124 THE ASIATIC FUE-SEAL ISLANDS. 



But even Yeniamiiiof s figures are not beyond suspicion. In his "Zapiski," 

 published in St. Petersburg in 1840, vol. i, chap, xii, he writes as follows (according 

 to Elliott, Monogr., p. 165): "The company on the island of St. Paul killed from 

 60,000 to 80,000 fur seals per annum, but in the last time (1833?) [Elliott's interpolation], 

 with all possible care in getting them, they took only 12,000. On the island of St. 

 George, instead of getting 40,000 or 3.1,000, only 1,300 were killed." Now, if we 

 examine the table of his figures, as presented by Elliott (Monogr., p. 143), we find no 

 year between 1817 and 1837 in which 12,000 seals were taken on St. Paul (13,200 in 

 1833), nor 1,300 on St. George. 



While thus the figures relating to the Pribilof Islands are dubious and unsatis- 

 factory, there are next to no records in regard to the catch on the Commander Islands 

 between 1787 and 1841. In fact, there is hardly a scrap of available history to be 

 found on the subject during that period. 



There is no reason to doubt, however, that the slaughter of the fur seals on the 

 Commander Islands after 1787 was as enormous as on the Pribilofs, proportionately 

 (where, according to my calculation, the average annual killing was 86,511). i The 

 result of this indiscriminate wholesale slaughter undoubtedly brought the rookeries 

 to a very low ebb, for we find the Commander Islands practically abandoned shortly 

 after the establishment of the Eussian- American Company, and a permanent popula- 

 tion was not again established until after 1826, by which time the rookeries must have 

 recuperated to some extent. The same old method of killing the young ones, and 

 not even sparing the females, must soon have brought on the inevitable result of 

 depletion, for we find that the chief manager of the colonies, Capt. I. A. Kuprianof, as 

 early as 1839, had conferred with the baidar-steerer Shayashnikof as to when, in his 

 opinion, it would be possible to begin taking a full catch on St. Paul Island in order 

 to establish a close time for sealing on St. George and the Commander Islands, and that 

 Captain Btholin, his successor as chief manager, in 1842 asked permission to institute 

 a close season on the Commander Islands, a permission that was granted the following 

 year (Pur Seal Arb., xvi, pp. 76, 114).^ This rest lasted apparently to 1847. 



Shortly after, the prohibition to kill females was enforced, and as a result of both 

 measures the seals were again increasing, so that in 1859 the chief manager could 



from the year 1786 to 1833, 3,178,562 fur seals were killed there" (Stat. Ethn. Nachr. Euss. Am., p. 48). 

 Tliese I should he inclined to distribute as follows : 



Fur seals killed on St. Paul Island, 1786-1833 : 



1786 (according to Shelikof) 40,000 



1787-1798 1,095,467 



1799-1816 (Bancroft's figures from 1799-1821, 1,767,340, minus Veniam- 



inof's figures from 1817-1821, 267,484) 1,499,856 



1817-1833 (Veniaminof) 543,239 



Total (=Von Wrangell's figure) 3^ 178^ 562 



In the same table and report it is stated (p. 133) how the figures for the years 1861 and 1862 are 

 obtained: "1861.— Bancroft's total for years 1842-1861 (both inclusive) is 338,600. The total for years 

 1842-1860 (both inclusive) is 308,901 . This being deducted from total for 1842-1861 gives the number 

 of seals taken in 1861." In their table, however, the total for 1842-1860 is not 308,901, but 318,901. 



1 Not only were females and pups killed, but the "bulls and young bulls" also, for in spite of 

 their coarse hair the Chinese at Kiakhta paid high prices for them (Pur Seal Arb., vii, p. 165). 



2 Figures representing the catch during the Russian- American Company's terms are given in the 

 final table of shipments by periods. 



