VENIAMINOFP. 295 



Subsequently, wlien it was plainly seen that the seals were decreas- 

 ing more and more, owing to this management of the killing, orders 

 were given to observe the greatest care in separating the adult and 

 young females from the seals which were to be killed, and to endeavor 

 to spare as many as possible even of the kind which had to be killed. 

 But all this hardly sufficed to keep the number of seals stationary, and 

 did not at all increase their numbers. Finally, in 1834, the board of 

 administration of the company, in consequence of the convincing argu- 

 ments presented to it by Baron Wrangel, resolved to make a new 

 arrangement on this subject by sacrificing present profits, and in con- 

 sequence of this only 4,000 seals are now killed on St. Paul instead of 

 12,000. 



Close-times were observed for the seals on St. George in 1826 and 

 1827, and since that time great care and economy have been exercised 

 there in killing the seals. 



From these facts it is evident that it was not until 1805, i. e., at the 

 time of the consolidation of the companies, that any care was taken for 

 the preservation of the seal species. 



It is also evident that half-measures are of no avail, or that, at most, 

 they only tend to preserve the seal species a little longer, and the 

 present measures, under present circumstances, are by far the best. 

 And if this policy of the company is continued for fifteen years, to wit, 

 until 1849, it may be confidently asserted that the seal species will have 

 more than trebled, and, with economical management, will long continue 

 to yield enormous profits. In the contrary case, however, if the com- 

 pany should be intent on present profits, the seals will very speedily be 

 exterminated. Table No. 2, annexed to this volume, suffices to prove 

 this. 



Almost all the old inhabitants believe and assert that sparing the 

 seals, that is to say, not killing them for some years, does not contribute 

 in the least to their increase and only amounts to losing them forever. 

 They prove this by the fact that after close-times there always have 

 been fewer seals than there should have been : as, for example, on the 

 island of St. George after a close-time of two years for 5,500 seals, in- 

 stead of taking ten or eight thousand in the first year, as they had 

 hoped, only 4,778 were taken. 



But this opinion, however convincing it may appear, is entirely 

 erroneous — 



1. Because it is impossible that any species of animals or cattle 

 should perish of itself. 



2. Because very many persons here believed it to be beyond a doubt 

 that the female seals begin to bear in their third year, that is, at the 

 expiration of two years after their birth; but as none of the close- times 

 known here lasted more than three years, it was impossible to see what 

 was the real increase. In fact, after a careful comparison of all the 

 results of the close-times, it is evident that the cows do not begin to 

 bear earlier than the fifth year of their life. The proofs of this are the 

 following : 



a. In 1828, after the first close- time on the island of St. George, the 

 seals continued to decrease steadily at the rate of one-fifth annually, 

 until the fifth year. In the fifth year the decrease ceased. In the sixth 

 year there appeared an increase of one-twelfth as compared with the 

 preceding year, and in the seventh year there was an increase of one- 

 seventh (see Table No. 1). This shows that the females born in 1828 did 

 not begin to bear until their fifth year; and, taking into consideration 

 the fact that the largest increase occurred at the expiration of six 



