ADMINISTRATION. 133 



The following animals became overheated on the tilling grounds: 



Bulls 



Females 



Baqhelors 



Special happenings : 



Gradually a set of elaborate regulations have been framed which govern the 

 rookery business.^ Such as differ from those in vogue on the Pribilof Islands are 

 here quoted from Lieut. Commander Z. L. Tanner's report for 1892 (Eept. U. S. Fish 

 Com., 1892, p. 40), as follows: 



None but natives are allowed to-work on the rookeries. 



A fine of 100 golden rubles is imposed by the Government upon anyone who kills a female fur seal, 

 and 10 rubles for killing a pup, and such additional fine shall be paid as shall be imposed by the 

 natives themselves. 



No person, native or otherwise, is allowed to wear boots with nails in them on the rookeries; 

 rubber boots or tarbasi^ must be used. 



Chewing or smoking tobacco, expectorating, or attending to the requirements of nature are 

 strictly prohibited on the rookeries. 



Knives may be carried, but a stick with a metal ferule is not permitted. 



No small boys or females are allowed on the rookeries, and dogs must be left half a mile from the 

 rookeries during the breeding season. 



Owing to the repeated raids on the rookeries, particularly those on Copper Island 

 in the early eighties, by marauding schooners, which the natives in several cases had 

 to drive off by means of powder and ball, an experiment was decided upon to station 

 regular soldiers on the islands in order to protect them. In June, 1884, the Russian 

 cruiser Bazboinik brought one oflQcer and twenty-three men for Copper Island and 

 • nine men for Bering Isl,and. Five soldiers were stationed at the South Rookery of 

 the latter island, where they did good service in driving off the schooner Salchalien 

 and capturing one of the crew. In a few years, however, the soldiers were withdrawn, 

 and instead the watch force of the natives was organized in a military manner, one 

 Kamchatkan cossack on each island and two conscript soldiers of the regulars, serving 

 their time, acting as officers, under the immediate command of the administrator and 

 his assistant. Watchhouses are erected overlooking the rookeries, and the guards 

 provided with good spyglasses and rapid-firing army rifles. Stands of arms and 

 plenty of ammunition are kept in the Government building at the settlements. 



The central authorities maintain the supervision of the local administration by 

 occasionally sending out an inspector, or " revisor,*' as he is called. His duty is to 

 ascertain the state of affairs generally, as well as the condition of the natives, to 

 receive any complaints of the latter, and investigate their grievances. The governor- 

 general personally visited the Commander Islands in the spring of 1897. 



A change has of late years been effected in the higher administration of the 

 islands. Inasmuch as they have been transferred from the Department of the Interior 

 to the Department of Domains and Agriculture, without prejudice, however, to the 

 territorial jurisdiction of the governor-general of the Amur Provinces. The adminis- 

 trative status of the Commander Islands is therefore now exactly parallel to that of 

 the Pribilof Islands in their double relation to the United States Treasury and the 

 governor of the Territory of Alaska. 



' These embracing 15 articles, were issued collectively by Governor-General Baron von Korff 

 (Priamurski) February 25, 1886. 

 ^Native seal-skin moccasins. 



