INVESTIGATION OF THE FUK-SEAL INDUSTKY OF ALASKA. 493 



way to deal with it. A definite plan of maintaining an annual 

 increment of breeding males, which, as I have already shown, should 

 be about one-half of the active breeding stock of the preceding year, 

 should be wrought out and put in operation with a scheme for perma- 

 nently marking the animals by branding them. This work alone 

 deserves the attention of the naturalist or some one who is making 

 the needs of the herd his chief work. A new man can not be expected 

 to carry it out successfully. 



Roads and trails are needed on the islands to make the various 

 rookeries and hauling grounds accessible. The seals are now made to 

 carry their skins to the salt house and their meat to the villages, 

 whereas they should be killed nearer to their hauling grounds and the 

 skins and meat brought in by mule team or by reindeer, as the rein- 

 deer is now established on the islands. 



To make the new killing grounds safe, there should be developed a 

 water system. At the present time drives must be made to the 

 vicinity of lakes or ponds, into which the animals can be turned to 

 cool off when heated by driving or by changes in the weather. A 

 system of water tanks should be available in connection with the 

 drives and the killing fields, so that a drive of seals can be wetted 

 down when they are overheated or the weather turns hot. With 

 water thus available, killing fields could be established wherever 

 needed. The new killing fields are needed in connection with the 

 feeding of the foxes. They would effect a natural distribution of 

 the surplus meat. Fox colonies exist in conjunction with all the 

 rookeries, but the greater part of the killing is brought to the vicinity 

 of the villages, concentrating the meat at points often not accessible 

 to the foxes. 



The fox herds need development. There should be five times as 

 many foxes on the islands. Foxes should be brought under control 

 for breeding purposes. New breeders should be introduced from 

 other islands to add new blood to the stock; that is, from St. George 

 to St. Paul, from St. Paul to St. George, from the Commander Islands 

 to the Pribilof Islands, and vice versa. Experiments in the rearing of 

 small animals and birds suitable for fox food should be tried out on a 

 workable scale. Hardy cattle, such as those on Kodiak, should be 

 tried out on the islands. Certainly animals should be brought in in 

 the spring to be fattened and killed in the fall for fox food. Reindeer 

 are well established on both islands. The herds need intelligent care, 

 and they should be developed both in the direction of the needs of the 

 natives for food and for possible food for the foxes. 



These are merely outline suggestions of things which intelligent 

 oversight and care would make the duty of a properly organized and 

 directed island force. The Government has on St. Paul and St. George 

 a tremendously valuable fur-producing plant and stock. It needs an 

 intelligent and experienced force for its maintenance, and this force 

 should be augmented and strengthened, not reduced, at this critical 

 time. When the law of 1912 has run its course, the problem of 

 handling the greatly enhanced product in 1918 will be a difficult one. 

 It will not do in the meantime to have let the native force of sealers 

 run wild and to lose its skill and discipline. They should be held 

 under control and in a state of the highest efficiency. Food killings 

 of 3,000 skins are a poor substitute, and preparation for capacity to 

 handle an annual quota of 25,000 skins, which the resumption of 



