THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
113 
tiou, all classes of seals beiug well represeuted. In fact, there was unquestionable 
I>roof that the rookery was increasing. 
Curiously enougli this fact was brought home to the natives located at Karabelni 
by the circuinstance that they were unable to obtain in good season tlie number of 
skins required from this rookery. When I arrived at Karabelni in tlie beginning of 
Jxdy the natives were deeply concerned because of their failure to obtain the last 1,(>00 
skins. As the families are paid for each skin brought to the salt-house, this meant a 
serious loss to those stationed at this point. They hnally decided to go to Cllinka, 
where the season was already over, and there got all the skins they wanted. In answer 
to my inquiry as to the cause of their failure to obtain the skins at Ivarabelni I was 
told that it was because the rookery was increasing. Self-contradictory as this state 
ment api^eared, it was nevertheless easily explained. The main hauling-ground of the 
bachelors, i. e., the one yielding most skins and from which the seals could be driven, was 
the Karabelni Stolp. Looking at the map (pi. 11) it will be seen that at the base of the 
neck there was a large breeding- ground. The breeding seals were increasing here to 
such an extent as to occupy the whole si^ace along the beach and actually shutting off the 
hauling-ground, thus making it imiwssible to drive any seals from that p)lace. The men 
were therefore obliged to take the skins at A^odopad and Krepkaya Pad, which meant 
that they had to carry every skin on their backs across the island. When it is con- 
sidered that the population, even under ordinary circumstances, was rather insufficient 
for the work, it may easily be understood what a hardship this increase of the rookery 
involved. But not only the breeding seals were increasing, the bachelors were also 
extending their territory. Tlie result was that skins were taken in Malinka Bukhta 
for the first time. At this place the women did the skinning and carrying, for even 
here the skins had to be carried, while the men were engaged at Krepkaya Pad. 
In addition to the map I have submitted three original field sketches of the rookery 
as I found it on July 3, 1883 (pis. 11-43). AYhile making no claim for artistic merit I 
do claim for them sufficient accuracy for an intelligent compiarison with my photographs 
of 189.5, which were taken from the identical standpoints. The sketches have not been 
touched since I left the rookery in 1883 and are here reproduced in facsimile so as to 
eliminate the possibility of even unintentional alterations. 
KAIiABELNOYE EOOKEE.T, 1895. (Plate 12). 
On July 31, 1895, Air. Grebnitski and I landed in Stolbovaya Bukhta and pitclied. 
our tent on the beach j ust west of the killing-ground. It was very foggy and the water 
high, so that ^ve could not pass the point into Alartishina Bukhta. Kext morning, at 
4.30 a. m., the fog still prevailed, but the water was low and we made our way along 
the beach to the rookery. AVe passed on to the Stolp without meeting a seal, where in 
1883 thousands of breeding seals blocked the way of the drives. Only a small solid 
patch, leaning on the south base of the cliff, remained, an isolated outpost at this end of 
the rookery. At the Stolp itself we found a couiffe of small harems only at the north- 
ern end, and towards the southern extremity a small patch of bachelors, hardly more 
than a dozen. In the distance I could discern through the fog faint outlines only of 
the breeding-grounds. 
After breakfast the fog lifted and I ascended the bluff's, Avhich rise 300 feet above 
the breeding-grounds. The photographs wliich are herewith appended (pis. 38-40) 
were taken from the various stations at the edge of these bluffs, marked on the maps, 
care being taken to select the same points from which I had made my sketches twelve 
years previously. 
E. C. B. 1896—8 
