THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
57 
ties whetlier it AYoukl uot be the better policy to kill off the few renuiiiiiug' seals and to 
abaudoii the island. If the seals were uot killed by the company they Avere taken by 
the raiders, extermination Avas sure to folloAV, and it was only a (piestiou Avho Avere 
going to have the skins, the legitimate lessees, who Avere paying for the privilege and 
acting under contract Avith the legal OAvner of the island, the Eussiau Government, or 
the pirating poachers, Avho kneAV AAmll that they Avere doing hiAvless acts, and Avho, 
moreover, also knew that their penalty for the criminal business, if caught, Avonld be 
conliscation and, possibly, hard Avork in the mines t)f Siberia. Under those circum- 
stances it is hardly to be Avondered at that the decision Avas to disregard the distinc- 
tion between sex and age in the killing by the lessees, as it was done by the poachers. 
This Avas undoubtedly done in 1S83, and it is quite possible that some of the men, 
Avheu more seals had been clubbed than the little gang could properly skin, in their 
zeal may have slashed the skins to prevent the raiders Avho AAmre continually hanging 
around, among them the schooners North IStai-, Otome, lleJene^ and AdMe, from prolit- 
iug to the extent of even having the seals clubbed for their beneflt. It is utterly 
unjustitiable to characterize the proceeding as “barbarous” in contradistinction to 
that of the poachers. The number of seals thus killed has been grossly exaggerated. 
Some of the i»oachers have estimated it to be from 12,000 to 20,000 seals, but it is 
pretty safe to say that there Avere not nearly so many seals at that time on the island, 
all told. The number mentioned by another of the poaching captains (Fur Seal Arb., 
VIII, p. 004), viz, 3,500, is undoubtedly much nearer the mark. 
NotAvithstauding all this, enough seals hauled up on Eobben Island in 1884 to 
justify the lessees in continuing the regular killing that season. They AA'cre particularly 
encouraged to do so since the Government had stationed ai man-of-Avar, the Ihazhoinih, 
to guard the rookery. Four seizures Avere made, among them the German schooner 
Helena.^ Captain Gohler, Avhich had “raided that island five years.” Gthers escaped, 
like the Felix ^ Avhicli got 500 skins (Fur Seal Arb., iii, p. 358). The killing of other 
classes of seals by the company on shore, hoAvever, Avas brought to a stop by Col. Nicolai 
Voloshinof (since deceased), AA^ho visited the island that year on a tour of inspection. 
The GoAmrnment, seeing that energetic means liad to be taken if the seals AA^ere to 
be protected at all on Eobben Island, in 1885 stationed a regular naval force of 10 
sailors of the Siberian flotilla and 1 otffeer on tlie island, Avhich Avas removed, hoAA’cver, 
before the middle of October. The comi)any that year obtained less than 2,(K)0 skins, 
but the schooners, late in autumn, made additional haids; thus the Fenelojte^ Capt. 
E. P. Miner, on her part alone got “about 800 skins” (Fur Seal Arb., viil, y>. 702). 
Captain Blair, of the Leon, estimated the number of seals on the island that year to 
be about 0,000. 
For four years, 1880 to 1880, inclusive, the company refrained from turking any 
skins on the island; but there Avere still some left for the raiders, Avho ap[)ear to have 
visited the rock every year. The British Bering Sea Comnussion states that “these 
schooners must have obtained at least 4,700 skins” (Eep., p. 80). In 1800, the last year 
of the lease of Hutchinson, Kohl, Philip^ieus & Co., 1,450 skins Avere secured by them. 
With the lease of the islands by the Eussian Seal Skin Oonqiany the regular 
killing Avas again resumed in 1801, but the yioor result led to the abandonment of the 
attempt in 1802. In 1803 the rookery had recovered sufficiently to yield the company 
1,500 skins; 1,000 were taken in 1894, and 1,300 in 1805. 
In all these years the raiders continued to prey uj)on the island in the autumn, 
