rUK-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA, 33 



shall gain later — but I will pick Dr. Jordan up on one more point, in conclusion. 

 On page 80 Dr. Jordan says: 'But aside from the question of accuracy in the stirveys 

 tliemselves, Mr. Elliott has assigned an impossible space to each individual seal. 

 His unit of space is 2 square feet to each animal, young or old, or 4 square feet for 

 the cow, ignoring the pups. * * * In a standing position she (the cow) would need 

 at least 3 square feet, but as the cows are constantly moving abotit and coming and 

 going to and from the sea. it is impossible to limit one to such space."' 



At this point, and in this connection. Jordan may be pardoned for his inability to 

 understand the massing of the breeding seals in 1872-1874. when there were seven to 

 ten times as many of them as contrasted with their number when he first saw them 

 in 189(5. In 1890. when I landed on the seal islands after a continuous absence from 

 them for 16 years, the sight of their abandoned and shrunken grounds impressed me 

 instantly; not so were the newconiers, the Treasury agents who traveled up with me; 

 they, like Jordan, only .saw ■•thousands of seals — many thousands." and it was really 

 hard to get them to appreciate the gravity of the condition of the herd. I told them 

 on the 1st of June, 1890, that they would not get the quota of 60,000. and not a man, 

 agent of company or Treasury, or a native, for that matter, then agreed with me on 

 the islands. But by the end of the month they saw the truth as I had declared it. 



Here is what I published in 1872-1874. relative to the seal unit of space, and it is 

 clear enough to men who have reasoned to the line with me on the ground itself; to 

 men like (I'apt. Maynard. United States NaA'y. 1874, and \Mlliam Kapus, general 

 manager of the lessees in 1872-1873, and all of their official associates who were with 

 them at that time : 



^'Rookery space occupied by single seals.- — When the adult males and females, 15 or 20 

 of the latter to every one of the former, have arrived upon the rookery, I think an area 

 a little less than 2 feet square for each female may be considered as the superficial space 

 required by each animal with regard to its size and in obedience to its habits; and this 

 limit may safely be said to be over the mark. Now, every female or cow on this 2 feet 

 square of space dotibles herself by bringing forth her young, and in a few day^, or a 

 week, perhaps, after its birth the cow takes to the water to wa*ih and feed and is not 

 back on this allotted space one-half of the time again during the season. In this way 

 is it not clear that the females almost double their number on the rookery grotmde 

 withotit catising the expansion of the same beyond the limits that would be actually 

 required did they not bear any young at all? For every 100,000 breeding seals there 

 will be found more than 85,000 females and less than 15,000 males; and in a few weeks 

 after the landing of these females they will show for themselves- — that is, for this 

 lOO.OOO^fully 180,000 males, females, and young, instead, on the same area of ground 

 occupied previously to the birth of the pups. 



"It mtist be borne in mind that perhaps 10 or 12 per cent of the entire number of 

 females were yearlings last season and come up onto theee breeding grounds as nubiles 

 for the first time during this season- — as 2-j'ear-old cows. They, of course, bear no 

 young. The males, being treble and qtiadruple the physical bulk of the females, 

 require abotit 4 feet sqtiare for their use of this same rookery ground ; but as they are 

 less than one-fifteenth the number of the females^much less, in fact^they therefore 

 occupy only one-eighth of the space over the breeding ground, where we have located 

 the supposed 100,000. This surplus area of the males is also more than balanced and 

 equalized by the 15,000 or 20,000 2-year-old females which come onto this ground for 

 the first time to meet the males. They come, rest a few days or a week, and retire, 

 leaving no young to show their presence on the ground. 



"The breeding bulls average 10 feet apart by 7 feet on the rookery ground; have 

 each a space, therefore, of about 70 square feet for an average family of 15 cows, 15 

 pups, and 5 virgin females, or 35 animals for the 70 feet— 2 sqtiare feet for each seal, 

 big or little. The virgin females do not lay out long, and the cows come and go at 

 intervals, never all being on this ground at one time, so the bull has plenty of room 

 in his space of 70 square feet for himself and harem. 



"Taking all these points into consideration, and they are features of fact, I quite 

 safely calculate upon an average of 2 square feet to every animal, big or little, on the 

 breeding grounds at the initial point upon which to base an intelligent computation 

 of the entire number of seals before us. Without following this system of enumeration 

 a person may look over these swarming myriads between Southwest Point and Nova- 

 stoshnah, guessing vaguely and wildly at any figure from 1,000,000 up to 10,000,000 or 

 12,000,000, as has been done repeatedly. How few people know what a million really 

 is. It is very < asy to talk of a million, "but it ie a tedious task to count it off, and makes 

 one's statement as to 'millions' decidedly more conservative after the labor has beeD. 

 accomplished . 



" I am satisfied to-day that the pups are the sure guide to the whole nuinber of seals 

 on the rookeries. The mother seals are constantly coming and going, while the pups 



11864—13 3 



