RELATING TO ST. PAUL ISLAND. 155 



School of Verinout, and in 1S74 was employed by the Alaslca Comnicreial 

 Coinpaiiy, the late lessees ofthe Alaslca seal (i si i erics, to go to the Island 

 of St. Paul of the I'libilof grou]), as Assistant Ageutaiul teacher. I went 

 there in 1874 and remained continuously until 1877, my residence 

 there covering four sealing seasons. JNIy duties as Assistant Agent re- 

 (juired me to familiarize myself with the habits of the seals, the manner 

 of driving them from the rookeries, and the killing them ami preserv- 

 ing their skins. In doing this the rookeries were under my daily ob- 

 servation. Moreover, from the isolated ciuiracter of the life on St. 

 raul Island, and the fact that the whole business and resources of the 

 islanders and the other emph)yes of the lessees were based on the seal 

 ])roduct, the habits and peculiarities of these animals was the princi- 

 pal ami overshadowing subject of conversation and observation among- 

 the inhabitants. 



The density of the seal pi>])ulation on the rookeries is the same each 

 season : an increase of seal life sinii)l v extends the space „ , . 



.-,,,, , . 1 > i' • 1 Rookeries. 



occui)um1 by the rookeries. By observing each year 

 the extent ot ground covered with breeding seals, and comjtaring it, 

 one year with another, an observer can easily determine whether the 

 seals are stationary, increasing, or diminishing in numbers. From 

 year to year, when 1 was at St. Paul, the number of seals increased, 

 and the increase was constant. This I know from my own careful ob- 

 servation of the herds and rookeries, and 1 estimate ^ ,„,, ,„,, 



,, , j_. 1 . oii. T-, 1 ■ 1 L>'-r7 J. - . ^/^ Increase, 1874-1877. 



the number oi seals at St. Paul, in 18 u, at ;> to 10 per 



cent, at least, greater than the first season 1 was there (1874). 



The number of non-breeding males of suitable age and body for kill- 

 ing was in each year largely in excess of the number piei,t . „f mahs 

 permitted to be killed by tliQ lea.se, and was plainly '^" '^ " 

 large enough to replenish in due time tlie stock of breeding males in 

 such numbers that the entire herd was enlarged from year to year by 

 a gradual and healthy increase. These facts observed by me were 

 also noted by the natives ami other residents, and were the cause ot 

 rejoicing and congratulation among them. 



After I learned the business one of my duties was to have charge of 

 one of the gangs of natives engaged in driving the i^^^y;^„ 

 seals from the rookeries to the killing grounds and "^''"s- 

 there slaughtering them. Such seals as we did not slaughter for their 

 skins were allowed to return at will to the rookeries and 

 were in no way injured by such driving and return; on ^rfvfng""*'"''^""^'^^ 

 getting back to the place whence tliey started they 

 were, after a short rest, as pla} ful and active as ever. The seal usually 

 makes one rookery his home, and so the same seal, when not up to the 

 standard for killing, is driven several times in one season to the killing 

 grounds to find his way back to the rookery when those suitable for 

 killing have been dispatched. They are as fresh for the succeeding 

 journeys, which take place at intervals of several days, Manatrement 

 as for the first one. The methods of the lessees in an-vemen . 

 killing their quota and in care for the preservation of the great body 

 of the herd were, in my judgment, as judicious as could be taken. 



Every member of the entire sea herd of the island (except the new- 

 born pups in the first three or four weeks of their 

 life) had, when 1 was there, and, I understand, still """.wane. 

 has, immediate money value; and the entire herd is, each season, as 

 wholly and comi)letely in the actual power and possessive control of 

 the em])]oy(;s of the lessees as my father's cattle on his farm were in 

 miue when 1 was a boy and he gave me charge of them. The only 



