130 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



POOR KESULTS. 



After this, vrlien it was most ])laiuly seen that the seals were, on account <if this 

 wicke<l killinii;, steadily growing less and less in number, the directions were observed 

 for greater caution in killing the grown seals and young females which came in with 

 the droves of killablc seals, and to endeavor to separate, if possible, these from those 

 which should l)e slain. 



TARTIAI- CHECKS AGAIN ORDERED. 



But all this hardly served to do more than keep the seals at one. figure or number, 

 and hence did not cause an increase. Finally, in 1831, the governor of the company, 

 uj)on the cleai {or "hand -some" ) argument of Earon \\'raugel, which was placed 

 before him, resolved to make new regulations respecting them, to take effect in the 

 same year (1834), and, following this, on the island of St. Paul only 4,000 were killed 

 instead of 12,000. 



On the island of St. George the seals were allowed to rest in 1826 and 1827, and 

 since that time greater caution and care have been observed, and headmen, or fore- 

 men, have ke]it a careful account of the killing. 



From this it will be seen, that no anxiety or care as to the preservation of the seal 

 life began until 1805 (i. e., with the united companies). 



It is further evident that all half measures, seen or not seen, Avere useful no longer, 

 as they only served to preserve a small i»ortion of the seal life, and only the last step 

 (1834) with the present people or inhabitants has proved of benetit. And if sucla 

 regulations of the company continue for fifteen years (i. e., until 1849), it may be 

 truly said Ihat then the seal life will be attracted (juite rapidly, under the careful 

 direction of headmen, so that in (|uite a. short time a handsome yield may be taken 

 every year. In connection with this subject, if the comj)any is moderate, and these 

 regulations are carried out, the seal life will ser\ e them, and be depended upon, aa 

 shown 111 this volume, Table No. 2. 



IDEA.S OF THE OLD NATIVES, AS TO VIRILITY OK DRIVEN SEALS. 



Is early all the old men think and assert that the seals which are spared every year 

 {" zapooslcat fro/or"), i. e., those which have not been killed for several years, are 

 truly of little use foi breeding: lying about as if they were outcasts or disfranchised. 

 About these seals, they show that after the seals were spared, they were always less 

 than they should be: as, for instance, on the island of St. George, alter two years of 

 saving or sparing of 5,500 seals, in the first year they got, instead of 10,000 or 8,000 

 as they expected, only 4,778. 



WHY THE SEALS DIMINISHED. 



But this diminution, which is .shown in the most convincing manner, is due to 

 wrong and injustice, because it would not have been otherwise with any kind of 

 animals — even cattle would have been exterminated — because a great many here 

 think and count that the seal mother l)rings forth her young in her third year, i. e., 

 the next two years after her own birth.' As it is well shown here the spared seals 

 (" zapoosMc") wore not more than 3 years old, and therefore it was not possible to 

 discern the correct and true numbers as they really were. Taking the females killed 

 by the peo]de, together with all the seals which were purposely spared, it was seen 

 that the seal mothers did not begin to bear earlier than the fifth year of their lives. 

 Illustrative of this is the following: 



(a) On the island of St. George, after the first zapooka, in 1828, the killing of 

 5-year-old seals was continued gradually up to five times as many as at first. With 

 those of 5 years old the killing stopped. Then next year twelve times as many 

 6-year-ol(ls were observed on the islands, as compared with their number of the last 

 year; an<l with, or in the seventh year, came seven times as many. This shows that 

 females born in 1828 did not begin'to bear young until their fifth year, and become 

 with young accordingly ; that the large ones did not appear or come in six years 

 (from 1828), as is evident, for in the fifth year all the females did not bring forth. 



(?>) It IS known that the male seals can not become "seecatchies'' {adult hulls) 

 earlier than their fifth or sixth year. Following this, it may be said that the female 

 bears earlier than the fourth year, 



' And these natives were right. The females do bear their first young in the 

 third year of their lives. Veniaminov falls into an error when he concludes that 

 thev do not. He has read a little too much of Buffon, Better not have read him at 

 all.— H, W. E. 



