THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF ALASKA. 141 



On the islaud of St. George the seals were allowed to rest in 1826 and 1827, and since that time greater 

 caution and care have been observed, and headmen or foremen have kept a careful count of the killing. 



From this it will be seen that no anxiety or care as to the preservation of the seal-life began uniil 1805 {i. e., 

 with the united companies). 



It is further evident, that all half measures, seen or not seen, were useful no longer, as they only served to 

 preserve a small portion of the seal-life, and only the last step (1834) with the present people or inhabitants has 

 ])roved of benefit. And if such regulations of the co:npany continue for fifteen years (;'. e , until 1S49), it may be 

 truly said that then the seal life will be attracted quite rapidly, under the careful direction of headmen, so that in 

 quite a short time a handsome yield may be taken every year. In connection with this subject, if the company are 

 moderate and these regulations are carried out, the seal life will serve them and be depended upon, as shown in this 

 volume. Table No. 2. 



Ideas of the old natives. — Nearly all the old men think and assert that the seals which are spared every 

 year (" zapooslMi Ivtov^'), i. e., those which have not been killed for several years, are truly of little use for breeding, 

 lying about as if they were outcasts or disfranchised. About these seals, they show that after the seals were spared, 

 they were always less than they should be, as, for instance, on. the island of St. George, after two years of saving 

 or sparing of 5,.500 seals, in the first year they got, instead of 10,000, or 8,000 as expected, only 4,778. 



WnY the seals diminisued.— But this diminution, which is shown in the most convincing manner, is due to 

 wrong and injustice. Jbecause it would not have been otherwise with any kind of animals — even cattle would have 

 been exterminated — because a great many here think and count that the seal-mother brings forth her young in her 

 third year, i.e., the next two years after her own birth. As it is well shown here, the spared seals (" srtyjoosAie") 

 were not more than three years old, and therefore it was not possible to discern the correct and true numbers as 

 they really were. Taking the females killed by the people, together with all the seals which were purposely spared, 

 it was seen that the seal-mothers did not begin to bear earlier than the fifth year of their lives. Illustrative of this 

 is the following : 



{(I) On the island of St. George, after the first "zapooka", in 1828, the killing of five-year-old seals was 

 continued gradually up to five times as many as at first. With those of five years old the killing stopped. Then 

 next year twelve times as many six-year-olds were observed on the islands, as compared with their number of the 

 last year, and with or in the seventh year came seven times as many. This shows that females born in 1828 did 

 not begin to bear young until their fifth year, and become with young accordingly; that the large ones did not 

 appear or come in six years (from 1828), as is evident, for in the fifth year all the females did not bring forth. 



(b) It is known that the male seals cannot become " seecatchies" (adult bulls) earlier than their fifth or sixth 

 year; following this, it may be said that the female bears earlier than the fourth year. 



• (c) If the male seal cannot become a bull (" seecatchie") earlier than the fifth year, then, as Buffon remarks, 

 " animals can live seven times the length of the period required for their maturity"; therefore, a "seecatch" cannot 

 live less than thirty yea s, and a female not less than twenty-eight.* 



Veniaminov's belief that females cannot bear young until four years old. — Taking the opinion 

 of Buffon (or ground in saying, that animals do not come to their full maturity until one-seventh of their lives has 

 passed, it goes also to prove that the female seal cannot bear young before her fourth year. 



It is, without doubt, a fact that female seals do not begin to bear young before their fifth year, i. e., the next 

 four years after the one of their birth, and not in the third or fourth year. That, however, is not the rule, but the 

 exception. To make it more apjiarent that females cannot bear young in their third year, consider two-year-old 

 females, and, compare them with "seecatchie" [adult bulls) and cows [adult females), and it will be evident to all 

 that this is impossible. 



Do the females bear young every year ; and how often in their lives do they bring forth ? 

 Bis doubts on the sub.jicct. — To settle this qm-stion is very difficult, for it is impossible to make any 

 observations upon their movements; but I think that the females, in their younger years (or prime), bring forth 

 every year, and as they get older, every other year; thus, according to people accustomed to them, they nmy each 

 bring forth in their whole lives from ten to fifteen young, and even more. This opinion is founded on the fact that 

 never (except in one year, 1832) have an excessive number of females been seen without young; that cows not 

 pregnant hardly ever come to the Piibylov islands ; that such fenmles cannot be seen every year. As to how large 

 a number of females do not bear, according to the opinions and personal observations of the ohl people, the following 

 nmy be depended upon with confidence: not more than one-fifth of the mature or "effective" females are without 

 young; but to avoid erroneous inqiressions or conflicting statements between others and myself, I have had but one 

 season ("«m^t") in which to personally observe and consider the multiplication of seals. 



' "Tliis remarlc is sustained by the observation of old men, and especially by one of the beat Creoles, Shiesr.eekov, who was on the 

 islaud of St. Paul in 18t7, and who knows of one " seecateh " (Icnown by a bald head), which in that time had already a large herd of 

 cows or females, 8nrrouude<l and hunted by a like number of fe;na!es and .strong, savage old bulls ; therefore, it may be safely thought that 

 this bull did not get his growth until his fifth year, and at this time he could not have been less than ten years old. And this same bull 

 came every year to the island and the same place for iifteeu years iu succession, up to 183'->, and it was only iu the later years that his 

 harem grew smaller and smaller iu number." 



