THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
59 
William Hermann, a seal-lmnter of Sau Francisco, states that in 1890 his schooner 
got 283 seals on the island of St. Iona; that, altogether, 700 seals were obtained there 
that year by thi-ee schooners, and that in 1801 he was there again, and got .551 seals 
in the schooner Arctic: 
These were got. hauled up ou the rocks, and were lirst discovered by Ca]>taiii Fine, of the Jn-iw, 
ill 1889. Eight years ago Captaiu Peterson, of the schooner Diana, of Yokohama, was there, and there 
were no seals there (Fur Seal Arh., viii, p. 709). 
This last iiaragraph does not necessarily mean that we have to do with newly 
formed rookeries on St. Iona. In the first place, it is not stated at what date the island 
was visited; in the second, the seals may have been easily ovei looked. I will mention 
an instance to show this. In 1881 Capt. J. Sandman, in the Ah/evnadcr Jf, in passing 
the Kuril chain was looking for the possible existence of fur-seal rookeries on the 
uninhabited islands. His attention was particularly drawn to Sredni Island, qidte a 
small and insiguiticant affair. He happened to a]»])roach it from the Pacific side, and 
seeing nothing but sea-lions went away. Imagine his chagrin when he heard that Mr. 
Snow landed on the island that same season, taking several thousand seals. They 
were located on the Okhotsk Sea side. 
SHANTAR ISLANDS. 
It has been supposed upon the ‘‘very categorical statement” of the captaiu of the 
Walter L. Bich, and of Captain Powers, that fur-seals occur at the Shantar Islands 
(a numerous group of large and small islands in the Shantar Bay, 55° north latitude 
and 138° east longitude), and it is eprite ifossible that such is the case.' I am also told 
that seals have been taken on a small island close to the Okhotsk coast. 
It is believed that both the company and the Eussian Government possess more 
definite information about these various islands than has been given to the public, but 
that it has been withheld so as not to invite raids by sealing schooners. In the spring 
of 1895 the authorities in St. Petersburg granted the Eussian Seal Skin Company the 
right to take seals ou all the islands, known and unknown, upon the payment of a 
stipulated tax and upon condition that a Government officer aceompany the vessel 
dispatched by the company. 
1 “ Shantarski Islands lie off the western coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, about 150 miles north we.st 
of Cape Elizabeth on Saghaliii island, ami although the largest island (Great Shantar) is 35 miles long, 
east and west, and about the same distance broad, it does not appear to afford any port or shelter; 
though its southwest point j)rpiects to the S W., so .as to form a bay on the south side of the island. 
Retween this bay and the nearest point of the continent, 14 miles distant to the southwest, are two 
islets surrounded by rocks and reefs. Soundings of 30 to 40 fathoms over a bottom of stones will be 
found .at 8 to 10 miles to the eastward of the group. The tides run i'rom 14 to 2 knots an hour. 
“To the southward of the south points of Great Shantar island are some small islands which 
have not been examined. 
“ Fekshptoff Island . — At 6 miles from the west side of Great Shantar is Fekshptofl' Island, 20 miles 
in extent, NI5. and SW., and 10 miles wide, but it has no i>ort nor shelter” (China Sea Directory, i v, 
1884, p. 178). 
