FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 41 



positively quiet, save The subdued slieep-like' caliiug of the females 

 and the lamb-like answer of their ofispriiig. 



As this breediug' ground of Zapadnie was the second one in size and 

 importance on St. Paul in 1872, the figures which my survey of last 

 July warrant, show an extraordinary decrease here and make a melan- 

 choly exhibit. 



Detailed analysis of the siD'vey of Louder Zapadnie rookery July 11, 1S90. 



[Sea margin beginning at Q and ending at Zapadnie Point.] 



Square feet. 



2,700 feet sea margin between Q and Zapadnie Point, -witli 20 feet average 



depth, massed 54, 000 



Jag A is 400 feet deep above sea margin, witli 50 feet average width, massed. 20, 000 



Jag li is 300 feet deep above sea margin, with 60 feet average width, massed. 18, 000 



Jag C is 380 feet deep above sea margin, witli 35 feet average width, massed. 13, 300 



Jag D is 200 feet deejj above sea margin, Avith 75 feet average width, ninssed. 15, 000 



.Jag E is 175 feet deej) above sea margin, with 75 feet average width, massed . 13, 125 



Jag F is 350 feet deep above sea margin, with 60 feet average width, massed. 21, 000 



Jag G is 200 feet deep above sea margin, with 60 feet average width, massed. 12, 000 



Jag H is 125 feet deep above sea margin, with 40 feet average width, massed. 5, 000 



Total square feet 171, 425 



making ground for 85,705 seals — bulls, fcows, and pups — against a total 

 of 345,000 in 1872. 



The figures for Upper Zapadnie are not much better. I regard it as 

 a i)art and parcel of but one rookery, i. e., Zapadnie: but, for clearness 

 of definition in survey, Separate the Avings. 



Detailed analysis of the survey of Upper Zapadnie rookery July 11, 1890. 



[Sea margin beginning at Q, ending at V, resumed at W, and ending at R.] 



Square feet. 

 1,200 feet sea margin between Q and V, with 40 feet average deptli, massed. . . 48, 000 

 2,300 feet sea margin (beach) between W and R, with 10 feet average depth, 

 massed 23, 000 



Total square feet 71, 000 



making ground for 35,000 seals — bulls, cows, and pups — against a total 

 of 07,800 iu 1872, or a total to-day of 121,205 for Zapadnie entire against 

 442,800 in 1872. 



POLAVINA ROOKERY (1872-1874). 

 [7/.S condition and appearance July, 1874.1 



Halfway between the village and Northeast Point lies Polavina: 

 another one of the seven large breeding grounds on this island. The 

 coiisi)icuous cone-shaped head of Polavina Sopka rises clearly cut and 

 smooth from the plateau at its base, which falls 2 miles to the eastward 



^Indeed, so similar is the sound that I noticed that a number of sheep which the 

 Alaska Commercial Company had brouglit up from San Francisco to St. George 

 Island, during the summer of 1873, were constantly attracted to the rookeries, and 

 were running in among the hoUuschickie: so much so, that they neglected the good 

 pasturage on the uplands beyond, and a small boy had to be regularly employed to 

 herd them where they could feed to advantage. These transported Ovidw, though 

 they could not possibly find anything in their eyes suggestive of companionship 

 among the seals, had their ears so charmed by the sheep-like accents of the female 

 pinnipeds as to persuade them against their senses of vision and smell. 



The sound which arose in 1872 from these great breeding grounds of the fur seal 

 when thousands upon tens of thousands of angry, vigilant bulls were roaring, chuck- 

 ling, and piping, and multitudes of seal mothers were calling in hollow bleating 

 tones to their young, that in turn responded incessantly, is simply defiance to verbal 

 description. It was, at a slight distance, softened into a deep booming, as of a cata- 



