INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 697 



good faith, by Dr. Jordan and his colleagues in 1896-7. In paragraph 4, from the bot- 

 tom of page 140 of this translation occurs this sentence: "Cows were taken in the drives 

 and killed, and were also driven from the rookeries to places where they were slaugh- 

 tered." This seems to be a very positive record of the killing of females. In the 

 second paragraph from the end of the same page is this statement: "When it was most 

 plainly seen that the seals were, on account of this wicked killing, steadily growing less 

 and less in number, the directions were observed for greater caution in killing grown 

 seals and young females, which came in the droves of killing seals * * *." This is 

 an equally specific charge of the killing of female seals. If greater caution was neces- 

 sary against killing of young females, they must previously have been killed. 



That Mr. Elliott understood the tenor of the complaint of Veniaminof , which he was 

 translating, to be directed against disturbance of the breeding seals and killing of fe- 

 males is shown by his comments that follow in the text of the Monograph. At the bot- 

 tom of page 143, in a footnote which he has initialed, are these words: " * * but it 

 was not until 1845 that the great importance of not disturbing the breeding seals was 

 recognized." In page 167 (the Tenth Census version of the Monograph is used) is this 

 more extended reference — 



"Is it not exceedingly strange that he (Veniaminof) never thought, during all his 

 cogitations over this problem, of the real vital principle, of letting the females entirely 

 alone — of sparing them strictly? I think that the worthy bishop would have done so 

 had he passed more time on the rookeries himself. I can not find, however, who the 

 Russian was that had the good judgment, first of all men, to inaugurate a perpetual 

 'zapooska ' of the females on the Pribalov islands; it was done in 1847 for the first time, 

 and has since been rigidly followed, giving the full expansion in 1857 to that ex- 

 traordinary increase and beneficial result which we observe thereon today." 



The cause of the "extraordinary increase" witnessed by Mr. Elliott in 1872-74 is 

 plainly ascribed to the fact that the Russians somewhere about 1845 to 1847 discovered 

 the vital principle that it was necessary to spare the females. This alleged discovery 

 would presuppose the conclusion that they had not done so before. When they ceased 

 to kill the females the herd prospered. 



Going one step further, on page 136 of Mr. Elliott's 1890 report these words are found: 



"In 1835, for the first time in the history of the industry on these islands, was the 

 vital principle of not killing female seals recognized * * * The sealing in those 

 days was carried on all summer * * * This protracted driving caused them to take 

 up at first hundreds, and thousands later on, of the females * * * but they never 

 spared those cows then, when they appeared in the droves on the killing ground, prior 

 to this date, above quoted, 1835." 



These are Henry W. Elliott's own words in his official reports which have been pub- 

 lished over and over again by the Government. This translation and these comments 

 by Mr. Elliott were the only "record" available to Dr. Jordan's commission at the 

 beginning of its work. They warranted the statement that prior to 1835 the Russians 

 killed "males and females alike." 



In the light of these several statements and comments attention is called to the as- 

 sertion on page 36 of Mr. Elliott's report for 1913: 



"1. It is a fact of indisputable record that the Russians never killed or disturbed 

 the female seals on the rookeries of St. Paul and St. George Islands from start to finish 

 of their possession of them." 



This assertion and the foregoing translation and comment are by the same person — 

 Henry W. Elliott. They are contradictions, and it is Mr. Elliott who charges Dr. 

 Jordan with falsification of the record. Comment is not necessary. 



But Mr. Henry W. Elliott was not the only source of information regarding Bishop 

 Veniaminof's views available to the commission of 1896-7, and Mr. Elliott, while 

 ignoring his own work, has taken occasion to mention this second source and to quote 

 from it. It is the translation, by Dr. Stejneger, of the von Baer article, printed at 

 pages 219-222 of volume 3 of the commission's report. The quotation made by Mr. 

 Elliott is significant in that it recounts how the Russians drove up the breeding seals, 

 old and young, and subjected them to a most destructive process of sorting to eliminate 

 the animals not desired. Mr. Elliott is careful to emphasize in this quotation the 

 alleged fact of separation of the male and female yearlings, and the driving of the 

 latter back to the beach. 



This alleged discrimination by the Russians is interesting, especially so since Mr. 

 Elliott's charge of the killing of yearlings made against the Department of Commerce 

 and Labor in 1911-12, before the House Committee on Expenditures, rested on his 

 positive assertion that the sexes of the yearlings could not be distinguished, and hence 

 that the killing of yearlings involved the killing of females. No less authority than 

 Dr. Hornaday, director of the New York Zoological Gardens, testified that "in very 

 young seals the sexes can not be identified without a surgical examination of each 

 one." This testimony will be found at page 272 of hearing 6. Apparently Mr. 



