RELATING TO PRIBILOF ISLANDS. G3 



yoar-olds" agjihi migrate soiitliward over the same coarse as formerly. 

 On tlieir return to tlie islands, the female goen again to the breeding 

 rookeries and there brings forth her first pup. From this time forward 

 she increases the seal herd by one pnp annually and tlie male of the 

 same age is on the haiding grounds and is now considered of a killable 

 age. 



The fourth and fifth migrations are practically the same as the third. 

 After the fifth or sixth migration the male seal, ]iow 

 called a bull, returns to tlie islands about the iirst of ^""■'■ 

 May and hauls up on the breeding rookeries i)rovided he is able to 

 maintain himself there, which takes many Woody conflicts. There ho 

 gathers about him as many iemales as he is able. From the time of 

 his landing until the close of the rutting season or alK)ut the first of 

 August he remains continuously on the breeding grounds, never eating 

 and sleeping very little, if at ail. About August first he again takes 

 to the water, after having fertilized all the cows in his harem, very lean 

 and lank, and his harem becomes disorganized, the pups gathei-ing into 

 pods, the feinales going and connng irom the water, and the bachelors 

 mingling with the cows and pui)s. 



The bachelors while on the islands, in my ojjinion, feed very little, 

 and practically it is only the female seals which feed oni - femaieH havH 

 while located on the islands. The speed of a seal when isiamfs to'ltfou!' 

 SAvimming is very great, covering, I should say, from 10 

 to 15 miles an hour. Therefore a female can easily go speed mswinuums. 

 to the feeding grounds and return to the islands in a^ day; and that so 

 fiir as I am able to ascertain the foregoing facts are practically corrob- 

 orated by all those who have had the oi>p(>rtunity to study or observe 

 seal life on the Pribilof Islands and in Bering Sea. 



On my first arrival in the Pribilof Islands in 1868, several other vessels, 

 rei)resentatives of difierent interests, were there for the purpose of killing 

 seals; and the natives of these islands, called Aleuts, were nearly all 

 employed by one or other of the vessels in the business of killing seals. 

 I noticed that the natives alwavs remonstrated when- 

 ever any female was killed and stated that that was kS'tMer*"'^ *" 

 forbidden, and I am informed that it always had been 

 forbidden by the Eussian Government. All the seals killed by me or 

 under my superintendence on the island have been male seals, except 

 in the case of accident. My knowlege of the catch of 1808 enables me to 

 state that the destruction of seals from all sources in „, ,, „,._ 



J.1 J. 1 j_ rx/www-w mi • • j_i • Slaughter of 1868. 



that year was about 240,000. This is the maximum 

 figure. Despite the lowering of the standard weight of skins, care was 

 taken annually on St. George that the residue of available male breed- 

 ers was sufficient for the needs of the rookeries, and instructions to 

 that effect were given to the assistants by the superintendent of the 

 Alaska Commercial Company. In this we were aided by the inacces- 

 sible character of some of the hauling grounds. 



From the year 1874 till 1885 we were able to get from St. George and 

 St. Paul islands 100,000 male seals within the period 

 known as the sealing season of six weeks, from the 10th ^^Qjiota taken in i874- 

 of June to the 1st of August, and still leave a large 

 liercentage of marketable seals. In 1885, and in every year thereafter 

 until I left in 1887, there was a marked decrease in the 

 number of marketable skins that could be obtained in 

 each year during the sealing season. We were able, down to the last 

 year (1887) to get our total catch of 100,000 seals, but in (u-der to get 

 that number we had to take w^hat in previous years we would have re- 



