THE AECTIC SEA COW. EXTINCTIOl^. 135 



Again: "They (a Russian hunting vessel under Studenzov, in 1758) landed on Behring Island 

 to kill Sea-cows, as all vessels are accustomed to do." On another page he states that "after 

 Korovin, in 1762 (on Bering Island), had provided himself with a sufficient stock of the flesh and 

 hides of the Sea-cow for his boats ... he sailed on.'" Saner, in his account of Bering's 

 voyages, published in 1802, alluding to the Rhytina, says: "The last was killed on Behring Island 

 in 1768, and none has been seen since then."^ 



In this conclusion most authorities are agreed. Nordenskiold, however, obtained information, 

 of a character which he regards reliable, which would seem to show that the Sea-cow was not 

 entirely exterminated before 1854. The first informant was a Creole. Nordenskiold writes : "A 

 Creole (that is, the offspring of a Russian and an Aleutian), who was sixty-seven years of age, of 

 intelligent appearance, and in the full possession of his mental faculties, stated 'that his father 

 died in 1847 at the age of eighty-eight. He had come from Volhynia, his native place, to Behring 

 Island at the age of eighteen, accordingly in 1777. The two or three first years of his stay there, 

 i. e., until 1779 or 1780, sea-cows were still being killed as they pastured on sea- weed. The heart 

 only was eaten, and the hide used for haydars. In consequence of its thickness the hide was split 

 in two, and the two pieces thus obtained had gone to make a baydar twenty feet long, seven and a 

 half feet broad, and three feet deep. After that time no sea-cows had been killed.' 



"There is evidence, however, that a sea-cow had been seen at the island still later. Two 

 Creoles, Peodor Mertchenin and Stepnoff, stated that about twenty-five years ago [in 1854] at 

 Tolstoj-mys, on the east side of the island, they had seen an animal unknown to them which was 

 very thick before, but grew smaller behind, had small fore-feet, and appeared with a length of about 

 fifteen feet above water, now raising itself up, now lowering itself. The animal 'blew,' not through 

 blow-holes, but through the mouth, which was somewhat drawn out. It was brown in colour with 

 some lighter spots. A back fin was wanting, but when the animal raised itself it was horrible, on 

 account of its great leanness, to see its backbone projecting. I instituted a thorough examination 

 of both my informants. Their accounts agreed completely, and appeared to have claims to be 

 regarded as trustworthy. That the animal that they saw was actually a sea-cow, is clearly proved 

 both by the description of the animal's form and way of pasturing in the water, and by the accoiint 

 of the way in which it breathed, its colour, and leanness. In AusfUrliclie Beschreibung von sonder- 

 baren Meerthieren, Steller says, page 97 : ' While they pasture, they raise every fourth or fifth min- 

 ute their nose from the water in order to blow out air and a little water. Page 98: 'During winter 

 they are so lean that it is possible to count their vertebrae and ribs'; and page 54, 'some sea-cows 

 have pretty large white spots and streaks, so that they have a spotted appearance.' As these 

 natives had no knowledge of Steller's description of the animal, it is impossible that their state- 

 ments can be false. The death-year of the Rhytina race must therefore be altered at least to 1854.'" 



Neither of the statements appear improbable, but they should be accepted, I believe, with 

 caution. At all events, the Sea-cow was practically extinct within four decades from the time of 

 its discovery. 



Caxtses op the extinction. — Two causes have been assigned for this rapid destruction. 

 The most generally accepted notion is that the rate of capture much exceeded that of the increase 

 of the animal, and that extinction followed as a matter of course. Nordenskiold, however, and, in 

 a certain way, Brandt also avows his belief that the Sea-cow had gotten out of harmony with its 

 environment many years before the Russians discovered it, and that its extermination would have 



' SCHEKKK : Op. cit. , pp. 40, 45, and 82, fide Nordenskiold. 



^Saubr: Bering's Voyage, 1802, p. 181, fide Nordenskiold. 



'Nordenskiold: Voyage of the Vega. English translation, ii, 1881, pp. 277,278, 



