THE AMERICAN AND EUSSIAN ISLANDS. 217 



V.-COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CONDITIONS OF THE SEALING 

 INDUSTRY ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS AND ON THE COMMANDER 

 ISLANDS. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



In the first edition of my report upon the Eussian Pur-seal Islands (p. 68) I 

 called special attention to the fact that the observations therein set forth were 

 intended only to relate to the conditions found on the Commander Islands. My 

 personal knowledge of the Pribilof Islands was then so insignificant that I did not 

 venture to draw conclusions from the conditions as I knew them on the former group 

 of islands to those obtaining on the latter. In exemplification I mentioned " the fact 

 of the bachelors mixing among the females and the consequent driving of the latter 

 on Bering Island in order to show that there are differences between the conditions 

 there and upon the Pribilof Islands." 



It was therefore with special reference to these contrasts that I studied the 

 Pribilof Island rookeries during my stay on St. George and St. Paul in 1896. The 

 following comparison embodies the more essential points of difference in so far as I 

 have been able to discern them. It will be seen that they relate almost exclusively 

 to the physical conditions of the islands and to the sealing industry, for in the life 

 history of the seals I have been unable to discern any difference except in so far as 

 they have been influenced by the different physical conditions. 



COMPARISON BBT'WEEN THE AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



Beyond the mere facts that the Pribilof group and the Commander group each 

 consist of two main islands with a couple of small outlying islets, and that both are 

 situated in Bering Sea, similarly isolated from other islands and the mainland, and 

 that consequently the Flora and Fauna and weather conditions are of the same 

 general description, there is but slight similarity between the two groups. Such 

 conditions as are identical are also shared by nearly all the other islands in the 

 Aleutian chain, while in their differences hardly a greater contrast between the islands 

 of that region can be found than the one which exists between the respective homes 

 of the Alaskan fur seals and their Asiatic relatives. 



With regard to the topography it may be well to remember that the Commander • 

 Islands are not only many times larger than the Pribilofs, but that they also rise to 

 a much higher elevation above the level of the sea, the mountains of the former 

 exceeding 2,000 feet while the highest altitude on the latter is about 1,000 feet. It is 

 not necessary to go into a detailed comparison of their geographical features except 

 such as relate directly to the seal life and the conditions of the rookeries. 



It is not necessary to enter upon a comparison of the climatic conditions of the 

 Pribilofs and the Commanders, as the subject is already covered in my report upon 

 the latter (Euss. Fur Seal Isl., p. 18), and no additional material has come to hand 

 since then. 



