4 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
only brief r6sumes, thus causing great inequality in tbe treatment of tbe various 
questions. This could not well be otherwise, for it would have been manifestly impos- 
sible to prepare a work of that scope, with all the labor and research it involves, in the 
short time of months which I have had at my disposal for writing this treatise. 
Moreover, such an exhaustive work could not be done here in Washington or even 
in this country. It would have been necessary to consult records and archives in 
San Francisco and in St. Petersburg, as well as the libraries in the latter city. 
In preparing this work I have had the hearty cooperation of the authorities of 
the United States Fish Commission, and I wish particularly to express my grateful 
appreciation of the truly scientific spirit and liberality shown by Mr. Eathbun in 
giving me every possible latitude for working out the j>roblems in my own fashion 
without attemi^ting to influence my opinion in any direction. His only injunction to 
me has been a desire for the facts as I have seen them. It has been my endeavor to 
supply them to the best of my ability. 
ITINERARY. 
My first visit to the Commander Islands was undertaken in March, 1882, under 
the joint auspices of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Signal 
Service. With a notice of only two days, I left Washington on March 22, 1882, and 
sailed from San Francisco in the Aleksander II the following April 5, landing on 
Bering Island a month later — on May 7. During the summer I studied the fur-seals 
and rookeries on this island. In the fall of 1882 I undertook a circumnavigation of 
Bering Island in open boat, returning to the village after a successful trip of two 
weeks. The winter was passed on Bering Island, but part of tlie following summer, 
particularly the sealing season, I spent on the various rookeries of Copper Island. In 
October, 1883, I took passage in the St. Paul from Petropaulski, Kamchatka, to San 
Francisco, arriving in Washington the following November 26. The results of this 
trip have been published in numerous memoirs and papers, mostly issued by the 
United States National Museum. 
Tlie itinerary of my trip in 1895 is as follows: After receiving my appointment on 
May 21, I left Washington on May 28 with letters from the Eussian legation, author- 
ized telegraphically by the authorities in St. Petersburg, and arrived in San Francisco 
on Sunday, June 2. Yarious preparations for the journey occupied me until June 6, 
when I sailed in the steamship Bertha for Unalaska. In this port I was to join the 
Fish Commission steamer Albatross, which, it was calculated, would have returned to 
Unalaska from its first trip to the Pribylof Islands at the time I was due there. In 
such an event Captain Drake had orders to bring me to Bering Island via the Priby- 
lofs, in order to afford me an opportunity to witness and compare the mode of driving 
the seals on both groups. Upon my arrival at Unalaska on June 17 I found, however, 
that the Albatross had only arrived there the day before, without having as yet been 
to the Pribylofs. The following week was consumed in Unalaska taking in coal. The 
Albatross left Unalaska on June 23, and on June 25 we were landed at the village, 
St. Paul Island. The rookeries near the village were inspected the same afternoon. 
Thanks to the zeal and courtesy of the Treasury agent, Mr. J. B. Crowley, and 
the company’s general agent, Mr. J. Stanley-Brown, a small drive of seals was at once 
arranged for the following morning. Mr. F. W. True, of the United States National 
