FUE-SEAL FISHEKiES OF ALASKA. 77 



mentioned of the exhaustion of the breeding seals made itself evident at 

 one time to the Russians, when they coitimenced under tlie Russian Fur 

 Coini)any the killing of these animals; and tliey having had an experi- 

 ence which rendered it necessary to restrain the killing for two or three 

 years, made such rules and regulations with regard thereto as to per- 

 mit a proper growth of a sufiticient number of bulls, and those regula- 

 tions have been carefully observed aiul followed by this(;ompany since, 

 and to them they have added their own observations. It has been 

 made with them a matter of careful study. So far as the comi)any has 

 any reason to know, there is no lack of bulls for service, not does it ap- 

 pear as if there would be in the future. If the depredations of unlicensed 

 hunters are restrained I am inclined to think that there can be no doubt 

 but what 100,000 seals, which are taken from these islands annually, 

 are somewhat withiu, I think I may safely say, 15 or 20 per cent, of 

 the number which can be taken without injury to the herd. If you were 

 considering them as a herd of cattle on your ranch, you could kill a 

 larger proportion of your calves without iujury to your herd. 



The company has never asked for any extension in killing, ami it is 

 not a question wliich wcmld be determined alone by the jmssibilities by 

 any means, but it is a question which would be equally determined by 

 the market and demand. While it has hai)pened during the continu- 

 ance of the lease up to this point that the company has twice taken less 

 tban 100,000 by a considerable number— taking, I thnik, one year 75,000 

 only, and anotlier year only 80,000 — there has never yet been a year in 

 which they have asked for permission or even wished to take more than 

 100,000. This question of the market is one which 



Q, Before you go on with that I want to ask you some other ques- 

 tions ; then you can begin on the market. When did the Russians be- 

 gin to work the Pribylov group ? — A. I think it was about 1790. 



Q. Under what process were they worked ■? — A. At first when the 

 Russians came to know this country of Bering Sea their hunting ex- 

 peditious were confined mostly to the taking and killiugof the sea otter 

 which abounded about the Aleutian chain. That was then the fur of 

 most value in China, and the fur seal was not anywhere near as profit- 

 able in trade as the otter, and were rather passed by. After a little 

 time the attention of the Itussian hunters was called to the fact that 

 immense bodies of these fur seals came with great regularity every 

 season through the passes of the Aleutian Islands, and went somewhere. 

 They did not know these islands, but noting this fact for a year or two, 

 some enterprising captains amongst them made search and sighted the 

 island of St. George iirst, and afterward St. Paul, and landing on them 

 discovered the home of the seal. Then the population which occu{)ied 

 these islands and nuiin-laml about there were all hunters and searchers 

 for pelts. They divided into a great many parties, established little lo- 

 cations on these islands for the taking of these skins, and they went on 

 very much in the way in which the hunt commenced in the South At- 

 lantic, until they came to a realizing sense of the fact that exhaustion 

 was going on. The attention of the governors there and in the home 

 country was called to the tact, and restrictions began to be placetl upon 

 the taking of the seals. They were made in a somewhat arbitrary man- 

 ner, and tlie (jompanies were driven otf, and an examination was made 

 into the character of the rookeries to see what damage had been done. 

 It was found that a great many seals had been ruthlessly killed and 

 l)rol)ably a great many driven away. It was supposed at that time that 

 the commencement of seal life on tlie islands of Bering and Copper prob- 

 ably took place by reason of the indiscriminate killing on those islands, 



