RELATING TO ST. PAUL ISLAND. 149 



wcolcs tliereafter, and were they put into the water 

 would perish beyond a doubt, as lias been Avell estab- ^,.^f"* '*"ipi''''i'>'"^ ■>' 

 lished b.y tlie drowning- of pn]>s caniiht by the surf in 

 sloruiy weather. After learning to swim the pups still draw their sus- 

 tenance from the cows, aiul I have noticed at the annual Icilling of ])nps 

 for food in November that their stomachs were always full of milk and 

 nothing else, although the cows had left the Island some days before. 

 I have no knowledge of the pups ol)taining- sustenance 

 of any kind except that furnished by the cows; nor m,4,';,!;/|",'Vl',mr.'' "" 

 have I ever seeu anything but milk in a dead pup's 

 stomacli. The young males, from 2 to 5 years old, whose skins are taken 

 by the lessees begin to haul out on laiul in May ami 

 they continue to haul out till July. They herd by Arrival of biichciois 

 themselves during the months of May, June, and Julv, „ , ., , , , , 

 and they do this because, during the breeding season, 

 they dare not approach the breeding rookeries or the bulls Avould de- 

 stroy them. Being thus debarred from a position on the breeding 

 rookeries or fiom intei mingling with the cows, they herd together on 

 the hauling grounds, where they are easily approached 

 and surrounded by the natives, who drive them to the ^^'"'"s- 

 killing grounds without disturbing the breeding rookeries. 



Young males killed in May and June when examined are found to be 

 in prime condition, and their stomachs are tilled with 

 lish — ])iincipally codtish — but th(»se killed later in the Males do not leave; 

 season are found to be i)oor and lean and their stomachs lummeriorfood"' '"^ 

 empty; which shows that the males rarely leave the 

 islands for food during the summer months. 



Statute law forbids the killing of the female seal, and nature regu- 

 lates the matter so that there Is no danger of their 

 being driven or killed during tlie regular killing season, tii^iJ[!"]|)l,'''' '^^"'"'^ "" 

 which takes i)laie in June and July when all the "kill- 

 ing f(tr skins" is doiu;; and after all my experience here I am free to 

 say that a small fraction of one pei- cent would represent all the females 

 killed on the islands since thev became the property of the United 

 States. 



The compact family arrangement so tenaciously adhered to during 

 the breeding season becomes relaxed in August, and 

 the females "scatter, and a few of them mix u]> with the , romaies killed only 



1 1 1 4^1 X- 1 IX- l»y accident. 



young males, and when the natives make a drive tor 

 food it occasionally happens that a female will accompany the males, and 

 sometimes one or two may be accidentally killed. I use 

 the word "accidentally" advisedly, because there is no Females less vain- 

 good reason why the natives or the lessees should kill skius\!nVnood'.''"' '"' 

 a female seal designedly, as the skin is of no more use 

 or value (if so much), nor its flesh as good for food, as is that of the 

 male. And, excepting accidents, it is a fact that no 

 female seals are, or ever were, killed on the Tribilof ^1° females killed 



, , T . . ' . , ' , , , . on islands. 



Jshi'uls since xVmerican rules and regulations were es- 

 tablished there. 



Tiie regular killing season for skins under the lease begins on June 

 1st and ends practically on the last of July; and dur- 

 ing this period the first-class Alaskan fur-seal skins ^■"'"g^^^'^^""- 

 are taken. The seals are driven from the hauling ti> the killing grounds 

 by experienced natives under the orders of thenative 

 Chief, and the constant aim and object of all concerned '^'^'"' "' '^'"'"=' 



