164 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



abruj)! projection of the ground mnkes a perfectly snug shelter from 

 human observation in the village, or from any other j^oint east. There 

 is no rookery and nobody living west of it; and unless one stands upon 

 the extreme summit of the rookery blufll's or west of it, nothing can be 

 seen below. 



Behind this Starry Arteel bluff, on its western face, just at and only 

 a tritle above surf wash, is a water- worn cave — a small cavern in which 

 a dozen men can huddle. Here, in 188(> a sealing schooner's crew sys- 

 tematically passed their days in hiding, and their nights in raiding the 

 rookery. They worked some three weeks ere they were <letected by 

 the natives, who, in searching along the shore for driftwood, atter the 

 sealing season had ended for them, found the freshly-killed bodies of a 

 number of cows at the mouth of this cave: the sealers had departed. 



Again, at Zapadnie, in the month of Augnst last year, 1889, a similar 

 raiding of that rookery was attempted; but as the pirates' boats came 

 in at 10.40 p. m. from their schooner, they were fired into, and the 

 startled marauders turned about and disapi)eared in tlie fog. Zapadnie 

 has been visited three times prior to this in that manner by pirates; but 

 jio great iiumberof seals has been taken by tliem — a hundred or so per- 

 haps. It is a chosen spot for the mauraders to anchor off" from one-half 

 to 1 mile at sea, where they have shot a great many seals. At no other 

 rookery on either island, have they done so to any extent. 



At Starry Arteel, in 1886, these cave pirates above described took 

 several hundred skins— some COO. This is the largest haul made by 

 illegitimate landing on either island. 



July ,?7, 1800. — 1 made a circuit of this unique breeding ground to-day; 

 climbed up through a few scattered pups, cows, and holluschickie, all 

 commingled on its steep hill slope of breccia and cement, which these 

 seals seem to love so well, happy as to drainage, and free from dust. 



The podding of tlie pups here, since the liOtli of July, has made the 

 driving of hoMuschickie sim])ly impossible from this place, for the mix- 

 ture of all classes is thorough to-day. 



I notice, also, that the etiectof that peculiar driving (which has been 

 in vogue here ever since the shrinking of 1882 caused its establishment) 

 of the holUischickie is creating an undue extension of sea margin for the 

 number of animals occupying it as a breeding ground. In 1873 this 

 rookery was a compact, oblong, oval mass of breeding seals, 500 feet 

 by 125 feet, in which my figures declared a gathering of 30,000 bulls, 

 cows, and pups; to-day there is a straggling belt of 800 feet by 40 feet 

 (a very liberal estimate) on which only 10,000 bulls, cows, and pups 

 rest. 



ZAPADNIE. 



July 20, 1890. — I often wondered in 1873, why this little rookery over 

 here, was always the best hauling ground on St. George. I now believe 

 that 't is due to its location on the south side of the island, where the 

 scent and noise of the breeding seals must appeal strongly to those 

 bands of holluschickie that are upward bound from the Aleutian passes 

 for St. Paul Island. The largest and best drives are always secured 

 here, i. e., when taken from any one place on the island. The rookery 

 was one of the two smallest on St. George then, and is a small one 

 to-day, and is the only one on the south side of that island. 



It was here to-day that the evidence of excessive cow driving (which 

 can not be avoided if the holluschickie are to be secured) was plainly 

 given by our finding in the fresh track of the "drive," made this morn- 

 ing, just as we came on the ground, several pups feebly bleating for 



