CHAPTER IX. 



WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 



The Fur-seal Millions of the Pribylov Islands. — Marvellous Exhibition of 

 Massed Animal-life in a State of Nature. — Story of the Discovery of 

 these Remarkable Rookeries, July, 1786. — Previous Knowledge of them 

 Unknown to Man. — Sketch of the Pribylov Islands. — Their Character, 

 Climate, and Human Inhabitants. — A Realm of Summer-fog. — The Seal- 

 life here Overshadows Everything, though the Bird Rookeries of Saint 

 George are Wonderful. — No Harbors. — The Roadsteads. — The Attractive 

 Flora. — Only Islands in Alaska where the Curse of Mosquitoes is Re- 

 moved. — Natives Gathering Eggs on Walrus Islet. — A Scene of Confusion 

 and Uproar. — Contrast very Great between Saint Paul and Saint George. 

 — Good Reason of the Seals in Resorting to these Islands to the Exclusion 

 of all other Land in Alaska. — Old-time Manners and Methods of the Rus- 

 sians Contrasted with Our Present Control. ^ — Vast Gain and Improvement 

 for Seals and Natives. — The Character of the Present Residents. — Their 

 Attachment to the Islands. — The History of the Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany. — The Wise Action of Congress. — The Perfect Supervision of the 

 Agents of the Government. — Seals are more Numerous now than at First. 

 — The Methods of the Company, the Government, and the Natives in 

 Taking the Seals. 



When they the approaching time perceive, 

 They flee the deep, and watery pastures leave ; 

 On the dry ground, far from the swelling tide, 

 Bring forth their young, and on tlie shores abide 

 Till twice six times they see the eastern gleams 

 Brighten the hills and tremble on the streams. 

 The thirteenth morn, soon as the early dawn 

 Hangs out its crimson folds or spreads its lawn, 

 No more the fields and lofty coverts please, 

 Each hugs her own and hastes to rolling seas. 



— Ovid. 



The story of the gloomy grandeur of Alaskan scenery and the wild 

 existence of its inhabitants is not half told until that picture of 

 what we observe on the Pribylov Islands of Bering Sea is graphic- 

 ally drawn. Here is annually presented one of the most mar- 



