RELATING TO ST. GEORGE ISLAND. 173 



I, Max Heilbroiiner, secretary of the Alaska Commercial Companv, 

 of Sail Francisco, do solemnly swear that the foregoing " sealskin 

 record of St. George Island, Ahiska, 1871 to 1889, inclusive," is formu- 

 lated and compiled from the books of said company kept on said is- 

 land, now in my custody, and is correct and true according to my best 

 knowledge and belief. 



Max Heilbronnee, 

 Secretary Alaska Commercial Company. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this lltli day of May, A. D. 1892. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Fuhlic. 



Dei)osition of Louis Kimmcl, assistant Treasury aycnt on St. George 



Island. 



nABITS. 



District of Columbia, 



City of Washington , ss: 



Louis Kiminel, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I am a resident 

 of La Fayette, Indiana, and am 63 years of age. Dur- ^^ ,eri,.,ice 

 ing the years 1882 and 1883 was tlie assistant Treas- M'eiuuco. 

 ury Agent located on St. George Island of the Pribilof Group. I ar- 

 rived on the island May 31, 1882, and remained there continuously 

 until the latter part of July, 1883. 



While on the island I studied the habits of the fur seals in order 

 that I might be able to perform my official duty. The Arrival of buiis. 

 bulls (males (> years old and upwards) began to come cows, bachelors. 

 to the island the first part of May. The cows did not come till the latter 

 part of tlie month and the first part of June. The bachelors, or young 

 males, began to arrive about the same time as the cows. The bachelors 

 try to land on the breeding rookeries occupied by the bulls, but are 

 driven off' by the older males and are compelled to herd together by 

 themselves separately from the bulls and cows. A male seal is over 5 

 years of age before he is able to maintain himself on the breeding 

 rookeries against the attacks of his fellows. The breed- ^r * -t . e 

 ing rookeries are never disturbed in any way by the em- ^ "" ^ "^ 

 ployes on the island and the most stringent rules are enforced against 

 the use of firearms, allowing dogs upon the islands, 

 or distvabing the seals in any manner. The bachelors anagement. 

 are the seals which are killed by the lessees of the islands, the killable 

 age being from two to five years ; all seals which are not ^iui^,^ 

 juales or which are not of the correct age are separated ' '"^" 

 from those to be killed and allowed to return to the water. Under no 

 circumstances is it allowable to kill a female of any age. The killable 

 seals, after being separated from the remainder of the herd, are driven 

 by the natives to the killing grounds. After every j^^..^.^^ 

 "drive" that took i)lace while 1 Avas on the island I "^>"g- 

 went back over the ground along which the seals had been driven to 

 see if any vseals had been killed by overdriving. The ovenirivin.' 

 entire number of seals killed in all these "drives" did ^•^r'n^ng- 

 not exceed one hundred, and the majority of them were killed by the 

 large seals crushing the smaller ones to death. In every case of a seal 

 being killed on the "drive," I, as Government agent, imposed a fine in 

 order that they might be more careful in the future. 



