174 THE ASIATIC PUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



I know him to be incapable of willful misstatements. These points, then, must be 

 cleared off before we discuss his criticism, because they sensibly affect the argument. 



On page 14, after having asserted (erroneously) that " it was only in 1895 that the 

 whole (North) rookery was first driven," in proof of which he offers Captain Polly's "it 

 is said,'" he adds in corroboration of my own statement, on page 57 of my book, "as 

 well," namely, that this rookery "was never before raked and scraped for the last 

 bachelor seals as it was during the past season" (1895). To this he adds, though 

 without quotation marks, another alleged statement of mine, " that (p. 107) although 

 even before that year {1895) females and pups got unavoidably mixed up in the drives, the 

 percentage was not very great,^^ leaving the impression that, say in 1894 or 1893 (i. e., before 

 that year, 1895), the percentage of females and pups in the drives "was not very great." 

 Now, this is exactly the opposite of the statement I made. I used no such expression 

 ou page 107, or elsewhere, as that Barrett-Hamilton attributes to me. On page 107 

 (the page he quotes) I said as follows: "It is a fact well worth mentioning that even 

 in those days (i. e., 1882-83) females and pups got unavoidably mixed up in the drives. 

 The percentage was not very great, but great enough to be a distinct feature of the drives 

 on this island^ He ought also have quoted my direct statement, on page 57, to the 

 effect that " while it is true that the great rookery on Bering Island was never before 

 ' raked and scraped,' for the last bachelor seals as it was during the past season 

 (■1895), yet it is not denied that a similar difficulty in gathering the requisite number of 

 killables has been going on for a couple years, though not to the same extent." The 

 mixing in of females and pups was therefore always a distinct feature of Bering Island 

 drives even in the palmy days of 1882-83; of late years, after the killables became 

 scarcer, the rookery was raked and scraped, the highest degree being reached in 1895, 

 the year when my report was written. This is in perfect harmony with the other 

 statement of mine that " here is a rookery where the females have been driven probably 

 as long as seals have been taken, though not in the same proportion as now. Yet the 

 females returned to be driven over and over again, and the breeding ground is the part 

 of the rookery least affected in the general decrease." 



Again: Barrett-Hamilton, in connection with the question of the scarcity of the 

 yearlings in 1895 (about which considerably more later on), says (p. 14): "In fact it 

 appears to me that in laying stress on the scarcity of yearlings on this (North) rookery 

 Dr. Stejneger has somewhat missed the point. It would have, I think, been more 

 correct to say that all males were scarce, but especially the younger ones." More 

 correct, indeed ! As if that was not the very thing I have said throughout my report. 

 Have I not shown "the marked decrease of the killables (p. 134)?" Have I not 

 emphasized the lower percentage of bulls on Bering Island"? Have I not said 

 expressly (p. 109) "the greater falling off' in this rookery was due to the decrease in 

 the number of bachelors; but instead of affecting all classes this diminution was 

 chiefly con^neA to the younger ones? ^'' What difference is there between my phrase 

 "chiefly the younger ones" and Barrett-Hamilton's own "especially the younger 

 males?" 



' Captain Felly's remarks (p. 53) that in the seal drive witnessed at the northwest rookery 

 Bering Island (1895), a practice was pursued which is said to be for the first time there and never 

 elsewhere, viz, that "iustead of only driving up the young males which used to congregate together, 

 the whole crowd was driven up to the slaughter ground" rests, so far as the italicized words are 

 concerned, ou a misunderstanding, as I am in a position to know, since I was myself Captain Felly's 

 informant. 



