10 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



At the suggestion of Mr. Eichard Eathbun, in charge of the scientific inquiry of 

 the Pish Commission, and with the approval of the Acting Commissioner of Fisheries, 

 Mr. Herbert A. Gill, the scope of the 1895 report was extended so as to include all 

 other obtainable information concerning the Eussiau seal islands, and it has thus 

 assumed somewhat the character of a monograph. But I wish it distinctly understood 

 that it does not pretend to exhaust the subject in any direction. Some of the chapters 

 are only brief r^sumds, thus causing great inequality in the treatment of the various 

 questions. This could not well be otherwise, for it would have been manifestly 

 impossible to prepare a work of that scope, with all the labor and research it involves, 

 in the short time of three and one-half months which I have had at my disposal for 

 writing this treatise. Moreover, such an exhaustive work could not be done here in 

 Washington or even in this country. It would have been necessary to consult records 

 and archives in San Francisco and in St. Petersburg, as well as the libraries in the 

 latter city. 



In preparing that work I have had the hearty cooperation of the authorities of 

 the United States Fish Commission, and I wish particularly to express my grateful 

 appreciation of the truly scientific spirit and liberality shown by Mr. Eathbun in 

 giving me every possible latitude for working out the problems in my own f.ishion 

 without attempting to influence my opinion in any direction. His only injunction to 

 me has been a desire for the facts as I have seen them. It has been my endeavor to 

 supply them to the best of my ability. 



ITINERARY. 



My first visit to the Commander Islands was undertaken in March, 1882, under 

 the joint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Signal 

 Service. With a notice of only two days, I left Washington on March 22, 1882, and 

 sailed from San Francisco in the AleJcsander II the following April 5, landing on 

 Bering Island a month later — on May 7. During the summer I studied the fur-seals 

 and rookeries on this island. In the fall of 1882 I undertook a circumnavigation of 

 Bering Island in open boat, returning to the village after a successful trip of two 

 weeks. The winter was passed on Bering Island, but part of the following summer, 

 particularly the sealing season, I spent on the various rookeries of Copper Island. In 

 October, 1883, I took passage in the St. Paul from Petropaulski, Kamchatka, to San 

 Francisco, arriving in Washington the following November 26. The results of this 

 trip have been published in numerous memoirs and papers, mostly issued by the 

 United States "^rational Museum. 



The itinerary of my trip in 1895 is as follows: After receiving my appointment 

 on May 21, I left Washington on May 28, with letters from the Eussian legation, 

 authorized telegraphically by the authorities in St. Petersburg, and arrived in San 

 Francisco on Sunday, June 2. Various preparations for the journey occupied me 

 until June 6, when I sailed in the steamship Bertha for Unalaska. In this port I was 

 to join the Fish Commission steamer Albatross, which, it was calculated, would have 

 returned to Unalaska from its first trip to the Pribilof Islands at the time I was due 

 there. In such an event Captain Drake had orders to bring me to Bering Island via 

 the Pribilofs, in order to afibrd me an opportunity to witness and compare the mode 

 of driving the seals on both groups. Upon my arrival at Unalaska on June 17 I 

 found, however, that the Albatross had only arrived there the day before without 



