FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 47 



NOVASTOSHNAH (1890). 

 [Its condition and appearance Jnh/, 1S90.'] 



As this gva^t rookery was the object of my chief adnairation in 1S72, 

 uow it, m 1890, again becomes the main idea of my concern — not admira- 

 tion to day, bnt my chief pity, for this breeding ground has suffered a 

 starthug loss of life during tlie last eight years. It presents the deepest 

 shadow, "now, to th^t sunshine in which I saw it eighteen years ago, 

 as I then walked around and over it. I surveyed the ground last sum- 

 mer as one would locate a graveyard: not more than a suggestion of 

 the massed life of 1872 have I been able to see within its desolate 

 area. That ground, which I have described in 1874, as covered with 

 hosts of amphibians, is again before me to-day with not a single herd 

 of seals upon it — actually green with upsjrriiKjhig grass and colored and 

 Jlecked u-ith varied flowers ! 



The accompaying map with the tinted massing of 1872-1874, con- 

 trasted with that of 1890, sjieaks for itself — the great rookery of 

 Novastoshnah is a mere wreck to-day, and the chart rudely but forcibly 

 declares it. 



Detailed analysis of the survey of Novastoshnah rookery, July 13, 1890. 



[Sea margin extending from A in the southeast to B in the soutliwest, 11,435 feet.] 



Square feet. 



A to B, 700 feet sea margin, 35 feet deep, masaecl 24, 500 



Sea Lion Neck liarems scattefed among sea lions, an estimate only 6, 000 



C to I), 300 feet sea margin, 200 feet deep, massed 1 60, 000 



D to E, 400 feet sea margin, 10 feet deep, massed 4, 000 



F to G, 200 feet sea margin, 35 feet deep, massed 7, 000 



G to H, 550 feet sea margin, 12 feet deep, massed 6, (500 



H to I, 400 feet sea margin, 35 feet deej), massed 14, 000 



I to J, 500 feet sea margin, 10 feet deep, massed 5, 000 



J to K, 400 feet sea margin, 35 feet deep, massed 14, 000 



K to L, 200 feet sea margin, 10 feet deep, massed 2, 000 



L to M, 700 feet sea margin, 20 feet deep, massed 14, 000 



N too, 2,100 feet sea margin, 60 feet deep, massed 126,000 



P to Q, 420 feet sea margin, 30 feet deep, massed 12, 600 



R to S, 425 feet sea margin, 20 feet deep, massed 8, 500 



S to T, 350 feet sea margin, 10 feet deep, massed 3, 500 



T to U, 550 feet sea margin, 30 feet deep, massed 16, 500 



U to V, 500 feet sea margin, 100 feet deep, massed 50, 000 



W to S, 225 feet sea margin, 20 feet deep, massed 5, 500 



S to X, 350 feet sea margin, 10 feet deep, massed 3, 500 



Y to Z, 710 feet sea margin, 10 feet deep, massed 7, 100 



Z to Z-', 350 feet sea margin, 20 feet deep, massed 7, 000 



Z- to A-, 125 feet sea margin, 10 leet deep, massed 1, 250 



A- to A^, 500 feet sea margin, 40 feet deep, massed 20, 000 



A" to B', 480 feet sea margin, 15 feet deep, massed 7, 200 



Total sqnare feet 435, 750 



making ground for 217,875 seals, bulls, cows, and pups, against a total 

 of 1,200,000 in 1872-1874. 



With this enumeration of Novastoshnah we close the list at St. Paul 

 Island, and now turn to the breeding grounds of St. George, merely 

 mentioning the fact, as we do so, that no fur seals breed on Otter Island 

 or Walrus Islet, which are near by. The method in vogue here during 

 the last six or seven years of scraping the margins of the rookeries for 

 killable seals has so harassed and broken up the compact organization 

 of the Reef rookery, as to cause quite a hauling out of breeding seals on 

 Seevitchie Kammen, a small islet less than 900 feet in greatest length, 

 with an average width of less than 200 feet. This rock, as may be seen 

 on my detailed chart of the Reef rookery, lies just south- southeast of the 

 Reef point a few hundred yards (about 1,000 feet). It is a bad place 

 for the location of even a small rookery, since most of its elevation is 



