FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 1 (i3 



others were returning' from the uplands, where they had been hiyiug 

 around, to the water for baths and food. 



What is left of the cows and pups, as to numbers, on this breeding- 

 ground, as well as the other rookeries liere, seems to be healthy and 

 free from any visible physical disorder. The most unique feature of 

 this rookery to day is the hauling of some 450 to 500 sea lions — bulls, 

 cows, andpujisj. — on the surf washed beach of its sea margin right under 

 the bluffs. The breeding fur seals lay up just above that surf wash, 

 while the huge yellow bodies of Eumetopia.s crowd close up to them 

 from below on a narrow belt which only high water and a stiff wind can 

 dislodge tliem from. They, however, never haul anywhere else out 

 higher from the water than this, since their young can take to the 

 water and swim in a few days at the longest, after birth. 



i^ot so with the fur seal. Such a location means the death of most 

 every puj) born u])on it from June until September 15, inclusive, whenever 

 the sudden rising of a gale might raise, in an incredibly short time, a 

 heavy, churning surf. But, after the middle of September the fur seal 

 pup has become pretty well used to the water and can swim well. Yet, 

 severe gaf s, in October, have caught even these pups at that time so 

 savagely as to destroy thousands of them, and their lifeless bodies will 

 be thrown high up by the surf to decay on the rocks and sand. 



It is a (pieer sight to see here to-day, those little blacdc fur-seal pups 

 Ijodding hither and thither, rubbing up against the big sea lions in the 

 most fearless and familiar manner, causing those animals no annoyance 

 whatever, and arousing them not a jiarticle. A very queer picture 

 indeed, these small black clusters of fur-seal pups crowding in against 

 the yellow bulk of the big sea lions. 



8TAERY ARTEEL. 



July 20, lfif)0. — The green growing grasses, flowers, and confervje 

 that fairly border this breeding ground to-day on this steej) bluff slope — 

 this odd rookery — makes a most startling change in its appearance, 

 contrasted as it is in my mind with what it was sixteen years ago. 

 Then a polished hauling ground, fully 1,000 to 1,500 feet deep, encircled 

 the breeding ground, and restless troo])s of holluschickie in squads of 

 hundreds clambered incessantly up and down the steep, abrupt slopes 

 of Starry Arteel Hill. To day it looks as though a seal never had pat- 

 tered over those hauling grounds of 1873: and even now, where the 

 breeders themselves are lying and Dodding, the ground is not wholly 

 free from scattered vegetation. 



The natives assure me that this rookery actually increased in 1876- 

 1878considerably over my lines of 1873-74; also the East rookery; but 

 to-day it has shriveled up to half its numbers of that time and the East 

 rookery to less than one third. 



Why the breeding seals should elect to haul up on this unusual spot 

 in this queer manner is difticult to positively say, because there is more 

 vacant space at i^orth rookery or Little Eastern than is necessary for 

 the reception of ten times as many as are here assembled. Perhaps, 

 however, the drainage is so perfect that it meets exactly the wishes of 

 the breeding seal, since it is compelled to rest from two to three months 

 upon a single spot ere the work of reproduction is completed. 



This rookery (and Zapadnie), are the only ones on this island thus far 

 raided ashore by pirates. That high bluff on which the breeding seals 

 rest, juts north-northeast about 800 feet sharp into the sea from the 

 straight west and east trend of the north shore of the island. This 



