RELATING TO THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, 215 



I, Peter Shaisiiikoif, liereby vswear tliat I Lave faitlifiilly and truly 

 interpreted the foregoing- affidavit of Samnel Kalioorof. 



Peter Shaishnikoef, 



Interpreter. 



Subscribed and sworn to before uic tliis 7tli day of June, 1892. 



Z. L. Tanner, 

 Lieut-Commander, U. IS. Navy. 



Deposition of EUah Prol-ojnef native hunter of otters and foxes. 



HABITS, 



Territory of Alaska, 



Attn, Chichagof Sarbor, Attn Island, Aleutian Chain, ss: 



Eliali Prokopief, a native of Amcliitka Island of the Aleutian Chain, 

 52 years of age, being duly sworn, deposes and says : ^^ erience 

 Am a hunter of the sea otter and blue fox and have '^p^"*"^'^''- 

 lived in this vicinity all my life. I hunt about Attn, Agattu, and the 

 Semichi Islands. Have never hunted nor killed a fur seal. Fur seals 

 do not regularly frequent these regions, and I have 

 seen none but a few scattering ones in twenty years. fu^slais^irvich*ity!^ 

 Thirty years ago, when the Eussians controlled these 

 islands, I used to see a few medium sized fur-seals, one or two at a time 

 in the summer, generally in June, traveling to the northwest, and bouiul, 

 I think, for the Commander Islands. The farthest east I have ever ob- 

 served them was about 30 miles east of the Semichi 

 Islands; do not think those going to the Commander n^SSnl s^X. 

 Islands ever go farther east than that. Those most 

 seen in former times were generally feeding and sleeping about the kelp 

 patches between Attn and Agattu, and the Semichi 

 Islands, where the mackerel abounds. They decreased ^*^'=^"^'^^''- 

 in numbers constantly, and now are only seen on very rare occasions. 

 Have seen but half a dozen in the last twenty years; they were largo 

 seals, bulls I judged from their size, traveling to the northwest, about 

 30 miles east of the Semichi Islands, This was in May, 1888, 



Have never seen any pups, black or gray, or nursing female fur-seals 

 in this region, and do not think they ever visit it. Do not know of any 

 rookeries in the Aleutian Islands, nor any places where 

 fur-seals haul out regularly on the land or kelp to breed tia^ MandZ"'*^'^^'"" 

 or rest except the liussian and American seal islands 

 of Bering Sea. Do not know where the old bull fur seals spend the 

 winter, nor what route the fur-seal herds take to and from the Com- 

 mander and Pribilof islands, nor at what times the herds pass to and 

 fro. Am quite sure the herds do not come near enough together to 

 mingle in these regions. Have never known of fur- „ , , . . , 



1^1. T°. , -,•,■, -, •,<,/% Herds do not imngle. 



seals being seen between Amchitka and a point oO 



miles east of the Semichi Islands. Do not think there are now as many 



fur-seals as there were thirty years ago, but do not ^^^^.^^-.^ 



know the cause of the decrease. Sealing schooners do ^^^^^^ • 



not regularly visit these islands. Last August (1891) three of them 



came in here to get water, but only stayed a few hours each; they had 



been to the Commander Islands and were going south. 



his 



Eli All X Prokopief. 



mait. 



