SEARCH FOE NEW SEAL ROOKERIES. 83 



.group of large and small islands in the Shantar Bay, 55° north latitude and 138o east 

 longitude. I had a long conversation with Captain Powers about the matter last 

 summer (1897) and he assured me not only that no rookeries or breeding grounds 

 occur there, but the lateness of the ice in that part of Okhotsk Sea renders it quite 

 impossible for the seals to congregate there. It has also been stated that seals had 

 been taken on Talan Island, in Tausk Bay, close to the Okhotsk coast. The story 

 is unsupported and probably lacks all truth. Captain Groenberg, who has about 

 as much experience and knowledge relative to the seals and seal business in the 

 Okhotsk Sea as any man living, in a letter dated February 27, 1897, informs me that 

 he does not know of fur seals occurring in Tausk Bay, and that he has never heard 

 of fur-seal skins having been brought by the natives to the trading posts of 

 Philippeus & Co., or any other company doing business in Tausk, Okhotsk, or Shantar 

 bays. 



At one time both the Eussian Government and the Eussian Seal Skin Company 

 suspected that unknown fur-seal rookeries might be discovered in Okhotsk Sea, and 

 ill 1895 the authorities in St. Petersburg granted the company the right to take seals 

 oil all the islands, known and unknown, upon a stipulated tax, and upon condition 

 that a Government of&cer accompany the vessel dispatched by the company. Since 

 tlien the vessels of the company have diligently searched for such places, but entirely 

 without success, and it is pretty certain now that no such exists. 



