146 tp:stimony 



ner rules have been made and rigidly eDforced tliat no hauling' grounds 

 shall be driven from oftener than twice in any oneweeh, and it is a rare 

 thing to drive more than once a week from tlie same place. 



, . . There is no Ibnndation in fact for the stories told of 



dearth of luiiis; uo ovcrdriving ot seals. JS. or is there any shadow oi. tact 

 impotent bulls. ^^^^ ^jj^ j^H^ Statements made from time to time about a 



dearth of bulls on the rookeries or of imjtotent bulls. 



I have talked to the old men of onr peojile, men who can remember 

 back over fifty years, and not one of them knows of a time when there 

 was not plenty of bulls, and more than enough on the breeding rook- 

 eries, and no one here ever heard of an impotent bull. 

 wdrfiTied5 '■°"^'"'''' Until the schooners came into Bering Sea the rookeries 

 were always well tilled, and many of them had grown 

 shm'/time'''^ **"'"" ^" stcadlly fop ycars, until it was no uncommon thing for 

 the lessees to take the quota of 85,000 seals on St. Paul 

 Islaudbetween June 1st and July 20 of each year. After 1884, when the 

 original two or three sealing vessels had grown to be a 

 Decrease since 1884. ^.^^^ organized fleet, wc fouud a Steady decrease of seals 

 on all the rookeries and we found it diflicult to secure the quota of skins, 

 and in 1889 the lessees had to lower the standard of weight lower than 

 ever before in the history of the Island. And as the 

 Dead pups. scals dccrcascd we found the rookeries covered with 



dead pups, which in 1891 lay in heaps upon the ground; and when they 

 were examined by the physician I was present, and I saw them cut open 

 and their stomachs were empty and not a sign of milk in them. 

 The only solution of the problem is, in my opinion, that the cows or 

 mother seals go into the sea to feed, and while they are 

 Motiiers killed at there they are shot and killed by jielagic hunters, and 

 the pups, deprived of sustenance, die upon the rook- 

 eries. 



Until 1891 we were allowed several thousand pup seals for food, and 

 I have often killed them, and saw others killing them, and they were 

 always full of milk. The pups found dead upon the rookeries are al- 

 ways poor and thin and starved and empty. 

 ,^ , ,, „ , ,, It has been said that cows are barren sometimes be- 

 iso dearth of bulls. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ ^Qii^t\x of bulls, but such is uot the casc 

 at all, for the only cows on the breeding rookeries in 

 ra.^e's ili'vefni^s" ^^ July Or August Avithout pups are the 2-year-olds (vir- 

 gins), which have come on the rookeries for the first 

 time 



The young males or bachelors that are killed for skins are found to 



be full of food in JNIay and early in June, but their stomachs are empty 



when killed in July or later. This shows, I think, that 



isiand^s tbr foo'ii. "0"^ ffo out to feed iu the sea except the cows during 



the time they are nursing their young. The pups, 



Pup.s helpless ^'^^^" ^^^"' ^'^" "^* ^"^^"^ ^^' 1^^'^P themsclves in any way, 



and they are entirely dependent on the cows for suste- 

 nance. They are 6 or 8 Aveeks old before they can 

 ^eeiroid"^' " swim, and were they put into the water when born they 



would perish, for they are not then amphibious. 

 The flesh of the fur-seal has been eaten by our people ever since their 

 first settling here, and it constitutes the chief part of their daily food, 

 ISO di.sea.sed seals '^^^^^ ^"^ ^^ ^^^^^ regularly by every white miin on the Is- 

 land; and yet no one here has ever seen or heard tell of 

 a sick or diseased seal. 



