AMPiriBIAX MILLIONS. 311 



seven or eight thousand, as there are on any square rod at North- 

 east Point, where a milhon of them congregate. 



This fact being determined, it is evident that just in proportion 

 as the breeding-grounds of the fur-seal on these islands expand or 

 contract in area from their present dimensions, so the seals will in- 

 crease or diminish in number. 



That discovery at the close of the season of 1872 of this law of 

 distribution gave me at once the clue I was searching for, in order 

 to take stejDS by which I could arrive at a sound conclusion as to 

 the entire number of seals herding on the Pribylov group. 



I noticed, and time has confirmed my observation, that the pe- 

 riod for taking these boundaries of the rookeries, so as to show this 

 exact margin of expansion at the w^eek of its greatest volume, or 

 when they are as full as they are to be for the season, is between 

 July 10th and 20th of every year — not a day earlier and not many 

 days later. After July 20th the regular system of compact, even 

 organization, breaks up. The seals then scatter out in pods or 

 clusters, the pups leading the way, straying far back : the same 

 number then instantly cover twice and thrice as much ground as 

 they did the day or week before, when they laid in solid masses and 

 were marshalled on the rookery ground proper. 



There is no more difficulty in surveying these seal-margins diu- 

 ing this week or ten days in July than there is in drawing sights 

 along and around the curbs of a stone fence surrounding a field. 

 The breeding-seals remain perfectly quiet under your eyes all over 

 the I'ookery and almost within your touch, everywhere on the out- 

 side of their territory that you may stand or walk. The margins 

 of massed life, which are indicated on the topographical surveys of 

 these breeding-grounds of St. Paul and St. George, are as clean cut 

 and as well defined against the soil and vegetation as is the shading 

 on my maps. There is not the least difficulty in making such sur- 

 veys, and in making them correctly. 



Without following such a system of enumeration, persons may 

 look over these swarming myriads between Southwest Point and 

 Novastoshnah, guessing vaguely and wdldly, at any figure from 

 one million up to ten or twelve millions, as has been done repeat- 

 edly. How few people know what a million really is ! It is very 

 easy to talk of a million, but it is a tedious task to count it off : this 

 makes a statement as to "millions" decidedly more conserva- 

 tive when the labor has been accomplished. After a thorough sur- 



