76 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



By Mr. Jeffries: 



Q. How uuiuy seal rookeries are there at present in the world? — A. 

 Three. 



(,). Where are they located ? — A. The siriallest and least importmit of 

 all, but the one which is of hist()ii(;al value, is that in the Lohos Ishinds, 

 In the mouth of the Kiver L;i I*hitte, l)eh)n^inj4' to the jtovernnicnl of 

 Montevideo. It hits been under government i)rotection, 1 think 1 can 

 safely say, for nearly lifty years. There are restrictions placed upon 

 the killing of seal, but tiu\v are not snilicient to bring the rookery to 

 its higiiest vahie, but still are enough to preserve seal life. 



These islands have been leased for a term of ten or twenty years by 

 the governnuMit to pi-ivate parties, and the skins taken all go to Lon- 

 don, and an' sold at tlu^ usual time of sale there. Owing to the lati- 

 tude in which those seals exist, the fur is not of the finest. The fur 

 bears no comparison to that of Alaska, seals, nor those of the Russian 

 islaiuls of (-oppcr and I>cring, in the Mering Sea. 



The second is the Ivussian ishinds of Copper and IJeriUg, on the coast 

 of Kanichatka, in the K'ussian i)()rtion of Hering Sea. These two 

 islands wei'e hardly worked at all befoi-e tlu' cession of the Territory of 

 Alaska, and the islands aiul waters thereof to the United States. The 

 Russians i)revious to that drew all their supply of seal skins from the 

 group of St. Paul and St. George; but siiu'.e the cession, the islands 

 have b(>en leased by Russia to a company of American citizens, who 

 work them in connection with those of the I'ribylov group. Theiryield 

 is about 4(),(H)(> skins jter annum. They might be ])ressed to do a little 

 better than that, but. it would be injudicious. The fur is not tMpial to 

 the fur of the Alaska seal, although it is said that fur seals that inhabit 

 these islands went to them from the Tribylov group. That is the Rus- 

 sian tradition. 



The third is that we have under consideration, the islands of St. 

 Paid and St. (rcorge. It is the largest rookery of fur seals that was 

 ever known, and with the exception of the seals taken on the South 

 Shetland Island and some other southern poiuts, they are the finest fur 

 auinnds. Since the enactuuMit of the law of the United States leasing 

 those islands they have beiui worked regularly by the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Couipany. They take from them about a hundred thousand skins 

 annually. Their manner of working the islaml, caring for the seals, 

 and studying their habits and treating them in such a way and in a 

 measure domesticating them, has been nnule so careful a ;study that the 

 matter has now rcvsolved itself into as regular and accurate a piece of 

 farming as the care of a cattle ranch. 



Regularly every season the bulls api)ear, then the cows come alter- 

 ward and stay about the shore awaiting the time of the delivery of The 

 young. They remain about six nu)nths, and leave in the autumn. The 

 class of seals from which skins are taken are what we term bachelor 

 seals. They are a class of young males that have not arrived at the 

 dignity of manhood, and are not allowed by the old bulls to take charge 

 of the cows as they con)e u}), or interfere with their harem. 



Of course what 1 nniy say upon that point I cannot speak from per- 

 sonal observation. I only know from very careful conversations with 

 people who have been on the island who have been engaged in this busi- 

 ness all their lives, and from Treasury agents who have also been there 

 and kiu)w these points. From Mr. Elliot's tigures, I am of the impres- 

 sion that not one in live of the bachelor seals are killed, and that there 

 isasuni('ieidsupj)ly of bulls for the cowsof the harem. The harem does 

 not usually exceed twenty cows to the bull, and the possibility which you 



