110 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
of the lessees of the fur-seal fisheries of the Commander Islands (in the 
western part of Bering Sea), which belong to Russia, and from this 
source between 35,000 and 45,000 (occasionally more) pelts are obtained 
each season and brought to San Francisco. 
In addition to the important operations of the above-named com- 
pany, no less than twelve sail of schooners, ranging from about 19 to 
93 tons each, were employed from San Francisco in 1888 in pelagic fur- 
sealing and hunting sea otters, walrus, etc. Their principal business 
was capturing fur seals. These vessels secured 4,455 seal pelages during 
the season. The sum total of the fur-seal industry of San Francisco 
exceeded $1,576,000 in 1888. 
Season , etc . — The vessels generally start on a sealing cruise about the 
middle of January, and the season closes in September or October, at 
which time they return. They first look for seals off the Golden Gate, 
but the hunt does not really begin, as a rule, until the vessels are off 
the Strait of Fuca, and from there they gradually cruise north, following 
the migratory movements of the herds until they enter Bering Sea. 
During the summer the vessels frequently engage in hunting walrus 
and sea otters, to pass away the time until the seals start south again. 
Boats .— -The boats carried on the sailing vessels are sharp at both 
ends and similar to whaleboats (indeed some of them are whaleboats) 
but generally they are smaller; they cost $90 apiece. 
Apparatus, methods of capture , etc . — The apparatus used on the islands 
consists simply of a club for killing and a knife for flaying the seals, 
unless we include the bones, etc., used for frightening the animals when 
they are being driven to the u killing ground.” On the Pribilof Group 
only young “ bachelor ” seals, preferably 3 to 4 years old, are killed for 
their furs ; a few younger seals are slaughtered for food by the Aleuts, 
this being permitted by the Government. The u holluscfiickie ” usually 
gather by themselves on the rookeries. The natives select a drove from 
the herd, and by making noises or otherwise frightening the seals they 
drive them near the village or to some suitable killing- ground elsewhere, 
where the animals are knocked on the head, skinned, and the pelts are 
salted down in kench in a storehouse. Later they are tied in bundles 
and shipped to San Francisco on the company’s steamer St. Paul. The 
driving and killing goes on from day to day during the u season ” until 
the requisite number of skins have been secured. 
Rifles and shotguns are chiefly, if not exclusively, used on the open- 
water sealing vessels, and generally a large quantity of fixed ammunition 
is carried. In 1886 the revenue cutter Corwin took 4 rifles and 1,100 
rounds of fixed ammunition from the sealing vessel Sierra , and 6 rifles 
and 500 rounds of ammunition from the City of San Diego. 
In hunting seals, 3 men go in each boat, but 4 go in a boat for sea otter. 
The men go out in boats and shoot the seals as they appear at the surface. 
When one is shot the boat is rowed swiftly toward it, and, if practicable, 
it is secured ; gaffs are often used for this. It is claimed by those familiar 
