48 



ORDERS OP MAMMALS— SEALS AND SEA-LIONS 



will exterminate any species of animal, no matter 

 how numerous. 



The accompanying map graphically illustrates 

 the remarkable sea-going habits of the Pribilof 

 Fur Seal herd after the close of the breeding 

 season, and during the intensely cold and fear- 



ANNUAL WINTER MIGRATION OF THE FUR SEAL 



fully windy winters that annually render life on 

 the Seal islands a serious task. 



The combined political and commercial im- 

 portance of the Fur Seal demands a brief summary 

 of the most important facts of its rise to favor, 

 its decline, and finally its fall. The end, how- 

 ever, is not yet ; but it looms very near. 



REVIEW OF FUR SEAL HISTORY. 



For the past seventeen years, the Fur Seal 

 has been to the United States, England and 

 Canada a source of well-nigh constant anxiety, 

 contention, and at times irritation. Inasmuch 

 as the fate of that animal is still pending, it seems 

 desirable to set forth the most important facts 

 in its case, in chronological order. The history 

 of the Fur Seal since our acquisition of Alaska 

 is divided into two periods, one of revenue, and 

 one of contention. 



The Period of Revenue. 



1867. — When Alaska became a United States 

 possession, by purchase from Russia at a cost of 

 $7,200,000, the fur of the Fur Seal was almost 

 unknown to fashion, and outside of Russia was 

 neither used nor particularly desired. 



1870. — The United States leased to the Alaska 



Commercial Company, for twenty years, the ex- 

 clusive right to kill each year on the Pribilof 

 Islands, 100,000 young male Fur Seals, receiving 

 therefor, annually, the sum of $317,500. 



1872. — The Alaska Commercial Company 

 began to expend $100,000 in cash, chiefly in 

 London, in making the wearing of sealskin 

 fashionable. This effort was entirely suc- 

 cessful. 



1873. — After a careful survey of the 

 Pribilof Islands, and an elaborate com- 

 putation of the number of Fur Seals then 

 inhabiting them, Mr. Henry W. Elliott, a 

 special agent of the Treasury Department, 

 announced the total number of Seals to 

 be 3,193,420. He says: "No language 

 can express adequately your sensations 

 when you first stroll over the outskirts of 

 any one of those great breeding grounds 

 of the Fur Seal on St. Paul's Island. . . . 

 Indeed, while I pause to think of this sub- 

 ject, I am fairly rendered dumb by the 

 herd, vivid spectacle which rises promptly to 

 my view. It is a vast camp of parading 

 squadrons which file and deploy over slopes 

 from the summit of a lofty hill a mile down 

 to where it ends on the south shore. Upon 

 that area before my eyes, this day and date 

 of which I have spoken, were the forms of not 

 less than three-fourths of a million seals, mov- 

 ing in one solid mass from sleep to frolicsome 

 gambols, backward, forward, over, around . . . 

 until the whole mind is so confused and charmed 

 by the vastness of mighty hosts that it refuses to 

 analyze any further." ("Our Arctic Province," 

 p. 313.) 



Some observers estimated the number of Seals 

 at a figure higher than Mr. Elliott's. Others have 

 recently contended that it must have been less. 



1880. — "Pelagic sealing" means the killing 

 of Fur Seals, male or female, in the open sea, by 

 means of guns or spears. It is an exceedingly 

 wasteful and destructive method, but it had 

 been going on in a quiet way for many years. 

 On land, only male Seals are killed. In the sea, 

 about four females were killed to every male 

 taken, and the pups on shore were left to starve. 

 In 18S0, the total number of Seals taken at sea 

 in Bering Sea was only 8,418; but from that 

 time on, the killing increased rapidly, and be- 

 came fearfully destructive. 



