136 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



It sliould be borne in mind as this table 1 is scanned, that during all 

 this time, from 1817 down to 1834, all sorts of " halfway measures " were 

 being tried without success by the Russian-American Company so as 

 to try and save the seal life, and yet at the same time, continue a modi- 

 fied annual killing for shipment. They finally concluded, in 1834, as a 

 result of a ^' half measure " of saving, they ought to get iit least 20,000 

 to 2r),000 skins of] and 2 year olds (taking them just as they came, for 

 that matter); but after ''all possible exertion," only 12,700 skins were 

 secured, and the natives declared the ruin of these rookeries at hand 

 if another such a season of driving and killing was inaugurated. The 

 company then reluctantly but wisely ordered that cessation of sealing 

 whi(th Shaishnikov's list testifies to. 



A study of this killing thrcmghout the "zapooska" of 1834, on St. 

 Paul Island, shows that for a period of seven years, from 18'!.'> down to 

 the close of the season of 1841, no seals practically were killed save 

 those that were needed for food and clothing by the natives; and tliat 

 in 1835, for the first time in the history of this industry on these islan'ls, 

 n-((s the vital jyrineiple of not l-illinf/ female seals reeoynized. It will 

 be noticed that the entry for each and every year distinctly sj^ecifies 

 so many '-bachelor seals," or " holluschickov kotovie" ("A'o.ioo/m/.ov 

 Komoimxi,'''). The sealing, in those early days, was carried on all 

 through the summer, until the seals left in October or November, on 

 account of the tedious method, then in vogue, of air-drying the skins. 

 This protracted driving, after the breaking up of the breeding sea- 

 son by the end of July, caused them to take up at first, hundreds, and 

 thousands later on, of the females in the same manner tliat they have 

 been driven up during the last two seasons of 1880 and 18!K>; but they 

 never spared those cows then, when they arrived in the droves on the 

 killing grounds prior to this date, above quoted, of 1835. 



In 1842-43 it will be observed that the killing is advanced to a total ot 

 0,000 and 10,000 skins for these years, respectively: and. until 1854, this 

 killing was not greatly increased per annum ; then it was suddenly pnt 

 up to 33,000 bachelor seals: and in 1857, the old natives assured me last 

 sunnner, there wereas many sealson the islands then, astliere were when 

 I recorded their area and])osition during 1872-1874: and, that from the 

 year 1854, the Enssian Company never had any more concern as to the 

 supply of killable seals on the Pribilov Islands. They got anmudly 

 thereafter all that was ordered taken each season. 



While the supi)ly of killable seals in 1890 was not near so low as that 

 of 1834, yet it was really as bad — worse, perhai)S, Avhen the calculations 

 of the old and new comi)anies for the season's catch are taken into 

 account, and with reference to next year, far vorse, because the addi- 

 tional danyer and sonree of injury from pelayic sealiny is added to the 

 cause for present declination of the rooleries. It did not enter into 

 Russian calculations: the seals of Bering Sea were never seriously 

 distnrbed by these hunters until 1880. 



The condition of the Pribilov rookeries to-day is such as to nudvc the 

 following imperative demands upon our Goveinment. if they are to be 

 saved, as they should be, from speedy ruin: 



First. That no yortny fnale seals n-hatsoev^er shall he Icillcd on these 

 islands as a source of revenue, either to the public Treasury or to private 

 corporations, for the next seven years, i. e., duriny the seasons of 1891-1898, 

 inclusive. 



This step is imperative : there was scarcely a drop of young male 

 blood in service on the breeding grounds of either St. Paul or St. George 

 throughout the reproductive season of 1890. There are no young bulls 



