290 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS. 



that, by careful and considerate treatment, would forever have been a 

 source of immense wealth, to such a condition that it becomes a ques- 

 tion of great moment to devise means to prevent its extermination and 

 adopt measures to restore its former abundance. 



In 1867 the United States purchased of Eussia for $7,200,000 all of 

 the territory known as Russian America and now as Alaska. At the 

 time it was expected that it would prove a paying investment. Great 

 tales were told of the fabulous wealth that was there in the shape of 

 lumber, coal, precious metals, etc., and but little stress was laid upon 

 the fact that fur-seals were found in abundance upon two small 

 islands, but nowhere else in North America. Now, after the experi- 

 ence of over twenty years, what is the result? Alaska itself pays 

 almost nothing into the National Treasury ; in fact, it takes over 

 $200,000 yearly to support its management, while the two little 

 islands of St. Paul and St. George, with a direct yearly expenditure of 

 less than $20,000, have almost returned to the National Treasury the 

 large sum paid for the whole of Alaska. The net income from the seal 

 islands for the past twenty years has been in round numbers $6,000,000. 

 The net income for the next twenty years, based on the bids of the new 

 company holding the lease, would be over $20,000,000, but the actual 

 amount will be less than a million unless stringent measures are taken 

 to prevent a further decrease of seal life and to provide for better 

 methods of management. 



It will be seen by this that the preservation of seal life on the Priby- 

 lov Islands is really deserving of the utmost consideration and that a 

 proper enforcement of the best means and measures is demanded even 

 from a purely business point of view. 



Rainy, foggy, and cold, nasty weather is the rule on the islands, and 

 to this fact is greatly due the residence and abundance of seal life 

 during the summer. Wherever a rocky slope extends into the sea therg 

 the seals haul out and form a colony. On St. Paul's there are nine of 

 these places, the smallest having a sea margin of 750 feet, while the 

 largest, that at Northeast Point, is 15,850 feet in length. On St. 

 George's there are five, with an average sea margin of only 700 feet. 

 The average width is 100 feet. The seals on the island are divided by 

 name into four groups or divisions, which are well known to everybody 

 there. The male seals of seven or eight years old and upward are 

 known as bulls, and are the only males large and strong enough to 

 maintain a position on the breeding grounds. The female seals are 

 known as cows, while the young seal of the year is called a pup. The 

 male seals one year old and upward are called "holluschickie," or bache- 

 lor seals, and it is from the ranks of these that the killable seals are 

 taken. The breeding grounds are known as rookeries. In 1874 Mr. 

 Henry W. Elliott, as the result of two seasons' work, estimated that 

 there were on the rookeries 3,193,000 breeding seals and young. Last 

 year, as a result of another survey of the rookeries on the same basis, 

 it was found that less than 1,000,000 breeding seals and young were 

 left. 



About the end of April there appear about the islands a few old bull 

 seals. These gradually increase in numbers until by June 1 all have 

 arrived and occupied positions on the rookeries. This is only done as 

 the result of continual fighting and bellowing, which is kept up inces- 

 santly. About June 10 the cows arrive and by the middle of July they 

 have all landed on the rookeries. 



Soon after the cow lands, sometimes the same day, she gives birth to 

 a single young, and in the coarse of a week or two returns to the sea to 



