ALASKA. no 



with which they are credited by the man who, of all men, best 

 knew them, Veniaaiinov: 



" In 1835, on the ' Lagoon ' rookery, there were only two bulls ; 

 the cows were, however, iu number excessive; about as many 

 as are on ' ISTa SpeeP to-day, (2,000.) On ' Zapadnie ' about one 

 thousand cows, bulls, and pups ; at Southwest Point there was 

 nothing ; two small rookeries were on the north shore of Saint 

 Paul, near a place called ' Maroonitch ; ' they have been de- 

 serted, however, by the seals for a long time ; the oldest man 

 on the island, Zachar Seedick, aged 57, has never seen them 

 there ; has only heard of it. 



"On Northeast Point there were seven small rookeries running 

 around the point; only fifteen hundred cows, pups, and bulls, 

 all told ; this number includes the ' hoUuschickie,' which iu 

 those days lay in among the breeding- seals, there being so few 

 bulls that they were permitted to do so. On ' Polavina ' there 

 were about five hundred cows, bulls, pups, and ' hoUuschickie;' 

 on 'Lukannon' and ' Ketavie,' about three hundred; only ten 

 bulls on ' Ketavie,' so few young males lying in all together that 

 they took no note of them on these rookeries ; on the ' Beef 

 and ' Gorbotch,' about one thousand only ; of these some eight 

 hundred, 'hoUuschickie' included, lying iu with the breeding- 

 seals ; there were about twenty old bulls only on Gorbotch, and 

 but ten on the Eeef ; on 'ISTau Speel' there were about a hun- 

 dred. The village was here then as now. 



" In 1845 we took the young males alone, respecting the 

 sexes for the first time ; took only about twenty a day on North- 

 east Point ; on the Eeef, all the way from one hundred and 

 fifty to two hundred a day. 



" In 1857 the breeding-rookeries were nearly as large as they 

 are now ; hut have been rather gradually increasinfj ever since. 

 Prior to 1835 the village was up at the little fresh- water lake, 

 and the seals are reported, previous to this date, many years, 

 to have run all over the present vUlage ground, very much as 

 they do at Zapadnie to-day." 



In regard to the numbers of the fur-seal when the Eussians 

 first took possession of the ground, in 1787, the present genera- 

 tion, descendants of these pioneers, have only a general vague 

 impression that the seals were somewhat more numerous in the 

 first daj's of Eussian occupation than they are now. 



With regard to the probable truth of the foregoing statement 

 of the natives to us, I can only call attention to the fact that 



