52 FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 



On page 38 of my 1890 report, which was in Jordan's hands when he first started 

 for the seal islands, appears the following detailed explanation of each and every 

 step taken by me in surveying each and every rookery as well as Tolstoi. 



Detailed analysis of the survey of Tolstoi rookery, July 10, 1890. 



[Sea margin beginning at A and ending at D.] 



Square feet, 



800 feet sea margin between A and B, with 80 feet average depth, massed.. 64,000 



400 feet sea margin between B and C, with 60 feet average depth, massed.. 24,000 



1,600 feet sea margin between C and D, with 10 feet average depth, massed. . 16, 000 



Jag E has 300 feet of depth, with 40 feet average width, massed 12, 000 



Jag F has 100 feet of depth, with 40 feet average width, massed 4, 000 



Jag G has 120 feet of depth, with 40 feet of average width, massed 4, 800 



Total square feet - - - - 124, 800 



The annexed colored chart ' that this legend illustrates carries all these stations 

 and base line points in detail. Every topographical feature is faithfully indicated 

 on it, and these specialized lines of average depth were drawn over these sections of 

 the herd as it lay upon the ground on that day and date — the proper time of the 

 season. 



Now, in order that this detailed analysis of Tolstoi can be summed up in one com- 

 pact sensible expression I take the entire length of its sea margin, 2,800 feet, and 

 divide the entire sum of its square feet of massed area, 124,800 feet, by it; that enables 

 me to say, "July 11, 1890, Tolstoi has 2.800 feet of sea margin with 44^ feet of average 

 depth — 124,800 square feet of superficial area, making ground for 62,400 breeding 

 seals and young." 



Here is the result in detail of my survey of Tolstoi in 1872, which was verified by 

 myself and Capt. Washbuni Maynard, U. S. N., in 1874: 



Detailed analysis of the survey of Tolstoi rookery, July 15, 1872. 



[Sea margin beginning at A and ending at D.] 



Square feet. 



1,000 feet sea margin between A and B, with 350 feet average depth, massed . . 350, 000 

 400 feet sea margin between B and C, •with 150 feet average depth, massed. . 60, 000 

 1,600 feet sea margin between C and D, with 30 feet average depth, massed. . 48, 000 



Three thousand feet sea margin on Tolstoi breeding ground, and 458,000 square 

 feet in it, making ground, in round numbers, for 225,000 seals. 



It will be noted that in this Tolstoi summary for 1872 I ignore the real presence of 

 8,000 square feet, and deliberately reduce that estimate of seals from 229,500 to 

 225,000, because I never ran the risk in my work of 1872 and 1890 of being a foot or 

 two ahead of the real average. I carried this cautious reservation all through my sur- 

 veys of each and every rookery, and this is the reason why Capt. Maynard, my asso- 

 ciate in the work of 1874, makes his estimate, based upon this survey, of the sum total 

 of Pribilof seal life so much higher than mine. He declared that he was satisfied 

 from close personal supervision of taking all our land angles in 1874 that I was safely 

 inside of the real limit of supervision and that the figures of the survey were conserva- 

 tive and right. He was then, as he is now, a skilled mathematician and hydrographer,. 

 and he had the right to his opinion based upon the figures of that careful work. Yet 

 Jordan has the sublime impertinence in 1908 to sneer at this unbiased, careful survey 

 of 1872-1874, by saying "the 150 feet is a guess, and that only." (Page 80, note.) 



I used these figures of 1890 in detail for Tolstoi because I do not give the detailed 

 analysis or figures of 1872-1874 (only the summary) in my 1890 report of its sea margin 

 and square feet, viz, "3,000 feet of sea margin, making ground for 225,000 breeding 

 seals and their young," not deeming it necessary to produce so many detailed figures 

 when my charts for both seasons were in full evidence in the published work of 1890. 



I never made the blunder of attempting to count all the bulls, all the cows, or all 

 the pups on any rookery in 1872-1874. The utter stupidity of such a step never 

 entered my head. It never did in 1890, even when the ragged remnant of the great 

 life of 1872 was before me. It has only remained for Jordan and his job lot of assis- 

 tants to race up and down these desolated breeding areas, in their idle attempts to 

 do so, and the record of the self-contradiction of their own work bristles with the folly 

 of it on a score of pages in his report. 



' Not printed. 



