FUR-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA. 63 



P 



To-day Ardigueu, or jag G of the 1890 survey, has been reduced to 

 a fringe of 12 or 13 scattered harems, all restmg right at the water's 

 edge. All massing here, or rookery appearance of 1890, has disap- 

 peared. 



We now proceed to the Reef Point, where we find that jags F and 

 E have receded to the water's margin, showmg a fringe of 25 or 30 

 harems, 6 or 7 of which are abnormally large, 1 havmg at least 200 

 cows, another 60, and 2 or 3 of them with 30 or 40. We see here 

 the first half-bull observed to-day and which bull fled from the rear 

 and took to the water. We also see another half-bull m the water 

 and one 6-year-old idle bull, the fu-st idle 6-year old seen. There is no 

 evidence of fighting and no evidence of trampled pups or cows being 

 torn to pieces seen on the survey thus far. 



As we proceed we find that jag D and jag C of 1890 are reduced to 

 six massed harems at the water's edge, the bunching at the foot of 

 jag D representmg, collectively, about 500 cows, consisting of five or 

 six harems bunched, another representing three or four massed 

 harems, another representing three or four, another representing two, 

 and another representing six or seven, the whole aggregate not ex- 

 ceeding 1,000 cows and 25 or 30 bulls. We also observed here two 

 polsecatchie or 5-year-old bulls h^ing in the rear, but no others in 

 sight, either at the rear or at the water's edge. There are only four 

 or five idle bulls lying in the rear. The whole area covered by breed- 

 ing seals on these jags of 1890 is abandoned and reduced to this 

 number and appearance to-day. 



We now proceed to the consideration of jags B and A, as we shall 

 view them from the Reef Pinnacle, from which point they were best 

 seen in 1890. 



From the Reef Pinnacle we now fuid that they have been com- 

 pletely elunmated, and ha lieu thereof tliere are seven scattered 

 harems along the water's edge with perhaps 12 or 15 bulls. Around 

 the pool is clustered a herd of holluschickie, with the usual proportion 

 of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 year old male seals, this being the only band of 

 holluschickie viewed since we left Garbotch, and the number may 

 possibly be as high as 1,200 or 1,300, but these are all the nonbreedin^ 

 seals that are m evidence to-day on the Reef Point and Garbotch 

 hauling grounds. 



From the foot of jag A to the second point of 1890, we will now 

 proceed; but as we do, we stop at the summit of the Grand Parade 

 Pinnacle, over which the eye can sweep upon the famous hauhng 

 grounds of 1874, where, from the foot of Fox Hill over to Garbotch 

 Bight down to the Reef Point, and from shore to shore, the entire 

 area was bare of every vestige of vegetation on the earth and lichens 

 upon the rocks; and, upon which at any time during this period in 

 1874, not less than a hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand 

 holluschickie were hauled out, mo^dng hither and tliither in ceaseless 

 inarching and countermarching, or else spread in fitful sleep and 

 uneasy awakening, so characteristic of this animal when on land.^ 



1 With regard to this condition of complete elimination of seal life to-day, as contrasted with its anpear- 

 ance on these grounds in 1874, the following description of it is made in Elliott's Monograph Seal Islands, 

 under date of July 22, 1S74, (pp. 50-51): , „ ^. , . , , .. . _. ., „ 



"These Zoltoi sands are, however, a famous rendezvous for the holluschickie; and from them during the 

 season the natives make regular drives, having only to step out from their houses m the mornmg and walK 

 Tjut a few rods to find their fur-bearing quarry. u „ _• i„„ „, 



"Passing over these sands on our way down to the Reef Pomt, we quickly come to a basaltic ridge or 

 iDackbone, over which the sand has been rifted by the winds, and which supports a rank and luxuriant 



