FUR SEALS OF THP: PRIBIl.OF ISl-ANDS. 



,liiiK', 2'.t. — A drive from English Bay aucl Tolstoi yielded l,(i.'I.S skins. The (juotii 

 is 5,00(1 skins short of the conditions of last year at this time. 



■Inly L'.— A drive at Halfway Point yielded 834 skins. At Northeast Point 'M>S 

 skins were taken. Seals are coming in slowly this year and seem to have diminished. 



July 0. — A drive from English Bay and Tolstoi yielded 1,.'502. At Northeast 

 Point 37(J were taken. The quota is now 7,000 short as compared with last year, the 

 shortage being chiefly at Northeast Point. St. George is reported to he 1,.'500 skins 

 short as comi)ared with last year. 



July 10. — A drive from Halfway Point yielded 654, and one from Northeast Point, 

 800 skins. The (juota is 7,-570 short as compared with last year. 



July 13. — At Southwest Bay 1,000 skins were taken; at Northeast Point, 70,). 

 There is an evident decrease also in the breeding rookeries.' 



July 25. — Two schooners, having 41S and 70 skins, respectively, were captured. 

 A drive from English Bay and Middle Hill yielded 1,752 skins. 



July 31. — At Northeast Point 538 skins were taken to-day, making the tot;d of 

 85,000 for the season.- 



August 0. — St. George furnished only 14,978 skins. 



RECORD KEPT BY CHAS. J GOFF. 



September 1. — The old bulls have about all gone from the Reef. Tlie pups are 

 getting rather large and can be seen by the thousands jilaying in the water, but they 

 are not nearly so numerous as in the past. 



RECORD KEPT BY G R. NETTLETON 



October 6. — Captain Healy, of the lUar, reports that in several days' cruise about 

 the islands he had not seen a dozen seals in the water within 10 miles of shore. All 

 the bull seals which hehl places on the breeding grounds have gone. The rookeries 

 are well covered with cows and pups, mixed with bachelors. The water adjacent is 

 full of seals as far out as 2 miles. 



November 7. — At a drive of i)ups for food 1,044 were killed and distributed. 



November 18. — The killable seals are in the water or near its edge and mixed 

 with cows. 



November 23. — A raid was made on Zapadni; 7 dead cows were found and 1 

 ■wounded bull. A drive from lieef was made, yielding 347 seals for food. 



])eceml)er 2. — There are few seals on the Reef. They have all left Lukanin and 

 Kitovi. A number remain at Zapadni and large numbers are reported at Northeast 

 Point. 



I Heri' we linve the first iiitiiimtion that there is any <liiiiinntiuii in tlie lireeding seals. 



-Thi.s (inot.i, as we know, for 1S89 was made up almost wlii>lly of undersized seals, whitli would 

 not under normal eonditions have been taken at all. This course of action was pursued because the 

 lease under which the islands was then held was drawing ti) a close. The conditions were well 

 enough un<lerstood by the lessees, if not by the officers of the Government, as the following 

 statement by Superintendent Mclntyre ("Seal Life," Senate Doe. 137, I'art I, 189,5) will show: "1 

 rei)eatedly pointed out to our company and to the special Treasury agents during the seasons of 1887, 

 1888. and l.ssil that the seals were rapidly diminishing, and that in order to get the full (piota allowed 

 by law wo ^vevi■ obliged to kill, in iucrc'asing numbers in each of those years, animals that sluuild 

 have been allowed to attain greater size, and finally the catch of lS.S!t was nuistly of this class." 

 This admission makes clear the conditions of these years and fully explains the gradual progress of 

 the decline notwithstanding the .ibiuiit eidlapse of the l>arlir|iir herd. 



