FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 129 



nounced opponents of the leasing system, monopolies, etc., will be 

 equally promjjt in joininj;- hands with those who do believe in this 

 l>lan, to advance any order that promises preservation and conservation. 



rUit, this plan of restoration must be an unselfish one: must be free 

 from any taint of private «;ain or profit, or it will fail to receive this uni- 

 versal sympathy and indorsement. It will fail, and it ought to fail, if 

 if is not .so phnnted. 



IJefore sketching' an outline of the action which I deem necessary for 

 the Secretary of the Treasury to take for the coming season of 1891, 

 and that legislation by Congress to strengthen his hands, the following 

 account' of a similar decline of the seal life on these Pribilov Islands 

 and Its restoration, way back from 1817 to 1834, is pertinent in this 

 connection : 



INDISCRIMINATE SLAUGHTER BY THE FIRST DISCOVERERS. 



From the time of the discovery of the Pribilov Islands up to 1805 (or that is. until 

 the time of the arrival iu 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, inclusive) 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 they 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 Una- 

 lashka. 



• PARTIAL CHECK ORDERED. 



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

 to kill only on St. George. On St. 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 

 ])revioiisly taken were annually killed. From this time (St. George 1808 and St. Paul 

 1810) up to 1822, taking fur seals progressed ou both islands without economy and 

 with slight circumspection, as if there were a race in killing for the most skins. 

 Cows were taken in drives and killed, and were also driven from the rookeries to 

 places where they were slaughtered. 



It was only iu 1«22. that G. Moorayvev (governor) ordered that young seals should 

 be spared every year for breeding: and from that time there were taken from the 

 I'ribiluv Islands, in.stead of 40,000 to 50,000, which Moorayvev ordered to be spared 

 in four siicci-ssive 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 leg- 

 islation of Moorayvev, which was so honestly carried out on the Pribilov Islands, 

 that in these four years the seals on St. 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. 



'Translated by the writer from Veniaminov's Zapieshie, etc., St. Petersburg, 1842, 

 Vol. II, p. 568. The italics are mine, aud my translation is nearly literal, as might 

 be inferred by the idiom here and there. 



-Resanov, in his official letter to the Emperor of Russia dated Oonalaska Island, 

 .July 28, .1805, says: "The multitude of seals in which St. Paul abounds is incredi- 

 ble. The shores are covered with them. They are easily caught, and as we were 

 short of provisions 18 Avere killed for us iu half an hour. But at the same time we 

 were informed that tliey had decreased in number 90 per cent since earlier times. 

 These islands would be an inexhaustible source of wealth were it not for the Bos- 

 toniaus, who undermine our trade with China in furs, of which they obtain large 

 numlyers on our American coast. As over a million had already been killed, I gave 

 orders to stop the slaughter at once, iu order to prevent their total extermination, 

 and to employ the men iu collecting walrus tu.sks, as there is a small island near 

 St. Paulcovered with walrus." He adds that he met with sufficient evidences of care- 

 lessness and waste: "The skins of the fur seal were scattered about over the beach 

 and the bluff in various stages of decomposition. The storehouses were full, but 

 only a small part of their contents was in a marketable state." As many as ".S0,000 

 had been killed for their flesh alone,"' the skins having been "left on the spot or 

 thrown into the sea." After questioning the Aleutian laborers and Russian over- 

 seers, Resanov came to the conclusion that unless an end were put to this wanton 

 destruction, afewyears more would witness the extirnationof the furseal.— [H. W, E,] 

 H. Doc. 175 9 



