300 
BULLETISr OF THE BUKEAU OF FISHERIES ' ' 
the natives and their Cossack overseers, whose ideas of numerical figures that 
exceeded 10,000 were very fantastic indeed. On one occasion a Cossack, being 
told by Governor Grebnitski to count the seals on Bering North Rookery, returned 
within an hour and reported having counted considerably more than 100,000 seals. 
In 1896 the writer reluctantly made an estimate of the number of 
seals breeding on the rookeries of both islands, claiming for it only a remote 
approximation, the chief merit of which was that it would serve to eliminate fanciful 
estimates that had no foundation in any tangible facts. The figure presented was 
65,000 breeding seals on both islands, which would presume a maximum presence of 
JfistriiutiOTt, cf Seals Aag. l-3,f895 
Fig. 11.— Kaiabelnoye Rookery, Copper Island, showing distribution of seals in 1895, according to Stejneger 
ab6"ut'^fei,'00l) females (including 2-year-olds) at any one time; but for the same year 
the assistant administrator estimated the number of cows on both islands at 
about 135,000.' No wonder they went on killing as they did. 
The rookeries on the Commander Islands were at that time "raked and scraped" 
fbr 'the last bachelor seal to such an extent that while it might have been safe to 
have killed 7,000 seals that year, actually 14,472 were taken, or more than twice 
as many. After 1897, however, additional factors appear, which make it impor- 
'tant to review the fur-seal industry on the Commander Islands in some detail in 
order to fully understand what has happened to the seal herd. 
' Suvorof: Komandorski Ostrova, 1912, p. 179. 
^<^^ MAP 
