692 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



tinue his notes and observations. This good man became so interested in the seals 

 that he came up to St. Paul one June (1825) and stayed there until September, all the 

 time engrossed with watching the seals. And since then up to the day of my father's 

 death, in 1856, every year a letter about the island affairs and the seals was sent to 

 the bishop by him. The work of Veniaminov closed in 1837, and was published at 

 St. Petersburg in 1842. Bishop Veniaminov is now the Metropolitan at Moscow (i. e., 

 the primate of the Greek Catholic Church in all Russia). 



"That counting of the seals was done. I know that it seems positively incredible 

 to,-day, and does not appear right, but I have heard the story so often, and I myself 

 saw the well-nigh destroyed "laasbustchie" (rookeries) in 1837, two seasons after the 

 zapooska began. I could have counted them ail then, one by one, myself. Yes, it 

 is a true story as published by Veniaminov." 



I then told him about the ice story and asked him how he reconciled this account 

 of the natives with Veniaminov's silence on that score and his figures of the killing for 

 1835, et seq. 



"Did they tell you that? Are you sure you understood or they understood you? 

 It is laughable. I never heard it that way before — my father never said so. No; 

 there is some mistake. We have had several seasons when the summers were late 

 and ice floes hung around the islands to July, but this never interfered with the bulls 

 acoming; only delayed the early landing of the holluschickie; and as to Veniaminov's 

 figures of killing, I don't know — I can not say. I do know that no skins were taken 

 on these islands in 1835, for none came down to Sitka. I was there then and I know 

 it well. My father's letters also said so. They took several thousand pups (male 

 pups) for food in November, 1835 — that's all. Their skins are not salable. It was 

 this way for eight or nine years. 



"It is a great pity, and it makes me unhappy when I think of it, that my father's 

 daily journal was destroyed by my brother. It was a distressing affair to me then and 

 it distresses me now. To have such a loss inflicted in such a manner was horrible. 

 It was this way: Paul was very drunk and he did not realize the sin and the shame 

 of what he was doing. * * That is a good reason, certainly, for my willingness 



to let these papers which I possess go out of my hands, alone, to say naught of the 

 reasons which 1 have given to you. But I have heard so much of this zapooska on the 

 seal islands, and kuow myself so much, that you need not doubt the fact. The killing 

 of the holluschickie upon St. Paul was entirely stopped in 1835 — none were killed. 



"Little by little the killing was increased from 1835 until, in 1845, 9,000 holluschickie 

 were taken, and in 1855 35,000 were safely taken, gradually increased, and carefully 

 watching the rookeries as it was done. By 1857 45,000 were easily secured on St. 

 Paul and 15,000 or 20,000 on St. George — all the company wanted — and since then 

 there has been taken annually up to the coming of your people in 1868, about 70,000 

 or 75,000 holluschickie. The rookeries have since 1857 been just so large and no 

 larger than you see them now, and the old natives say there never were any more 

 seals on these islands than there are now. 



"The old company has never taken 100,000 skins in any one year of its operations; 

 it was satisfied in getting 60,000 to 75,000 skins a year at the most; in 1867 the church 

 records on both islands show that 40,000 were taken on St. Paul and 20,000 on St. 

 George; of these 10,000 or 15,000 of the smaller ones were used in the colony (i. e., 

 Alaska); the "colonial skins" were all made into parchment and used for clothing and 

 bedding in the settlements. The salted skins were for London and New York. The 

 Chinese fur-seal trade since 1846 has been supplied from the Kommander Islands and 

 the Kuril. I don't think I know anything worth talking on about those islands. 



"As to the manner in which the natives drive now and skin seals, I do not see 

 any difference between it and the methods of the old time, only this: Now you get all 

 of these skins at once — in a few weeks; then we could not, as I have explained why; 

 during the last part of the old company's time, i. e., from 1846 to 1867, most of the 

 catch was then taken and cured in salt, just as you do now, and it was all done in 

 June and July, with a few thousand always left over to make in October, so that the 

 natives could have the carcasses for winter food. It was then just about the same 

 in every respect of management of the work in 1846 as it is now (1872), only you are 

 taking more skins than the old company took. You pay the natives more and more, 

 and they are better housed; they are much better off than ever before. Yes, in every 

 respect the natives are better off. But as for the seals, the change is no better for 

 them. Is it worse? Time, and time alone, can tell; we shall see. 



"The old company in making parchment skins was never able to ship all of its catch 

 in any one season from the islands, as the catch is shipped now. ■ It found that waiting 

 in a ship around the islands after October was dangerous, and severe loss had attended 

 the practice. So in this way there were always many thousands of skins "made" 

 and making on the islands, stored in the serais. Yes; I know that Techmainov, in 



