80 



FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



Condition of the Hauling Grounds, St. Paul Island, Pribilov Group. 



[From my field notes made in 1872-1874, and pub- 

 lished in 1874, and ajiain in 1881.] 



Status of 1872-1874. 



[From my field notes as per date, made last 

 summer.] 



Status of 1890. 



June 19, 1872 (pp. 50,51). 

 These Zoltoi sands are, however, a 

 famous rendezvous for the holluschickio, 

 and from them during the season the 

 natives make regular drives, having only 

 to step out from their houses in the morn- 

 ing and walk back a few rods to find 

 their fur-bearing quarry. 



June 20, 1872 (p. 71). 

 * * * If the weather was favorable 

 for landing, i, e., cool, moist, and foggy, 

 the fresh hauling of the holluschickie 

 would cover the bare grounds again in a 

 very short space of time. Sometimes, in 

 a few hours after the driving of every 

 seal from Zoltoi sands over to the killing 

 fields adjacent those dunes and the beach 

 in question would be swarming anew 

 with fresh arrivals. 



July 20, 1874 (p. 72). 

 As matters are to-day 100,000 seals 

 alone can be taken and skinned in less 

 than forty working days within a radius 

 of lA miles from the village, * * 

 hence the driving, w ith the exception of 

 two experimental droves, * » * has 

 never been made from longer distances 

 than Tolstoi to the westward, Lukaunon 

 to the northward, and Zoltoi to the south- 

 ward of the killing grounds at St. Paul 

 village. 



TOLSTOI. 



(Page 53.) 

 Directly to the west from Lukaunon, 

 up along and around the heaii of the 

 lagoon, is the seal path road over which 

 the natives bring the holluschickie from 

 Tolstoi. 



July 20, 1874 (p. 72). 

 As matters are to-day 100,000 seals on 

 St. Paul alone can be taken and skinned 

 in less than forty working days within a 

 radius of 11 miles from the village and 

 from the salt house of Northeast Point; 

 hence the driving, with the exception of 

 two experimental droves, which I wit 

 nessed in 1872, has never been made from 

 longer distances than Tolstoi to the west- 

 ward, Lukaunon to the northward, and 

 Zoltoi to the southward of the killing 

 grounds at St. Paul village. 



May 22, 1890. 

 The sand has drifted very slightlj from 

 its boundaries during the last eighteen 

 years. 



June 19, 1890. 

 Not a single holluschickie of any age 

 whatever on Zoltoi this day, and there 

 has not been a killable seal there thus 

 far this season. 



June 22, 1890. 

 Fine weather for seals to haul con- 

 tinues, but the seals do not haul; not a 

 single seal on Zoltoi sands this morning. 

 Has not been a holluschickie there yet, 

 and this was the never-failing resort of 

 the natives in 1872-1876. Therefore, this 

 vacancy on Zoltoi makes a deep impres- 

 sion on one who has stood there in 1872- 

 1874 and observed the swarming platoons 

 of hauling holluschickie, now entirely 

 vanished. 



July 19, 1890. 

 Not a single holluschickie on Zoltoi 

 sands this morning, and tiot one has 

 hauled there, thus far, this season. 



June 15, 1890. 

 During the last ten days, while inspect- 

 ing the several breeding grounds of this 

 island, I have paid careful attention to 

 every squad of holluschickie that has 

 appeared, and except as to numbers I do 

 not observe any change up to date in 

 their habit of hauling early in the season. 

 These early squads appear just above the 

 surf margin at Tolstoi in English Bay 

 " * * precisely as they did in 1872, 

 only the number is smaller. 



June 19, 1890. 



' * * I had a full sweep of English 

 Bay ; a small squad of perhaps 150 hollus- 

 chickie at IMiddle Hill and another small 

 pod at the intersection of the sand beach 

 with Tolstoi rookery. 



June 22, 1890. 



* * * At this time in 1872-1874, in- 

 clusive, I never glanced over at Zoltoi 

 but I saw holluschickie coming and going 

 from and to the sea in steady files an<l 

 platoons. I never looked over the broad 

 sweep of English Bay beach from the 

 high sand dunes of Tolstoi but to seethe 

 same sight, only in vastly greater fornt 



