THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 



61 



LOW Plateau 

 l/ary fiocKy. ~ Lvit.iJL''LCft.t G*'ass 



with the exception of there being no parade- 

 ground in tlie rear, of any character whatever. 

 It is from the summit of the cliffs, overlooking 

 the narrow ribbon of breeding-seals right under 

 them, that I have been able to study the move- 

 ments of the fur-seal in the water to my heart's 

 content ; for out, and under the water, the. rocks, 

 to a considerable distance, are covered with a 

 whitish algoid growth, that renders the dark 

 bodies of the swimming seals and sea-lions as 

 conspicuous as is the image thrown by a magic 

 lantern of a silhouette on a screen prepared for its 

 reception. t The low rocky fiats around the pool 

 to the westward and northwest of the rookery 

 seem to be filled up with a muddy alluvial wash 

 that the seals do not favor; hence nothing but 

 " holluschickie " range round about them. 



Recapitulation. — In recapitulation, there- 

 fore, the breeding-grounds on St. George island, 

 according to the surveys which I made between 

 the 12th and 15th of July, 1873, gave the follow- 

 ing figures. They are also, as in the case of St. Paul, the first surveys ever made here : 



Little Eastern kookeky.*— From the village to the eastward, about half a mile again, is a little eastern 

 rookery, which lies on a low, bluffy slope, and is 

 not a piece of ground admitting of much more 

 expansion. It has superficial area for the recep- 

 tion of nearly 13,000 breeding-seals and their 

 young. 



The Great Eastern. — This is the last 

 rookery that we find on St. George. It is an 

 imitation, in miniature, of Tolstoi on St. Paul, 



i-aasy Slui^ 



LITTLE EASTERN 



Scale: 



A.TD 



Name of breeding-grounds, July 12-15, 1873. 



" Zapadnie rookery " has 600 feet of sea-margiu, with 60 feet of average depth, making ground for 



"Starry Ateel" rookery has 500 feet of sea-margin, witli 125 feet of average depth, nuaking ground for 



" North rookery." has 750 feet of sea-mai-gin, with 150 feet of average depth, and 2,000 feet of sea-margin, with 25 feet of 



average depth; making grojind in all for 



"Little Eastern" rookery has 750 feet of sea-margin, with 40 feet of average depth, making ground for 



" Great Eastern" rookery has 900 feet of sea-margin, with 60 feet of average depth, making ground for , 



A grand total of the seal-life for St. George island, hreeding-seals and young, of 



Grand total for St. Paul island, brought forward, breeding-seals and young, of 



Grand sum total for the Pribylov islands (seas m of 1873), breeding-seals and young 



3, 193, 420 



The figures above thus show a grand tottxl of 3,193,420 breeding seals and their young. This enormous 

 aggregate is entirely exclusive of the great numbers of the non-breeding seals, that, tis we Lave pointed out, are 

 never permitted to come up on those grounds which have been surveyed and epitomized by the table just exhibited. 

 That class of seals, the '.'holluschickie", in general terms, all males, and those to which the killing is confined, come 

 ui) on the laud and sea-beaches between the rookeries, in immense strtiggling droves, going to and from the sea at 



* The site of this breeding-ground and that of the marine slope of the killing-grounds to the east of the village, on this island, is 

 where sea-lions held exclusive possession prior to their driving oil' by the Russians — so the natives aftirm — the only i)lace on St. George 

 now where the Enmiilopias breeds, is that one iudicated on the general chart, between Garden cove .aud Tolstoi Mees. 



tThe algfiid vegetation of the marine shores of these islands is one that .adds a peculiar ch.arm and beauty to their treeless, sunless 

 coasts. Every kelp bed 1 hat floats raft-like in Bering sea, or is .anchored to its rocky reefs, is fairly alive with minute sea-shrimps, tiny crabs, 

 and little shells which cling to its masses of interwoven fronds or dart in ceaseless motion through, yet within its interstices. It is my firm 

 belief that no better base of operations can be found for studying marine invertebrata than is 1 he post of Sf. Paul or St. George ; the jK^Iagio 

 and the littoral forms are simply abundant beyond all estimation within bounds of reason. The phosphorescence of the waters of Bering 

 sea surpasses, in continued strength of brilliant illumination, anything that 1 have seen in southei-n and equatori.al oceans. The crests of 

 the long unbroken line of breakers on Lukanuon beach looked to me, one night in August, like an instantaneous flashing of lightning, 



