eras Px tise i # SN va wep e ott, re, rie ie) vse fe iS * en : bs a ie! - <2 ee None Pins Kees cages Sta hid wee e 4 “ee = CORNELL UNIVERSITY \% 7 & THE Roswell P. Flower Library THIS BOOK IS THE GIFT OF Yierre. Rugustine. Fish, 1.90, 2M Neos Prepon. 8 Pawsitbeoy ot om Saarchony, a Fae ICY, Stoke Vekoninony, CViage Sugeno | ee ee ers Fo 1913.) MVE RPS ni Cornell University The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000936504 THE FUR SEALS AND FUR-SEAL ISLANDS OF THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN. BY DAVID STARR JORDAN, President of Leland Stanford Jr. University, COMMISSIONER IN CHARGE OF FUR-SEAL INVESTIGATIONS OF 1896-97. WITH THE FOLLOWING OFFICIAL ASSOCIATES: LEONHARD STEJNEGER and FREDERIC A. LUCAS, Of the U. S. National Museum. JEFFERSON F. MOSER, Lieutenant-Commander, U.S. N., In Command of the U. S. Fish Commission Steamer Albatross. CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, Of the U. S. Fish Commission. GEORGE A. CLARK, Secretary and Stenographer. JOSEPH MURRAY, Special Agent. WITH SPECIAL PAPERS BY OTHER CONTRIBUTORS. PART 4. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1898. Woo58 CONTRIBUTORS OF PAPERS ON SPECIAL SUBJECTS. WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD, NATHAN BANKS, oO. FULLER COOK, DANIEL W. COQUILLET, WILLIAM H. DALL, WILLIAM R. DUDLEY, HARRISON G. DYAR, ELMER EF. FARMER, PIERRE A. FISH, CHARLES H. GILBERT, ALBERT HASSALL, MARTIN LINNELL, JAMES M. MACOUN, SH 361 “Use vi 4 JENNIE C. MILLER, WALTER MILLER, WILLIAM PALMER, MARY J. RATHBOUN, WILLIAM E. RITTER, JOSEPH N. ROSE, EUGENE A. SCHWARZ, ROBERT E. SNODGRASS, WILLIAM A. SNOW, CHARLES W. STILES, WILBUR W. THOBURN, FREDERICK W. TRUE. PART IV. THE ASIATIG FUR-SEAL ISLANDS AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY. LEONHARD STEJNEGER, Of the United States National Museum. TABLE OF CONTENTS. yi Page. A.—THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS, 1741 TO 1897... 2... 0.0. cece en cee eee ences cence ween neee _— Vo —Inbr oduct ont esis scisicie. cis s.cits wisgee ence einige edie onic eens sees aaieeiediancieidi bag aecaecead eels 9 Scope: of the work sce sais dew ne. etic cesuce ce eerce ac caecewas cemceiweesesaeenis 9 WGIMOR AT Yi ciascta eres aeitiecemewts aj.oce vic. Se inis ed ekded. sare-cidid. gaa aden deer geme aaendes sees er 10 Acknowledgments... 2-22. ..02. 2 ee eee cece ee eee eee Luce oaGwisedetestanantsts 13. Il.—The Russian Seal Islands..-...............---.- og aiieia Binge poe Siaid eiarsianele ection ceee oe eeer 15 1, The Commander’ Islands: ......2..- 522 cone cece ena eee teen cena ste eer 15 Hydrographic notes). «.2...ccscsseecssnd eemc ese seeene encase eee ewes: 16 Meteorology san. seme cee ceecaccessssesaceciss Jeiuld ne eneneremeemeeuees 21 Fauna and flora of the Commander Islands. .......-.-....2.--+--+----0- 27 Native population. :+.cesescesesnerseesseseuindcene ce ceeececeee sees ecm 36 @. Bering [sland weeussccessavaceeccseene tae awe veniect een caesonsesaecwss 50 General description scc «ses wiarorayare ecevapeyars ello nya/e4 | Weis emeess| Gases eealle ced sown Meeastelame meas | Means.| 25.5 | 22.0 24.8 23.0 23.0 23.0 21.5 22.8 14.2 18.8 19.0 19.8 Total number of cloudy days: 259 in 1883; 278 in 1884; 246 in 1885; annual mean, 261. - NUMBER OF FOGGY DAYS. Year. Jan. Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. DBO ica] eiaiciccais cin ais time |emieeaiee [sews ioteclane ele nisierars aradieieress 9 10 0 0 0 0 1883... 0 0 0 0 2 3 9 10 2 0 1 0 1884... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1885... 0 0 0 0 0 L 2 1 0 0 0 0 1886... 0 0 0 | Sisiasis ra cres fer ecertpesena | Sreraieerdua liste archers a feieisineraice | selsic erate be kennel euamaea ce Means - 0 0 0 CLOUDINESS, EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGES. [The percentage of cloudiness was obtained from the eye estimates of the observer, recorded on a scale of 0 to 10 at each ob-ervation. ‘he mean of the three daily observations was used as the mean for the day; 100 per cent represents sky completely overcast.] Year. Jan. Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. Oct. Nov. | Dee. HOB 2 aca dle seasaings S| arcioeys aie nes lete sale < statictom| smarts crete lleerelse eee 93 83 60 79 73 78 1884... 91 89 88 79 87 81 66 87 65 79 83 81 1885... 88 86 90 86 75 75 63 73 86 1886... 84 86 86 BU icsetctes ed [ieee asa slctaid pod] tema eaell omens ba a = & oO ow fos) a ~ i oo a oo ps9 Ra) Ss 2) wo fos) © fea} a x wo _ = 1 = 4 te) Annual means: 82 in 1883, 81 in 1884, 80 in 1885. METEOROLOGICAL TABLES. Monthly means of Meteorologic Observations at Bering Island—Continued. PERCENTAGE OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY. Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. Annual means: 87.7 for 1884, 90 for 1885. ra RAINFALL AND MELTED sNOW—AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION. Year. dan. Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. | Dec : Inches. | Inches.|\ Inches. | Inches.| Inches. | Inches.| Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. | Inches. VSB 2 seat. | seserceel secsmsieslacieevic alee awdees eee as amie 2.07 1.45 1.07 1,32 3.29 2, 23 2.21 1883....} 0.61 2. 98 0. 61 1.03 0. 38 2. 38 1.77 2,25 2.50 2.90 2.20 1.968 1884... 0.94 1.49 1,44 1.38 1.31 0. 26 2.27 1.71 1,70 3. 26 3.39 0.96 1885.-..| 0.58 0. 39 0. 25 0. 86 1.19 1, 63 4,05 2.15 3. 32 1.34 4.08 1.61 1886... 0. 66 1.50 1.33 De25 been eae eps Ponte Cone Cee Co ee eee eee Total: 21.57 inches in 1883; 20.11 inches in 1884; 21.45 inches in 1885. NUMBER OF DAYS ON WHICH 0.1 INCH OR MORE RAIN OR SNOW FELL. Year. Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dee. MN ece lca aos cealag Seaney 13 | 16 5| 18 7 8 19 14 18 10 20 20 19 16 16 18 19 14 15 12 11 5 13 15 14 20 13 16 8 10 7 12 12 12 14 14 12 | 18 8 12 11 9 Passes hie a | araieaiaietal|ciaisaeiaets| ce amiaw tle eles: iwia | sareiacwral Ys ica wi srapaje' | Spaiciateletess'! Total: 209 days in.1883; 160 days in 1884; 145 days in 1885. PREVAILING WINDS. Year. Jan. | Feb. fi Mar. | Apr. | May.|June.| J uly. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. | Dec. 11: Pe Seen Beene OO netnn Penner Ss. S. Ss. |S &Sw. N. Nw. Ss. 1883..-.| NE. Ss. E. E. N. | S. Ss. 8. SW.&NW. | SW. E. 1884.-..| NE. | NE. N. N. 5. | S. S. E. Sw. N. NE. E. 1885....| E. NE. | NE. N. N.| 8 8. Ss. N. NE. 1886....| NE. E. N. Ae Pee Cees Geno Cee Cee Cee eee eee MAXIMUM HOURLY VELOCITY (IN MILES). [Taken from current velocities. | Year. Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | Apr. | May. | June. | July.) Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. Dec. 1882... -|.- 2 enn e|en ween ne] - ere eee feceeeene ora aie aie 1883...- 54 41 39 36 34 1884.... 40 48 40 43 26 1885.... 35 43 35 35 38 1886.... 37 26 41 42 |. cnccees 25 A considerable amount of snow falls during the winter. The fierce winter gales usually blow it off the plateaus, forming immense drifts in the valleys and on the lee 26 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. side of the mountains. In deep shadowy gullies it often remains all summer, and in cold seasons, as for instance 1895, large drifts still remain unmelted as late as September, even at the level of the sea. Drift ice seems to be of rare occurrence in recent times. I do not know how much reliance can be placed in old Pitr Burdukovski’s story to me that formerly, say about 1850, “ drift ice was yearly observed coming from the north in large masses.” Certain itis that Steller expressly states that during the winter no ice collected in the sea. (Ber. Ins., p. 270.) To complete the meteorologic account I may mention that thunderstorms are of rare occurrence on the Commander Islands. In 1879, on November 19, Mr. Krebs, after a residence of eight years in the main village on Copper Island, experienced the first thunderstorm. In 1881, on February 8, he records ‘a stroke of lightuing and a short, but strong thunderclap about 7 p. m.” Mr. Chernick, in Nikolski, Bering Island, reports “thunder and lightning” on September 12, 1878. I myself observed a thunderstorm passing over Nikolski, September 18, 1882. The first lightning was observed at 9° 58" p. m., local time; wind SW., 13 miles an hour; barometer, 29.552 inches; temperature of air, 52.2° F.; clouds, cumulo-stratus, 8, direction SW.; intervals between first lightning and thunder, 96 seconds; sixth thunderclap (10" 25" p. m.), 12 seconds after lightning; tenth, 40 seconds; eleventh lightning before thunder of tenth. This was the last distinct thunder heard, 10" 35" p.m. After that continued distant lightning lit up a narrow strip along the northern horizon. No lightning seen after 11" 10™ p. m. Aurora borealis is equally scarce. At Nikolski, on November 15, 1882, I observed a faint northern light at 126 30™ a. m., local time, extending to about 7 Urs. majoris. On November 17, 1882, I observed another at 10" 40™ p. m., local time, consisting of a uniform greenish white light below, above which most of the time a large rosy space was seen filling the arch between y and 7 Urs. majoris ; a similarly colored but often broken arch extended through the constellations of Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Gemini, and Auriga, sometimes fainter, sometimes more fiery, especially in Cygnus. Very seldom the red color filled the space between the rosy spot below Ursa major and the upper arch, and then only for a few seconds. At 11 p. m. the sky became so overcast as to cut off further observation. Corresponding observations made at St. Paul Island, Pribilof group, from 1872 to 1883, and published by the United States Weather Bureau (Fur Seal Arb., 11, App. pp. 591-593), afford means of exact comparison between the Russian and the American seal islands, except as regards mean temperature, the latter being obtained on St. Paul~ from observations made at 7 a. m., 2 p. m., and 9 p. m. But even a comparison of the mean temperature affords several very interesting results. Thus, while the annual means apparently differ but slightly, there is also the same relative proportion between the various months from December to September. But while the figures representing the mean temperatures for these months are higher on Bering Island than on St. Paul, those of October and November are higher on the latter. The chief exception from the relative proportion between the months is shown by the mean temperatures of August, which is about 4 degrees higher than July and September in Bering Island, but only about 2 degrees in St. Paul. Turning now to the maximum temperature, it will be seen to be 63° F, in Bering Island as against 62° on St. Paul. But on the other hand, while the minimum FAUNA AND FLORA OF COMMANDER ISLANDS. 27 temperature in Bering Island was hardly ever below zero during the four years of observation, it often drops below that poitt in St. Paul. Thus, the difference between the summer and winter extremes is less on Bering Island than on St. Paul. Coming now to the question of cloudiness, it will be seen that while the annual’ percentage is almost identical, the monthly distribution is radically different. Thus, while in St. Paul Island there are five times as many clear days during November to April as during May to October, on Bering Island the proportion is reversed, there being four times as many clear days during the latter period as during the former. Of fair days St. Paul enjoys nearly twice as many during the above six winter months as during the six summer months, while Bering Island has a good many more fair days in summer than in winter. Consequently, the entirely overcast days preponder- ate on St. Paul in summer, while on Bering Island their number is greater in winter. The latter island, moreover, has about 10 per cent more overcast days during the whole year, but on the contrary also about 10 per cent less overcast during the summer months, or during the time the seals remain on the islands. Unfortunately the percentage of relative humidity is not given for St. Paul Island. A glance at the table for Bering Island will show how excessively humid the climate of the latter is, the annual means reaching 90 per cent, the monthly means occasion- ally exceeding 95 per cent, and never lower than 82 per cent. The months showing the greatest percentage of relative humidity are July and August. - The Weather Bureau tables alluded to do not contain any data relating to pre- cipitation on St. Paul Island, and all the published information I have been able to find relates only to the months May to November.! Compared with the correspond- ing tables for Bering Island, they show that the precipitation on the latter island is considerably smaller during that period than on St. Paul Island. PAUNA AND FLORA OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. The animals and plants of the Commander Islands have been studied since Steller set foot on the virgin ground of Bering Island in 1741. He collected and described all the new things he saw, and if he had lived to elaborate his collections and finish his work but little would have been left for his successors. Since then Vosnessenski has been on the island; Dr. Dybowski collected during various visits between 1879 and 1883; Nordenskicld’s Vega expedition, with his admirable staff of scientists, Nordquist, Kjelman, Stuxberg, and Almquist, used their five days’ stay in 1879 exceedingly well; and, above all, Mr. Grebnitski has devoted work, time, and money during nearly twenty years to enrich the Russian museums, particularly that of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, with extensive and costly collections of natural history. The United States National Museum is also indebted to him for valuable material. Finally, during my stay in 1882-83, and to a less extent in 1895 and 1897, I myself have been able to add my mite to our knowledge of the flora and fauna of these islands, nearly all my collections being now. in the United States National Museum. Yet the subject is not exhausted; many animals and plants occurring there remain uncollected, while many of the collections in the museums await the arrival of the specialist to work them up. Fur Seal Arb., vu, pp. 518-519. 28 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Lack of time and space prevents more than the briefest possible résumé of the subject in the present connection; a more exhaustive treatise would make a book in itself. There is abundant evidence in the material at hand to show that the islands during the period previous to which they reeeived their present fauna and flora were totally covered by the sea, and that since that time they have not been connected with the mainland on either side. From this it follows that the animals and plants are not truly indigenous, though I have no doubt that many of the numerous species described as new from these islands are really peculiar.and not found elsewhere; but in that case their origin on the islands is undoubtedly due to comparatively recent isolation. The sporadic character of the fauna and'‘flora as shown in the great number of genera in proportion to the species, as well as the absence of many forms which, from their general distribution, would be expected to occur, is clearly indicative of the accidental immigration of the component species. They evidently immigrated, especially and more regularly from the west, from Asia, by means of prevailing winds—currents and driftwood carried by these—and more seldom from the east, from America. That such inhabitants as are more independent of the above agencies likewise show nearer relationship to the Asiatic fauna is partly due to the shorter distance and partly to the well-known effort of the Asiatic fauna to extend beyond its own limits. As might be expected from their location, the islands are chiefly palearctic in their bio-geographical relations, with a fair sprinkling of circumpolar, American, and North Pacific forms. The marine fauna and’ flora partake more particularly of this latter character, and it is probable that Dr. W. H. Dall’s conclusions, derived from a study of the mollusks, applies to most of the other marine animals, viz: The fauna of Commander Islands, as far as known, is intimately related to the general Arctic fauna and especially to the Aleutian fauna, somewhat less so to the Kamchatka fauna, but presents in itself nothing distinctive. While the faunal aspect of the mollusca is boreal, there is a number greater than might be expected of species common to Japan and California. To this statement he afterwards added the note: The connection with Japan is rather that the northern forms extend southward into Japan than that any characteristic Japanese forms extend north. (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1x, 1886, p. 219. MAMMALS. The chief zoological interest centers in the four marine mammals revealed to the scientific world in Steller’s famous treatise “De Bestiis Marinis ” (Novi Comm. Ac: Se. , Imp. Petrop., 1, 1751, pp. 289-398, pls. xIv-xv1); which must always remain a monument to the learning and industry of its author. In this he described for the first time the sea cow, the sea lion, the fur-seal, and the sea otter. Of these, the sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas, also known as Rytina gigas or steileri) possesses greatest interest, on account of its early extermination by man, which took place in 1768, twenty-seven years after its discovery. The sea cow was an herbivorous animal, anteriorly shaped somewhat like a seal, but with a large caudal fin like that of a whale or fish, but no hind legs, and belonging to the mammalian order of Sirenia, the few living relations of which, the manatee and dugong, now only inhabit the tropical waters of both hemispheres. There is no indisputable evidence of its having ever inhabited other coasts than those of the Commander Islands, as the find of a rib on Attu Island does not necessarily prove that the animal once lived there, though that is not improbable. The history of this animal, imperfectly known as it is, fills , ‘THE SEA OTTER. 29. volumes, and all we can do in the present connection is to refer to some of the more’ recent literature (Btichner, Die Abbildungen der nordischen Seekuh, Mém. Ac. Imp. Se. St. Petersb., 7 ser., xxxvim, 1891, No. 7.—Stejneger, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 1883, pp. 78-86; 1884, pp. 181-189.—Stejneger, On the Extermination of the Great Northern: Sea Cow, Am. Geogr. Soc. Bull., No. 4, 1886, pp. 317-328.—Stejneger, How the Great Northern Sea Cow (Rytina) Became Exterminated, Amer. Natural., xx1, Dec., 1887,- pp. 1047-1054). The sea lion (Huwmetopias stellert) was formerly quite abundant, but has now become nearly extinct on both islands, though still numerous in certain localities on the Kamchatkan coast. In 1895 I saw only one individual on Sivutchi Kamen at the. North Rookery, Bering Island, but during the winter of 1896 nine sea lions were killed _ there. The fur-seal (Callotaria ursina) being the chief subject of this report, needs no further mention in this connection. The fate of the sea otter (Lata lutris) in the Commander Islands is highly instructive and interesting. When Bering and his unfortunate followers landed on Bering Island they found the sea otters so numerous that these animals furnished food for the entire crew during the whole winter. On their return to Kamchatka the following year (1742) they brought with them more than 700 skins of this costly fur. Then followed a period of reckless slaughter of these animals by the rapacious promyshleniks. Thus, in 1745, Bassof and Trapeznikof secured 1,600 skins; in 1748 about 1,350 were killed. The result was that within a very few years the sea otter almost disappeared from Bering Island, for Tolstykh’s expedition obtained only 47 during the winter of 1749-50; Drushinin’s men, in 1754-55, took only 5; while in the account of Tolstykh’s second expedition, winter of 1756-57, it is expressly said that’ “no sea otters showed themselves that year.” It is interesting to note that even in those days Copper Island offered a safer retreat for the sea otter, since Yugof, who also visited that island, returned home in 1754 with: 790 skins. While not sabastiy and literally exterminated on Bering Island—Trapeznikof’s expedition of 1762-63 secured 20 otters there—it did not become common there again, except possibly during an alleged sudden reappearance in 1772, until after the aban-. donment of the island, when the Russian-American company was organized. Upon the recolonization of the island the otters were found common in places; thus it is said that in 1827 no less than 200 otters were killed in one week at the Reef near the present Nikolski village (Slunin, Promysl. Kamch. Sakh. Komand. Ostr., 1895, p. 103). But the reckless slaughter of former days was resumed, and the sea otter long ago ceased to be a regular inhabitant of that island. Occasionally a solitary individual strays over from Copper Island, where the same careful management which resulted in the increase of the fur seal has succeeded in preserving and increasing the sea otter to such an extent! that I believe there is no other place in the world where so many sea otters can be seen at the present day. The condition of the herd is now such that 200 animals can be killed off yearly without detriment. The places where the sea otter have their rookeries are constantly guarded to keep intruders off. Shooting, 1 As early as 1860 Captain Furuhielm writes: “According to the report of the manager of Copper. Island, sea otters are increasing there, and I have issued the strictest orders to prevent their being disturbed.” (Fur Seal Arb., 11, p. 87.) 30 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. making fire, or smoking is strictly prohibited near these places.’ Only nets are now used to capture the otters, and if any females or yearlings are caught alive they must be set free. The number to be taken is determined in advance by the administration, and the hunting expeditions of the natives are undertaken in common under the leadership of the chief, though each hunter keeps the otter he secures. They are taken off their hands by the Russian Government at a certain fixed price. Of other marine mammals occurring at the Commander Islands, we may further mention four species of hair seals, viz, Phoca largha,’ fetida, gronlandica, and fasciata ; three species of ziphioid whales, viz, Ziphius grebnitekii, Berardius bairdii, and Mesoplodon stejnegeri; a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus); several delphinoid — whales, among which the terrible enemy of the fur-seal, the killer (Orea gladiator), as well as several species of fin-back whales. The land mammals are few, the most important being the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus). These animals, which are now fairly common, yielding a handsome income to the natives, belong almost exclusively to the dark-bluish phase. Their economic importance will be treated of elsewhere in this report. There are two rodents on Bering Island, but both have been introduced by the agency of man during late years. Mus musculus, the common house mouse, was brought to Bering Island in 1870 by the schooner Justus in a cargo of flour. The short-tailed red field-mouse (Evotomys rutilus), which now overruns the islands in vast numbers, was introduced from Kamchatka at a much later date, probably with the firewood. This is probably also the origin of the bats (Vespertilio?) which are said to have been seen at Nikolski during the last couple of years. The introduction of the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) will be mentioned elsewhere (p. 46). tees BIRDS. I have reported upon the birds in a separate volume (Results of Ornithological Explorations in the Commander Islands and in Kamchatka, By Leonhard Stejueger. Bull. No. 29, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1885; 382 pp. + 8 plates) and ina later supplementary paper (Revised and Annotated Catalogue of the Birds Inhabiting the Commander Islands; Proc. U. 8S. Nat. Mus. 1887, pp. 117-145 + 3 plates), to which I would refer the reader for detailed information. In the last-mentioned paper I enumerated 143 species of birds as having been collected in the Commander Islands. To these I can now add four species, viz: (1) Rhodostethia rosea, Ross’s gull; adult female presented to me by Mr. Grebnitski (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 162785); (2) Gavia alba, the ivory gull, a specimen of which Mr. Grebnitski presented to me (U.S. Nat. Mus., No. 151983); (3) Hurynorhynchus pygmceus, the spoon-bill sandpiper, two specimens of which were shot during the latter part of September, 1894, and sent by Grebnitski to the museum in St. Petersburg; and (4) Milvus melanotis, the black-eared kite, a mere straggler, taken once on Bering Island. The specimen was presented to the Vega expedition by Mr. Grebnitski (Palmén, Vega Exp. Vetensk. Iaktt., v, 1887, p. 294). 1Excépt now in the southern part of the island, where shooting is allowed. Sea otters have recently increased at the Southeast Cape, and the shooting is permitted in order that the animals may be driven to the northern end of the island, where they can be watched and protected more effectually, 2T)uring 1896 there were killed 49 ‘“‘nerpi” on Bering Island and 22 on Copper Island. FISHES AND INSECTS. 31 One of the Commander Island birds (Phalacrocorax perspicillatus) deserves at least @ passing notice, not only because we know of no other locality in which it has with certainty occurred, but because it has become extinct within recent years through the agency of man. The history of this rare bird (only 4 specimens exist in museums) is traced and full description given by me in a separate paper (Contribution to the History of Pallas’s Cormorant; Proc. U. 8S. Nat. Mus., x11, 1890, pp. 83-88). In -1882 I fortunately disinterred a number of bones of this bird, which have been described and figured by Mr. F. A. Lucas (tom. cit., pp. 88-94, pls. 11-Iv). An additional collection made by me in 1895 has also been elaborately described and figured by him. (Contri- butions to the Natural History of the Commander Islands.—x1.. TheCravium of Pallas’s Cormorant; Proc. U. 8S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 1895, pp. 717-719 and pls. xxxIV-xxxv.) A preliminary note may be found in Science, November 15, 1895, p. 661. FISHES. | A collection of littoral and river fishes (45 species) occurring at the Commander Islands, brought together by Mr. Grebnitskiand myself, has been reported upon by Dr. Tarleton H. Bean. The report is published in the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, as No. 12 of the “Contributions to the Natural History of the Commander Islands.” (Fishes collected at Bering and Copper Islands by Nikolai A. Grebnitski and Leonhard Stejneger, by Tarleton H. Bean and Barton A. Bean; Proce. U.S. Nat. Mus., xxrx, 1896, pp. 237-251, No. 1106.) Two of the cottoid fishes in their collections have since been described as new species by Barton A. Bean, viz: Myoxo- cephalus mednius and Porocottus quadratus (in Jordan & Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America, 11,. 1898, pp. 1983 and 1998 respectively). A few additional species were collected by me in 1896 and 1897, viz: Sebastodes glaucus, Hexagrammos lagocephalus, Oncocottus hexacornis, Histiocottus bilobus, and Bryostemma polyacto- cephalum. For further details see Jordan & Gilbert’s “Fishes of Bering Sea,” in the third volume of this report. TUNICATES. Styela arctica has been described by Swederus (Vega. Exp. Vet. Lakt., rv, 1887, p. 108) as a new species from Bering Island. INSECTS. Mosquitos are numerous on Bering Island, less so on Copper Island, and very annoying on the few otherwise pleasant days of which the summers of that region can boast. Geometride and Microlepidoptera are rather numerous, Noctuide less so. I have only seen one specimen of diurnal Lepidoptera, viz, a butterfly very: much like Vanessa urtice. Of the Coleoptera, the large staphylinid, Creophilus villosus, is very numerous on the seal-killing grounds. Mr. John Sahlberg has reported upon a few (9) Coleoptera and (1) Hemiptera collected by the Vega expedition (Vega Exp. Vet. Iakt., Iv, 1885, pp. 61-68), one of which is described as new, viz, Anisotoma abbreviata, one of the Siphide. My own collections before 1896 were considerably larger and contained (besides the Microlepidoptera), according to Mr. M. Linell, 50 species, of which 34 are Coleoptera. These include all of SahlIberg’s species except Sitones lineellus and Oxypoda opaca, so that the Coleoptera from the Commander Islands 32 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. then numbered 37 species. Of these, no less than 12 species belong to the Staphy- linide. The other orders are represented by 2 species of Hemiptera, 5 Diptera, 3 Hymenoptera, 2 of which are new and thus far only known from the Commander Islands, viz, Mesoleius stejnegeri Ashm., and Stibeutes nigrita Ashm., 1 Siphonaptera, and 2 Lepidoptera, viz, Agrotiphila alaske Grote, and a Macroglossa near stetiarum It should be remarked that the insects collected of late years in the neighborhood of the main villages must not be given too great weight in determining the zoological relationship of the islands, for many have undoubtedly been introduced recently from Petropaulski, Kamchatka, in the large quantity of firewood shipped to the islands every year. In fact, some of the species collected by me in 1895 were taken on or near the wood pile. In 1897 my wife and I made additional collections of insects both on Bering and Copper Islands. Mr. Barrett-Hamilton also collected quite a number, which, with characteristic generosity, he placed at my disposal to be presented to the United States National Museum. These collections are now being worked up, and a report on the insects thus far recorded from the Commander Islands is published in the appendix of the present volume. MYRIAPODS. The three species brought home by me have been determined by Bollman. Lino- tenia chionophila and Lithobius sulcipes, both from Bering Island, are known from other localities, but the species described by him as new, under the name of Lithobius stejnegeri, is the only one thus far found only on the Commander Islands (Bull. U. 8S. Nat. Mus. No. 46, 1895, p. 199). ACARIDS. The acarids collected by the Vega expedition have been described by Kramer and Neuman (Vega Exp. Vet. Iakt., 111, 1883, pp. 519-532, pls. XLI-xLIv). No less than 5 new species were described from Bering Island, 4 of which were found only on the latter, as follows: Neswa arctica, Bdella villosa, Ixodes borealis, I. fimbriatus, and Gamasus arcticus. Of these I obtained all but J. fimbriatus, and obtained five additional species, four of which are new. SPIDERS. It was my intention to get as nearly complete a collection of spiders as possible, and in 1882-’83 I succeeded in obtaining quite a number of species, which were turned over to the United States National Museum. They were lent to the late Dr. Marx to be determined, but the report was not finished before his death. The spiders collected during 1897 have been worked up by Mr. Nathan Banks (in appendix) CRUSTACEANS, The crustaceans collected have not been worked up as yet, except the entomos- traca, which have been described by Prof. W. Lilljeborg, of Upsala, Sweden (On the Entomostraca collected by Mr. Leonhard Stejneger, on Bering Island, 1882-83. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., x, 1887, pp. 154-156). Five species were collected, of which I found INVERTEBRATES, 33 Branchipus paludosus, Daphnia longispina, and the new species Diaptomus ambiguus, in small fresh-water ponds at Ladiginsk, Bering Island. The other new species is Hurycercus glacialis, which, however, has also been found in Greenland and Vaigatch Island, at the entrance to the Kara Sea. The crabs have been identified by Mr. J. E. Benedict, as follows: Oregonia gracilis Dana; Telmessus cheiragonus (Tilesius); Eupagurus gilli Benedict; Eupagurus hirsu- tiusculus (Dana); Hupagurus middendorfii Brandt; Eupagurus nudosus Benedict 3 and Hapalogaster grebnitskii Schalfeef, recently described from Bering Island (Bull. Acad. Sc. St. Petersb., xxxv, No. 2, 1892, p. 335, fig. 3). Schalfeef identifies another species of Hapalogaster, also collected by Mr. Grebnitski on Bering Island, as H. mandtii. ~ MOLLUSKS. Among the invertebrates, the mollusks have been most extensively collected and most thoroughly reported upon. The Vega expedition obtained 26 species, Mr. Grebnitski sent the National Museum 23 species, and I myself 45 species, out of a total of 75 species thus far collected. Of these, 10 are land or fresh-water species. Dr. W. H. Dall has published two reports upon the Commander Islands collections (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vit, 1884, pp. 340-349; and 1x, 1886, pp. 209-219). In the last paper he gives a full list of the species, including those of the Vega expedition, which have been reported upon by Westerlund and Aurivillius. The species of land and fresh- water mollusks thus far collected on the islands are: Limam (Agriolimax) hyperboreus; Vitrina exilis; Hyalina radiatula; Conulus fulous, var.; Patula ruderata, var. pauper; Pupitla decora and arctica; Acanthinula harpa; Limnea ovata; L. humilis; Pisidium equilaterale. The new species described from Bering Island by Aurivillius is Pleuro- toma beringi; and by Dall, in his first paper, Lacunella reflexa (p. 344, pl. 1, fig. 1-3), Cerithiopsis stejnegeri (p. 345 pl. 11, fig. 4), and Strombella callorhina var. stejnegert (p. 346, pl. 11, figs. 5, 6). An additional species of cephalopod may be recorded here. In 1896 I obtaincd two specimens taken at Copper Island, which Dr. Dall informs me seem to agree with the description of Onychoteuthis hergis Middendorff, described from Kamchatka. WORMS. At least one species of earthworm occurs, and several leeches, but, like the rest of the lower invertebrates collected they have not been reported upon as yet. Wirén has described a new species of chetopod from Bering Island, viz, Potamilla neglecta (Vega Exp. vet. Iakt. 11, 1883, p. 422). SPONGES. A new variety (arctica) of Esperia lingua has been described from Bering Island (5-10 fathoms) by Fristedt (Vega Exp. Vet. Iakt., Iv, p. 449, pl. xxv, figs. 20-24; pl. XXIX, fig. 18). Mr. Lambe has worked up the sponges which I brought home, among which was one new species Polymastia laganoides, from Bering Island (Lambe, op. cit. p. 129, pl. IV, figs. 5, 5 a-c). The other Commander Island species enumerated by bim are: Halichondria panicea; Eumastia sitiens; Reniera rufescens; Esperiopsis quatsinoensis; Chondrocladia alaskensis; and Suberites concinnus (Lambe, Sponges from the Western Coast of North America. . Year. | Islands — i Year. Islands iho jand Tinleni. : andTiuleni, *S'2nes. se {. Sking. Skins. Skins. Skins. 31, 300 TOT;982) || D880 xterstecaivave:cenrereiecreiecare 48, 504 100, 634 36, 279 101,249 || J8B1. oe ee ese cee 43,522 | 101,734 26, 960 89.478" || 1882. cewemeesccsiimswena 44, 620 | 101, 736 21, 533 Uj G06. ||)\ BOBO rac aise ceric ncenracree eens 28, 699 | 77, 063 31,340 MOT 804) | TEBE :< ccinnciemeerenseweeeanrerd 53, 263 101, 013 42,740 106, 908 1T may here correct a mistake in the oft-mentioned table presented by the British Bering Sea commissioners (Rep., p.214). They run a line between the years 1869 and 1870 and mark it “Alaska Commercial Company’s first term began.” As amatterof fact the term (and only term) of Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co., the term and company meant, did not begin until 1871, and the catch of 27,500 skins during 1870 is, therefore, to be credited to the merchants trading during the interregnum. * Only 3,614 of that number were shipped in 1871; the remainder in 1872. *In corroboration of this statement I may quote the one by Moxon that “Messrs. Lampson in the catalogue of March, 1893, placed a notice in red ink to the effect that the catch would in the coming season be reduced hy 40,000 skins.” (Fur Seal Arb., vin, p. 869.) As a matter of fact, the reduction effected by the company amounted to exactly 40,594 skins, SEAL SKINS FROM COMMANDER ISLANDS. 127 There are a number of published statements referring to the seal catch on the Commander Islands since 1871, but none of them are complete, nor are the figures given for the separate islands. The figures also vary to some extent, for several reasons. In some cases the Tiuleni Island skins have been counted in with those of ‘the Commander Islands. Thus, in Capt. G. Niebaum’s statement (Fur Seal Arb., 111, p. 204), by inadvertence the number of killed seals for 1890, 53,780, includes 1,456 skins from Tiuleni; the total for the Commander Islands being only 52,324. Many other discrepancies are explained by the fact that the various figures refer to various counts. Some may and do refer to skins shipped, others to seals killed, others to skins accepted and paid for. The almost unavoidable difference in the counting of such large quantities of skins is manifest when we remember that the skins are first counted at the salt house and then again as they go over the ship’s side into the hull. Upon these counts the official Government statement is made up. The skins are then unloaded in Petropaulski, again loaded into the steamer, and again unloaded and counted in San Francisco. It is, therefore, not to be expected that lists made up from the various figures in the island count, the ship’s count, and the custom- house count would agree exactly. The figures given in the following table are based chiefly upon the various station journals as well as the ships’ logs, partly upon the figures already published and partly upon a list showing the number of seals shipped " between 1883 and 1891 from Bering and Copper islands separately, kindly furnished by Mr. Max Heilbronner, of the Alaska Commercial Company: Number of fur-seal skins shipped from Commander Islands and Robben Island from 1871 to 1897, inclusive. Bering | Copper |; Robben | -potay. Bering | Copper | Robben Island. | Island. | Island. Year. Year. Island. | Island. | Island. | Total. 0 3, 658 0 3, 658 20,966 | 20, 71 1,838 | 43,575 14,392 | 14) 964 0| 29,356 24,555 | 30, 036 0| 54,591 13,044 | 14, 661 2,694 | 30, 399 21,298 | 25, 049 0| 46,347 13,406} 15, 480 2.414] 31,300 26,456 | 20, 906 0| 47,362 12,712 | 20, 440 3,127 | 36,279 23,783 | 29,076 0| 52,'859 10,358 | 15,074 1,528 | 26, 960 .-| 19,996 | 321398 1,456 | 53,780 7,192 | 11,392 2,949 | 21, 533 * 17,884 | +18, 065 540 | 36, 905 8,130} 20,070 3,140 | 31, 340 -| 16,590 | 14, 654 0| 31,244 18, 572 25, 166 4, 002 42,740 15, 160 30, 014 3, 330 48, 504 16, 078 23, 237 4, 207 43, 522 18, 512 22, 002 4, 106 44, 620 13, 480 13,170 2, 049 28, 699 21, 384 28, 060 3, 819 53, 263 18, 992 17, 294 1,532 | 32, 818 18, 165 18, 122 1,000 | 27, 287 9, 526 6, 893 1,300 |, 17,719 | 7,301 7,171 269 | 14, 741 392,932 | 492,753 45, 300 | 930, 985 +f these; Hutchinson’ Kohl, Philippeus & Co. ebipped :741; the Russian Seal Slain Co, shipped 16.324 . To this total should be added 416 skins taken from the schooner J. H. Lewis, seized in 1891, and 2,152 skins taken in 1892 from the seized schooners, which obtained them chiefly off Copper Island. The latter skins were sold by the Russian Govern- ment, part in Petropaulski (1,124), part in London, and were shipped in the company’s steamer to San Francisco (see Fur Seal Arb., vil, pp. 375, 417). The total number of skins shipped from the Russian seal islands from 1871 to 1896, inclusive, is, therefore, 933,553. That this list does not give an accurate idea of the number of seals killed in each particular year is clear from the fact that the fall catch of the year is not shipped until the following summer. In some years there was no fall catch at all; in others it was very considerable. Thus, for instance, in 1871, the first year of the lease of 128 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co., no less than 10,500 seals were killed on both islands, of which, however, only 3,658 were shipped from Copper Island (the island count, or 3,614 by the San Francisco count), while none at all were shipped from Bering Island. Full data of the actual number of seals killed in each year are not at hand, but the following table, based upon data furnished me by the late Mr. G. Chernick, then station keeper on Bering Island, may serve as an indication of the difference between a list of seals killed and one of skins shipped: Seals killed and skins shipped from Bering Island, 1571-1882. Killed. Shipped. Year. | Total. |Summer.| Fall. Skins. | Year. 1871 4,500 |...2------ adel 9,892 [otitis \ 14,392 | 1972 1872 | 12,912 sae “10, 024° ; \ 13,044 | 1873 1873 13, 040 1 Patahanes “10,390. : 13,406 | 1874 Ey SSE ce| 364d ; 10, 068 |..-...---. 12,712 | 1875 1875 | 11,790 = petatesss 1,722 \ 10,358 | 1876 ‘i976 8, 636 1877 1877 1878 1878 aac 1879 1880 : 1880 1881 , 1881 1882 18,512! 1882 It must be remembered, however, that these figures only represent the number ot skins accepted by the company, and not the actual number of seals killed, as many skins, oversized, undersized, and damaged in many ways, are left with the natives, the company being very particular in their selection, at least during the years of plenty. The actual number of these rejected skins is difficult to get at for the earlier years, but as an example I append the following table, the data of which are taken from an article in the Viestnik Rybopromyshlennosti for 1892: Seals killed on the Commander Islands in 1889. Berin, Copper Island. Tsien, Total. Summer: Bachelors 20, 536 28, 934 49, 470 MIB sceSeniierneiaaipneamcueameirm eel eee 253 Females ......-..- 63 76 139 TE UDG secarere Ste rsseseiae aie ain eyecare cronesccarernisicieteciaety 150 142 292 Ba Ghol Obs bcceacesiebtecpraie rien eines 1, 366 1, 459 2, 825 Oba sess icversicisicicieinrs eusicicta) a Moicceinsatmcrayepagea 22, 168 30, 864 53, 032 It would have been interesting and instructive to have a list of skins taken from each rookery for a considerable length of time. but I have been unable to obtain the SEALS KILLED ON COMMANDER ISLANDS. 129 necessary data. The following table, however, furnishes this information for the years 1891 to 1897: Fur seals killed on the Commander Islands, 1891-1897. a Locality and season. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894, 1895. 1896, 1897. Bering Island: Summer— North rookery -...... South rookery .....-. North rookery . f South rookery ... Copper Island: Summer ..-....----------- Karabelni .....-...-. Glinka..........00--+ MAUD oie sce csnisissaieanienis Total ....--seeeeesseees 33, 766 29,253 | ' 26, 887 16, 056 14,946 | 11,335 Even in this table the figures represent only accepted skins, except those of the last three years. Shipment of skins from the Commander Islands (exclusive of Robben Island), by periods. 1746 to 1760, 15 years (period of plenty of sea-otters, foxes, and sea-cows), annual average about 1,333...-.-..---..----+------ eee eee total about. . 20, 000 1761 to 1786, 16 years (other fur-bearing animals becoming scarce and sea-cow exterminated), annual average about 6,250 .....--.------ total about.. 100, 000 1787 to 1798, 12 years (from discovery of Pribylof Islandsto Russian-American Company), same annual average......--. total in round figures about... 50, 000 1799 to 1826, 28 years (from Russian-American Company to establishment of Atkha district), annual average about 476; total in round figures about. 15, 000 1827 to 1841, 15 years (to expiration of Russian-American Company’s second term), yearly average about 10,000........------------ or total about.. 150, 000 1842 to 1861, 20 years (Russian-American Company’s third term), yearly average 1,559... . ---- 222 eee een ere teen teen eens total about... 31, 181 1862 to 1867, 6 years (hold-over of Russian-American Company), yearly average 4,250....--- 222 eee eee cere ce nee eee ree renee cee total about. . 25,500 1868 to 1870, 3 years (interregnum), yearly average 20,166....- total about-.. 60, 500 1871 to 1891, 20 years (lease of Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co.), yearly average.36,791. .....- 2-2 coon eee cee cee eee tee cee re eee total... 735, 828 1891 to 1896, 6 years (lease of Russian Seal Skin Company to date), yearly average 24,976 ......2.-- e200 cnn eee eee cree cece ene eee eeceee total.. 149, 857 Skins seized within territorial waters, 1891 and 1892..........--.---------- 2, 568 Grand total... 0... -2-. -c2n eee ee cone eee ener teen ee teen tees about.. 1,340, 434 As previously stated, some of these figures do not pretend to be more than guesses. Most of them are explained in the foregoing pages, but the figures for the years from 1787 to 1841 need some explanatory remarks as to how these guesses were made. From 1787 to 1798, inclusive, 12 years, I have assumed the annual average to have equaled that of the foregoing 26 years, giving 46,152, or, in round figures, 50,000. 15183—pT 4——9 130 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. From 1799 to 1826, the period of 28 years during the lease of the Russian-American Company, when the yield was not sufficient to induce the company to establish settle. ments on the islands, I have assumed that the annual average can not have exceeded the yield between 1842 and 1861, when the company still maintained the settlements, or, in rouud figures, 15,000. Fo: she 15 years from 1827 to 1841, inclusive, I have made the following guess: Assuming that Wrangell at the end of 1833 had 30,000 skins on hand, about 25,000, or 4,166 annually ' (Wrangell shipped, 1827-1833, 132,160 + assumed surplus on hand, 30,000=162,000—Veniaminof’s figures for killed seals on Pribilofs in years 1826-1832, 137,503 =24,658), must have been taken on the Commander Islands from 1827 to 1832, inclusive. In 1840 the Russians had a demand for not over 30,000 skins annually (Simpson, Overl. Journ., p. 131). Probably they were nearly able to fill it, for Mr. E, Teichmann states (Fur Seal Arb., 111, p. 579) that “up to the year 1853 about 20,000 skins were annually received in London” from the Russian-American Company. Itis probably safe to assume, then, that 6,000 went to Kiakhta. Now, during the nine years from 1833 to 1841, inclusive, the Pribilof Islands yielded only 80,135. The assumed sale being 234,000 skins, and there being only 30,000 on hand and 80,000 killed on the Pribilofs, it follows that a yearly average of about 14,000 would have to be obtained on the Commander Islands, or about 125,000, to which should be added the 25,000 assumed to have been taken from 1827 to 1833, giving a total of 150,000. The only figures relating directly to the yield of the Commander Islands during this period are those by Tikhmenief, that there were exported from Bering Island during the third term of the Russian-American Company 9,526 fur-seal skins (Istor. Oboz. Obraz. Ross.-Amer. Komp., 1, p. 296), as well as a corresponding list for both islands given by Savitch (Otchet, 1893, p.11). It will be seen that the number of skins taken on Bering Island between 1847 and 1860 is given by the latter as exactly 1This avrees pretty well with Liitke’s statement that the yield on the Commander Islands about that time was only 5,000 skins (Voy. aut. Monde, 1, p. 276). 2¥igures thus obtained do not pretend to any accuracy. How misleading the process may be is clearly illustrated in the table presented by the British Bering Sea commissioners (Rep., p. 132) and the explanation concerning the sources of information. They utilize the total given by Bancroft for 1842-1861, viz, 338,600 (the identical figures utilized above), and from this deduct the number of skins taken from 1842 to 1860, according to a different source, thus obtaining the number taken in 1861. Cor- recting an apparent error in the subtractor, the number for 1861 would be 19,699. October 14, 1861, the chief manager of the colonies, Furuhielm, writes home to the board of administration that ‘‘in the course of this year 47,940 seal skins have been taken from the islands of St. Paul and St. George.” 19,699 calculated, but 47,940 taken! This is a sad commentary upon the probable accuracy of the calculated figures. ADMINISTRATION. 131 9,526. It would therefore appear that no skins were shipped in 1842 to 1846.1 The following is the list given by Savitch: Number of fur-seal skins shipped from the Commander Islands Srom 1847 to 1861, inclusive. Berin, Copper Year. Island. Island. Total. ADMINISTRATION. There remains to be said a few words concerning the Government administration of the Commander Islands. Before the establishment of the Russian-American Company the islands were scarcely under any territorial jurisdiction, though in reality they were undoubtedly subject to the rule of the “commander” of Kamchatka, a naval officer residing in Petropaulski, With the adveut of the Russian-American Company the direct coutrol of these islands went out of the hands of the Russian Government, but it seems that the company took but slight interest in them until 1826, in which year they were incorporated into the Atkha District, with headquarters on Atkha Island. After the permanent location of a colony, a Russian “overseer” was stationed on Bering Island. When, in 1868, the Russian-American Company’s régime was at.an end, the islands returned to the jurisdiction of the ‘‘ispravnik” in Petropaulski, while the remainder of the Atkha District became part of the United States by the cession of Alaska to the latter. Kamchatka being, since 1855, only a district of the so-called Coast Province (Primorskaya Oblast), the administration of the islands consequently rested with the governor at Khabarovka, subject to the authority of the governor-general of Eastern Siberia at Irkutsk. Thus things remained until the growing importance of the seal business during the lease to Hutchinson, Kohl, Philippeus & Co. made it desirable to locate a higher official on the islands to represent the Government in its dealings with the company on the islands and to govern the natives. Mr. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Grebnitski was selected as the first “administrator,” landing on Bering Island on August 21, 1877, and has continued as such up to the present time. His long retention in office, coupled with the fact that his salary has been raised repeatedly, that he has gradually risen in rank until he now holds that of a colonel, and that he has been decorated several 1 See p. 97 on the close season asked for the Commander Islands in 1842 and granted in 1843, 132 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. times, is ample proof that he has conducted the affairs of the Commander Islands to the full satisfaction of his Government. As subordinates, two kossaks from Kamchatka were stationed one on each island, Since 1890, however, another civil officer has been located on Copper Island, acting as Mr. Grebnitski’s assistant there. Until last year, when he had to seek a milder climate on account of broken health, this position was held by Mr. Nikolai Matveyevich Tielmann. His successor was on his way to the islands in the fall of 1895 on the bark Bering, but on account of the weather failed to make a landing and had to return to Vladivostok. One of the first things attempted by Mr. Grebnitski, after putting the community affairs of the natives into shape, was to regulate the fur-seal business, i. e., the admin- istrative portion of it as it related to the taking of seals on the rookeries, and the rules first framed were embodied in an order (prikaz) dated April 28, 1878 (0. s.), and the second chapter of a regulation (predpisanie) of the following May 1 (o. s.). In the latter a form was provided which, when filled out and signed by the overseer and native chief, is returned to the office of the administrator. Printed blanks are now furnished, and to illustrate this useful document a sample is herewith appended, as follows: AKT. Rookery at Glinka, Copper Island. Killed in drive June 6, 1881: 1,058 pieces fur-seal bachelors. 2 females. 0 bulls. Total..1,055 pieces. Not accepted by the company for the following reasons: (1) tooth-marked ........2...22.2..-22-22- 3 pieces. (2) CU ireceacea'e evince. Aveenana Ryeaaro ate ata wie are eK 0 (3). MHUELSIZ0d s. 2.2 2iaie oeceind an eeeecacewe-cece 2 Total not accepted..........-.---2.--......- 5 pieces. Of these, the 3 tooth-marked skins were returned to the natives, the 2 wnder- sized ones were salted. Accepted by the company, 1,050 pieces. Overseer, Copper Island....-..-.-.. Sergeant Selivanof (signed). Chief, Copper Island ..............- dnastas Kadin (signed). The receipt given by the agent is appended as a separate inclosure. The more recent form of this blank is somewhat enlarged and covers three pages. First page is essentially as the above, with the running number in the upper left-hand corner. The second page is intended for a ‘‘List of the sealers which have cut any skins.” The third page provides for the following headings: Bachelors ...........-- Resulted in ...... overheated skins, which were turned over to the natives for their own use. The killing lasted ....-.. ADMINISTRATION, 133 The following animals became overheated on the killing grounds: Bul o3.sieg5e0 esletae sise's bs Bachelors .-............. Special happenings: Gradually a set of elaborate regulations have been framed which govern the rookery business.1. Such as differ from those in vogue on the Pribilof Islands are here quoted from Lieut. Commander Z. L. Tanner’s report for 1892 (Rept. U.S. Fish Com., 1892, p. 40), as follows: None but natives are allowed to-work on the rookeries, A fine of 100 golden rubles is imposed by the Government upon anyone who kills a female far seal, and 10 rubles for killing a pup, and such additional fine shall be paid as shall be imposed by the natives themselves. : No person, native or otherwise, is allowed to wear boots with nails in them on the rookeries; rubber boots or tarbasi? must be used. Chewing or smoking tobacco, expectorating, or attending to the requirements of nature are strictly prohibited on the rookeries. Knives may be carried, but a stick with a metal ferule is not permitted. No small boys or females are allowed on the rookeries, and dogs must be left half a mile from the rookeries during the breeding season. Owing to the repeated raids on the rookeries, particularly those on Copper Island in the early eighties, by marauding schooners, which the natives in several cases had to drive off by means of powder and ball, an experiment was decided upon to station regular soldiers on the islands in order to protect them. In June, 1884, the Russian eruiser Razboinik brought ove officer and twenty-three men for Copper Island and nine men for Bering Island. Five soldiers were stationed at the South Rookery of the latter island, where they did good service in driving off the schooner Sakhalien and capturing one of the crew. In afew years, however, the soldiers were withdrawn, and instead the watch force of the natives was organized in a military manner, one Kamchatkan cossack on each island and two conscript soldiers of the regulars, serving their time, acting as officers, under the immediate command of the administrator and his assistant. Watchhouses are erected overlooking the rookeries, and the guards provided with good spyglasses and rapid-firing army rifles. Stands of arms and plenty of ammunition are kept in the Government building at the settlements. The central authorities maintain the supervision of the local administration by occasionally sending out an inspector, or “revisor,” as he is called. His duty is to ascertain the state of affairs generally, as well as the condition of the natives, to receive any complaints of the latter, and investigate their grievances. The governor- general personally visited the Commander Islands in the spring of 1897. A change has of late years been effected in the higher administration of the islands, inasmuch as they have been transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Domains and Agriculture, without prejudice, however, to the territorial jurisdiction of the governor-general of the Amur Provinces. The adminis- trative status of the Commander Islands is therefore now exactly parallel to that of the Pribilof Islands in their double relation to the United States Treasury and the governor of the Territory of Alaska. 1 These, embracing 15 articles, were issued collectively by Governor-General Baron von Korff (Priamurski) February 25, 1886. 2Native seal-skin moccasins. 134 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. CONDITION OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS ROOKERIBES. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. When, in 1882, Prof. S. F. Baird sent me to the Commander Islands to study their natural history he also impressed upon me the desirability of obtaining some information in regard to the fur seal and the sealing industry of the islands. Owing to my hurried departure—I had only 48 hours in which to prepare for the expedition destined to stay two years in the field—I failed to take a photographic outfit with me. In default of photographs, however, I made numerous sketches of the rookeries, and also undertook to construct maps of them by means of an azimuth compass and a pediometer. I submit some of the sketches with this report in exact facsimile of the originals; they have not been touched up in any manner (pls. 20, 41, 42, 43). For that reason they appear extremely crude, but it is thought that they will be accepted with more confidence in their present shape and carry with them more conviction than if they had been fixed up or “improved” in any way. The only photographs of the rookeries in their palmy days were taken by the Russian Colonel Voloshinof, but with only a few exceptions they are not intended to portray the totality of seal life on the individual rookies, and for that reason offer but scant material for comparison with my sketches of 1882-83, or my photographs of 1895, the more so since the points of view in all instances except one are different from mine. However, those that can be utilized in this connection I have reproduced. When photographing the rookeries last summer I made a special effort to obtain views from the identical points from which I had made my sketches in 1882 and 1883. Taking into account the different focus of the eye and the photographic lens, I think a comparison between the sketches and the photographs will establish the general accuracy and truthfulness of the former. When studying the rookeries in 1882-83, I did it with H. W. Hlliott’s Monograph of the Pribilof group in my hands. In the main I found that his observations in regard to seal life were applicable to the Commander Islands seals, and at the same time that the conditions of the sealing industry were also nearly the same on the two groups, so far as could be judged from descriptions alone. There were minor points in which I found, or thought I found, differences, but in the main I agreed, with one notable exception, however, viz, the estimation of the number of seals on the rookeries. Of course, his estimate related only to the Pribilof group, and ag I knew the latter only from his description, I felt bound not to criticise him. ButI became sure of this: His methods and results did not apply to the Commander Islands. Elliott’s method was to ascertain the area of the rookeries in square feet and then multiply this with an average figure calculated from the number of seals, large and small, counted on a certain piece of ground. But I found insurmountable obstacles. In the first place, the method required not only a very detailed and accurate topographical survey on a large scale of each rookery, but the calculation of the area presented an exceedingly difficult problem. No two pieces of ground are alike. In some the beach is smooth aud the seals are lying close; others are covered with smaller or larger rocks and stones, where the seals lie scattered as a matter of necessity. In other places, again, there are open spaces or thin spaces. Then, again, the outlying rocks and reefs defy close calculation as to number and area. On Copper Island small herds of seals would be found in corners and coves, on ledges of cliffs, and under overhanging | ESTIMATING THE NUMBER OF SEALS. 135 rocks, sometimes entirely out of sight and most times beyond computation. I found that every factor of the calculation would have to be estimated averages, and that these averages in their turn had to be founded upon estimated items; in short, that the whole calculation would have to be a product of guesses multiplied by guesses. As we have to deal with large figures, it is evident that a mistake in the estimated factors must result in disastrously great mistakes in the total number. Suppose, for instance, that I had “estimated” the area covered by the seals on both islands to be 4,000,000 square feet. If I “estimated” the average ground covered by a seal (mother, pup, and bachelor) on the rookeries to be 2 square feet, I would obtain a total of 2,000,000 seals on the Commander Islands. But, on the other hand, if I guessed that on the average a seal, large and small, on the rookery occupies 5 square feet—and this would possibly have been more nearly correct—I would get only a total of 800,000 seals, large and small. According to this method, various persons might estimate the number of seals on north rookery, Bering Island, from 20,000 to 120,000, and yet it might be impossible to convince any of them that they were mistaken. A numeration of the seals being utterly valueless unless accurate, or at least approximately accurate, I naturally regarded such an estimate of the number of seals on the rookeries not only as useless, but as downright pernicious. Actual counting being impracticable, and an individual judgment of the number being about as valueless as the above method of calculation, unless acquired by a very long practice, I gave up all attempts at presenting figures. When, after twelve years, I again visited these tookeries the same question confronted me. In one place, where I had an unusually good opportunity, I tried to make an estimate of the average area occupied by a seal on that particular rookery. On July 16, watching the seals before me on Kishotchnoye rookery, Bering Island, I wrote in my notebook as follows: Here is a harem right in front of me, 1 sikatch, 16 matki, and about as many pups. They are lying as close together as about the average, and they easily cover a piece of ground 20 by 20 feet, 400 square feet, or more than 11 square feet per animal, pups and all. Ten square feet per animal for this rookery is, therefore, I think, a fair estimate. But when I came back to the north rookery and tried to apply my estimate, I was entirely at sea. I could not make up my mind whether the seals on the average were lying as close as above, or closer. Of course, I could see places where they were thicker, and others where they were thinner, but T could not, to my own satisfaction, strike an average, if for no other reason, because there were great portions of the rookery of which I could get no general view. Under those circumstances I would have regarded it as the merest humbug to present any figures pretending that they meant anything. Consequently, I wasted no further time upon getting at the probable number of seals on the Commander Islands rookeries. The only method which promises reliable results is the one adopted now on the Pribilof Islands by the experts of the United States Fish Commission, viz, to actually ° count the number of seals on several large tracts of rookery, each of the size of an acre or more. In this way an average per acre may be obtained, which, multiplied by the computed acreage of all the rookeries, will give an approximate number which may not be too far out of the way. But, unfortunately, this method is hardly appli- cable to the Commander Islands, for various reasons, chief of which is the impossibility 136 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. of making an actual count over a sufficiently large area to insure a reliable average. The rookeries are so very different among themselves that it would be necessary to have a separate count of each of them. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE CONDITION OF THE ROOKERIES IN 1882-83 AND 1895. BERING ISLAND. NORTH ROOKERY, 1882-83. (Plate 94.) When I first visited the northern rookery, thirteen years ago, there were three distinct breeding areas, viz, the Reef and Sivutchi Kamen, counted as one; a smaller patch between Babin and the creek, and Kishotchnaya. The bachelors hauled out on many of the outlying rocks surrounding the reef, and also in the rear of it on the smooth, white parade-ground. A large patch of them occupied the space back of the breeding-ground at Babin, large numbers extending a considerable distance back on the grassy area later in the season. Between the creek and Kishotchnaya there were three patches of bachelors. The whole distance from Sivutchi Kamen to Blizhni Mys, therefore, was practically one continuous seal-ground. The breeding grounds at Kishotchnaya were surrounded by a heavy fringe of bachelors, who also sported in great numbers on the smooth, gravelly space in the rear of the rookery. South of Kishotchnaya, between the latter and Maroshnik, were again two separate patches of bachelors. In 1883 for the first time bachelors were known to haul out regularly throughout the season on the beach called Tizikof, beyond Maroshnik. They used to haul out there—and even as far south as Fontanka—late in the season, but their permanent settling on the beach in question was then regarded as an indisputable proof that the rookeries were increasing. It was at this last-mentioned point that the Otome, an English schooner, with a Japanese crew, made a raid during a dark nightin August, 1883, and killed 300 to 400 seals. The mate was captured by the natives and the schooner the next morning by Mr. Grebnitski, on board the steamer Aleksander IT. The rookeries were in excellent condition, both as to quantity and quality. All classes of seals were well represented, and only skins of standard size were taken. This was particularly the case in 1883, when the company’s representatives had very strict orders not to accept a single skin under 8 pounds. During that year 50 per cent more skins could easily have been taken, but for business reasons the company wished to reduce the catch as much as possible, and it was only after some strong pressure was brought upon Captain Sandman by Mr. Grebnitski that he agreed to take as many as he did. It is a fact well worth mentioning that even in those days females and pups got unavoidably mixed up in the drives. The percentage was not very great, but great enough to be a distinct feature of the drives on this island. However, as the drive progressed they were pretty successfully weeded out, and comparatively few reached the killing grounds. Killable seals being plentiful, pods of females were allowed to escape along the route of the drive, even though they might include a few bachelors. NORTH ROOKERY, 1895. (Plate 95.) Upon inspecting the north rookery again last summer I found a great change in many respects. Before reaching the rookery itself the absence of fresh or decaying carcasses on the killing grounds was in marked contrast to the noisome sight and NORTH ROOKERY IN 1895. 137 smell which used to form the first impression of the visitor arriving at the village. Nowadays every carcass is utilized. The choice parts of the meat are salted down in the many boxes and barrels dotting the ground in the rear of the killing grounds, while the rest, including the entrails, are put in holes in the ground for winter food for the sledge dogs. On the rookery itself the first change which struck me was the fact that the entire beach between Babin and Kishotchnaya was depleted of seals—not a single breeding seal between Babin and thecreek, nor a bachelor—all the way to Kishotchnaya. Later on I found that the hauling grounds south of the latter place were also deserted. Instead of the imposing series of breeding and hauling grounds from Sivutchi Kamen to Tizikof, E found only two patches of breeding grounds, now forming almost two distinct rookeries—the Reef and Kishotchnaya. I was prepared for a diminution of the seals, and it caused me, consequently, no surprise. On the other hand, I was considerably surprised at finding (July 8-10 and July 15-20) the breeding grounds of the Reef outlined very much as I had seen them in 1883.! The bulk of the harems were located on the western side of the Reef, rounding the point of the “‘sands” and extending in a long, narrow horn south along the eastern edge of the latter. A narrow band obliquely across the “sands” formed a connection and separated off an oval bald spot of the white ground toward the northern extremity of the “sands.” Itis a noteworthy fact that this “bald spot” was an equally characteristic feature of the rookery in 1883 as in 1895. But what I did miss was another connecting band, viz, between the southeastern extremity of the breeding seals toward the one alluded to above. While thus the distribution on the whole was the same as formerly, there was a perceptible shrinkage in the width of the areas covered by the seals, and it seems to me also in the density of the seals, though of this I can not be so sure. The rookery is so much looked at from the side that it is very difficult to judge correctly of the space between the seals. To show the changes from 1882 to 1895, I submit some illustrations and two maps, which need some words of explanation.’ The drawing submitted (pl. 20) is taken from a photograph of a pencil sketch made by me July 30,1882. Mr. Grebnitski, in going to St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1882, was anxious to have it accompany his report, and upon his arrival at San Francisco had a photographic copy made, which he sent me, and which is here reproduced. Like most drawings, the vertical dimensions are exaggerated, but on the whole it gives a fairly accurate representation of the rookery. The inner edges of the breeding-grounds are obscured by an immense number of bachelors on the “ parade” or “sands,” but the sketch shows pretty conclusively that the salient features are yet maintained. 1 When I first saw the rookery on July 4 it had not quite filled out yet, and I thought the depletion very great indeed; there was then no sign of the oblique belt across the sands, and the seals at the southeast corner formed a small, isolated herd. 1Dr. Slunin in his recent report (Promysl. Bog. Kam. Sakh. Komand. Ostr.) has been singularly unfortunate in misunderstanding an old map by Mr. Grebnitski with regard to the extent of the rookeries on Bering Island. In the legend on plate 7 the dotted areas are represented as being the “yookeries according to Grebnitski.” I have the original map, the so-called “‘Sandman-Grebnitski” map, before me, and can assert positively that Grebnitski never meant to represent the rookeries by the dotted areas, which are nothing else but the reef surrounding the island. Of course Grebnitski did not intend-to convey the idea that more than 60 miles, or half the entire coast line of Bering Island were occupied by the rookeries. 138 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. The photograph by Voloshinof (pl. 27a), taken in 1885, unfortunately is not very clear, but there is enough in it to show that the breeding area, so far as it can be seen from the direction of the salt-house, has shrunk comparatively little. My photographs (pl. 21) were taken from practically the same standpoint as the sketch and Voloshinof’s photograph, and they afford as good a comparison as can be expected from photographs taken at such a distance. Those taken from a somewhat different standpoint, viz, from the driveway (pl. 22), give perhaps a better idea of the rookery, small as they are, The map representing the seal grounds in 1883 (pl. 94) was sketched on August 21, and shows the distribution of the seals on that date—hence the lack of definiteness to the areas of red and the extension of the bachelor seals into the grass-covered area. The map showing the location of the seals in 1895 (pl. 95), however, represents the seals as they were located July 17 and 19. At Kishotchnaya I found the same state of affairs as on the Reef, only that the patch had shrunk still more and the seals apparently covered the ground less densely than on the Reef. This last observation, however, is not to be relied upon, as the breeding ground can be looked down upon from a much greater elevation (70 feet), though at a greater distance. Bachelor seals in small numbers hauled out on the outer rocks and in among the females in the rear of the rookery, but the center of the “parade” ground was deserted all summer, and never a seal entered the posterior third of the latter, now covered with a scanty growth of tufted grass. It was at once apparent that there was a low percentage of bulls on both rookeries, though at the Reef I afterwards found that the condition was not quite so bad as I first was led to believe. Upon my third visit to the rookery, when the wind was favorable for approaching it from the west side, I discovered that there were a good many more bulls proportionately to the females on that side than on the eastern half, which is the one first reached and most commonly seen. The formation of the ground made it utterly impossible to make a reliable estimate of the average number of females to each bull by counting a sufficient number of harems. At Kishotchnaya, however, the opportunities were more favorable, and on July 16 I averaged at the south end of that rookery about 50 females to a bull, while at the northern end the harems appeared smaller, most of those counted containing 15 to 25 females. A great many females were in the water that day, however; so in all probability the whole rookery averaged no less than 40 females to the bull. This proportion did not seem to be the result of or to have caused any lack of vigor in the males, for there was quite a number of large half-bulls skirting the rookery or hauled out on the outlying rocks, looking longingly toward the breeding grounds. The greater falling off in this rookery was due to the decrease in the number of bachelors. But instead of affecting all classes this diminution was chiefly confined to the younger ones. Last summer all the skins were weighed individually on a spring balance as the killing went on, and an accurate tally kept. I submit below a table of weights of the skins taken in 13 drives between July 14 and September 13, 1895. From this it will be seen that no single skin under 7 pounds was taken, and of this weight only 235 skins; that in 4 drives not a skin under 8 pounds occurred; that in none of the drives was the average weight less than 9.7 pounds; that of 6,725 skins, 5,558 weighed 9 pounds and over; and that the average weight of these 6,725 skins was 10.3 pounds. This table is also very interesting, showing how uniform was the size of the animals driven during the whole period of two mouths. Its true significance, NORTH ROOKERY IN 1895: 139 however, can only be appreciated when it is remembered that the rookeries were scraped absolutely clean, and that not a seal was allowed to escape that would have yielded an acceptable skin. It can be stated with almost absolute certainty that there was not a bachelor seal on north rookery, Bering Island, of the class yielding 6-pound skins. Weight of skina taken in 13 drives on'north rookery, Bering Island, 1895. Date. 7 lbs. | 8lbs. | 91bs. | 10 lbs. | 11 Jbs.| 12 Ibs. | 13 Ibs. | 14 1bs.| 15 lbs.| Total. eo No. |Pounds, 5 90 74 61 48 58 1 4 2 348] 9.8 4 1 90 237 15 60 8 1 0} — 545] 10 0 53 110 138 211 161 50 10 0 733 | 10.7 0 42 54 140 150 140 90 0 0 616 | 10.9 9 35 40 27 31 50 20 5 0 217! 10.3 0 56 107 194 241 114 103 60 0 875 | 10.9 0 10 30 60 48 i 20 10 0 189 | 10.6 25 100 100 80 90 36 40 61 0 532 | 10.3 4 85 139 215 208 179 28 52 0 905 | 10.6 15 40 35 28 46 38 14 16 0 232'| 10.4 104 211 171 62 103 120 100 9 0 880 | 9.7 50 93 80 66 85 40 35 10 0; 459] 9.8 19 47 34 20 29 16 17 12 0 194] 9.8 Total ...... 235 932 | 1,064] 1,328) 1,360| 1,018 536 250 2] 6,725) 10.3 Though not literally absent, the yearlings were practically so. From the next table, which shows the number of each class of seals contained in the same 13 drives, it will be seen that out of 29,112 seals driven to the killing grounds only 540 were yearlings, or 1.86 per cent. It was a constant source of wonder on Bering Island, in 1895, what had become of the yearlings. From time to time it was confidently predicted that they would turn up “later,” but they did not come at all. There was a slight proportionate increase after the middle of August, but too trifling te amount to anything. And again I must emphasize the fact that the rookery was scraped clean in search of seals. This fact is startlingly disclosed by the following table, and because of its great importance it requires a full explanation: Details of 13 drives on north rookery, Bering Island, 1895, showing sex and age of seals driven, : Escaping. F Total Date. Killed. x A Remarks. Females. rciaee Pups. | Bulls. | ziven. 1895. July 14 348 1, 305 0 13 11 1, 677 545 1, 090 11 69 9 1, 724 29.. 733 1, 738 23 35 18 2, 542 Aug. 2.. 616 1, 436 14 67 8 2,141 217 779 9 35 7 1, 047 6... 875 2, 014 5 159 11 3, 064 8... 189 1,134 5 63 4 1, 395 12.. 532 2,077 14 104 5 2,792 22... 905 2, 928 173 295 8 4,309 232 1, 265 56 51 4 1, 608 31.. 880 2,259 55 108 5 3,307 Sept. 10.. 459 1,718 38 69 8 2,292 | 14 stagy. cauedagse snes 194 825 1 115 3 1,214 | 51 stagy. Total .......----0+- 6,725 | 20, 568 540 1,183 96| 29,112 Percentage of total driven. 23.10 70. 65 1.86 * 4.06 0. 33 100. 00 140 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Upon my arrival, in 1895, I impressed upon Mr. Grebnitski the desirability of having such a census prepared, and suggested that Selivanof, the kossak in charge of the rookery, be ordered to undertake the work. Mr. Grebnitski, fully aware of the great importance of knowing exactly what classes were represented in each drive, at once took up the suggestion and ordered Selivanof to make a detailed tally of each drive according to the scheme I furnished. The drive on July 19 I counted myself conjointly with Selivanof, and the tally sheet is here produced to show how the work was done and how much reliability can be placed upon it. The seals killed and those escap- ing from each pod, as it was culled and slaughtered, were separately counted, Feoktist Ivanof Korsakovski counting the dead ones, Selivanof and I those allowed to escape. Tally of drive taken July 19, 1895, north rookery, Bering Island. Escaping. Escaping. Pod No. | Killed. Pod No. | Killed. a Fe- | Year- Fe- | Year males. | lings. | PUPS: | Bulls. males. | lings. | PUPS: | Bulls. Decisicince 8 Breau 9 Siacio ss 7 Bocaniac 13 Bawcinicre 16 eeaeee 11 icisisjo'ns 18 Si cicmine: 11 Qiasenn 7 0 scciccic 9 0 ee 12 L2iceaee 11 13...... 6 14...... 9 | oon 21 G2 52 ai50 3 DTisineian & 16 MS nas 9 WD aiccas 13 20. sass 20 P) eee 11 The accuracy of the above tally is attested by the fact that the number of skins taken in this drive was 515. Sometimes the killed ones of the previous pod were lying so close to those being counted that it was difficult to ascertain the exact number, in which case the smaller figure was noted. And so with the escaping ones. Selivanof and I counted separately; if we differed, and a recount was not practicable, we took the lowest figure. The percentages are, therefore, very nearly correct. If there is any error, it is in understating the number of females, but I am sure that the possible error does not exceed 1 per cent. The figures of the 13 drives in the table previously given were ascertained in the same manner, and I have no doubt that they are essentially correct. No tally was kept previous to the drive on July 14, and I failed to obtain the details of the drive on July 24, but there is no reason to believe that the percentage of the classes was different in these drives, except that I was informed that there were no females or pups in the first drive, June 13. In order to complete the record of this rookery for 1895, NORTH ROOKERY IN 1895. 141 I submit the following table of the skins taken in each drive during the summer season: Total number of skins taken on north rookerg, Bering Island, duriny the summer season of 1895 Date of drive. Skins. Date of drive. Skins. It may be interesting in this connection to present a corresponding table for the same previous years to show the dates and size of the drives. The following ones are taken from Venning’s report (pp. 15-18): Number of skins taken on north rookery, Bering Island, during the summer season of 1891. \ Date of drive. Skins. Date of drive. Skins. Number of skins taken on north rookery, Bering Island, during a part of the summer season of 1892, Date of drive. Skins. Date of drive. Skins. aThis table is incomplete, as the total number of skins taken on this rookery in 1892 was over 16,000. The 1,500 additional seals were probably killed after August 20. Number of skins taken on north rookery, Bering Island, during the summer season of 1893. Date of drive. Skins. Date of drive. Skins. * a@ For food. ‘ 142 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Looking again at the table of the classes in the 13 drives, we note that it was necessary to drive off over 29,000 seals in order to obtain 6,725 skins, and that of those 29,000 no less than 20,568 were females. As already stated, there is no reason to suppose that the percentage of females differed materially in the other 4 drives, except one. If, therefore, we calculate the corresponding figures for a total of 8,231 (8,341—110) skins, we find that in order to obtain 8,341 skins, the total catch for the season, it was necessary to drive off to the killing grounds 35,741 seals of all ages, of which the astounding number of 25,174 were females. In this count are not included such females as were allowed to escape along the road of the drive, although the number of females thus culled was comparatively few, as the men were afraid of letting a single killable bachelor escape. Nothing could better illustrate the straits to which this rookery has come. On the other hand, nothing could better demonstrate how little the driving disturbs the seals. Here is a rookery where the females have been driven probably as long as seals have been taken, though not in the same proportion as now. Yet the females return to be driven over and over again, and the breeding ground is the part of the rookery least affected in the general decrease. A great amount of mortality due to starvation was observed among the pups, but is here only alluded to, as I have treated of that question in another connection (p. 78). SOUTH ROOKERY, 1882. (Plate 95.) This rookery, although probably the remnant of the innumerable multitudes which Steller speaks of, has not been of much account of recent years. After the interreg- num, 1869-1871, it was so insignificant that no regular catch seems to have been made until 1880, although occasionally, i. e., before and after the season closed on North Rookery, a few seals were killed at Poludionnoye in order to get fresh meat for the main village, Nikolski. Thus, in 1878, 50 were killed in June and 30 on November 5. The result was that the rookery was gradually increasing. Finally, in 1880, it was deemed sufficiently large to station a small force of men under Mr. Volokitin at the place, and in that year 787 skins were taken. It seems, however, that the capacity of the rookery was underestimated and not enough salt was landed, so that no more could be taken care of. In 1881, in spite of the complaint that although there are “many sikatchi on both rookeries” there are “but few holustiaki, mostly in the water,” the South Rookery yielded 1,150 skins. The following year (1882) the catch was 1,410. When I visited this rookery on August 21, 1882, I found the entire beach between the first and second cape west of the waterfall covered with seals, the breeding seals occupying the portion nearest to the water, the bachelors patches at both ends and in the rear up to the inner grass-covered belt. SOUTH ROOKERY, 1895. (Plate 96.) How different when I approached the same ground again August 17, 1895, thir- teen years later almost to the date! Only a handful of female seals were left at the extreme western end of the rookery. I am very fortunate in being able to present copies of two photographs taken by the late Colonel Voloshinof in 1885, which, as they are taken from almost the same standpoint as one of my own (pl. 29), afford excellent comparison between the conditions of Poludionnoye rookery then and now. In the right-side half of KARABELNOYE, 1882-1883. 143 his double picture (pl. 31a) a series of smaller rocks in the water extends from the- beach to the outer end of the west reef. This series of rocks will be recognized toward the lower left-hand corner in my photograph (pl. 29), and will serve to orient the reader. It will then be seen that the entire beach, which in my picture of 1895 is absolutely bare of seals, is covered with thousands in Voloshinof’s picture of 1885, and that the compact body of seals then extended even a good distance beyond. To complete the comparison I add another photograph of mine (pl. 28) looking in the opposite direction (toward the waterfall), which shows the utter desolation of the entire beach beyond the little black patch.! As for the proportious of the various classes of seals on this rookery, I found the conditions to be similar to those on the north rookery. It was reported in Nikolski © that there had been only 1 bull on the rookery in 1895, but upon inquiry at the rookery I was informed by Nikanor Grigorief, the native in charge, that the actual number of sikatchi had been 5. This number may be considered exact, and the number of females to each bull was, therefore, probably nearly 100. There were plenty of pups when I visited the rookery, and no barrenness of the females was suggested. By dint of hard scraping no less than 564 skins were secured in 1895, 159 of them, however. between August 17 and September 9. Copper ISLAND. KARABELNOYE ROOKERY, 1882-83. (Plate 99). Lhe distribution of seals on this rookery, as I found it during the week July 3-10, 1883, is shown on the map (pl. 99). Every available space under the cliffs was occu- pied by breeding females. Even the ledges at the foot of them and the lower portion of the steep ravines were full of them. The bachelors were obliged to be satisfied with the outlying reefs and rocks, with the beach on the east side of Karabelni Stolp, and the rocky beaches at Vodopad and beyond. The rookery was in excellent condi- tion, all classes of seals being well represented. In fact, there was unquestionable proof that the rookery was increasing. Curiously enough this fact was brought home to the natives located at Karabelni by the circumstance that they were unable to obtain in good season the number of skins required from this rookery.. When I arrived at Karabelni in the beginning of July the natives were deeply concerned because of their failure to obtain the last 1,000 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 finally decided to go to Glinka, 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 Karabelni I was told that it was because the rookery was increasing. Self-contradictory as this state- ment appeared, 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 (pl. 99) it will be seen that at the base of the neck there was a large breeding ground. The breeding seals were increas- ing here to such an extent as to occupy the whole space along the beach, actually shutting off the hauling ground, thus making it impossible to drive any seals from IPI. 67, taken in 1897, affords even.a better opportunity for comparison with Voloshinof’s 1885 picture, since it was taken from the identical standpoint, 144 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. that place. The men were therefore obliged to take the skins at Vodopad and Krepkaya Pad, which meant that they had to carry every skin on their backs across the island. When it is considered 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. The 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 (pls. 41-43). While making no claim for artistic merit I do claim for them sufficient accuracy for an intelligent comparison with my photographs of 1895, 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. KARABELNOYE ROOKERY, 1895. (Plate 100.) On July 31, 1895, Mr. Grebnitski and I landed in Stolbovaya Bukhta and pitched our tent on the beach just west of the killing ground. It was very foggy and the water high, so that we could not pass the point into Martishina Bukhta. Next. 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. We 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 couple of small harems only at the northern end, and toward the southern extremity a small patch of bach- elors, 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 bluffs, which rise 300 feet above the breeding grounds. The photographs which are herewith appended (pls. 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. : I found that while on the whole the breeding grounds had retained their former shape—necessarily, because of the natural conditions of the beach—there was a great thinning out of the ranks of the females. At the same time a large area at the northwestern end had become nearly depopulated. At first I credited the thinness of the breeding herds to the bright weather, but another visit to the heights the next morning showed no improvement. That day I saw no bachelors, except the little patch at the Stolp 3 none at Vodopad and Krepkaya Pad. At Malinka Bukhta, I was informed, they had ceased to haul up several years ago. The next day we saw a few more bachelors, a somewhat larger patch—at the Stolp, and two other patches, of possibly a hundred seals each, one on each side of the Vodopadski Nepropusk. But one feature that struck me with surprise was the great number of bulls and half-bulls. This abundance of old males was particularly interesting, coming, as I did, directly from Bering Island, where this element was so scarce. GLINKA ROOKERIES, 1882-1883, 145 Pups were present in good proportion. The decrease in the yield of this rookery has been considerable. While as far back as 1881 6,500 skins were secured without trouble, it was impossible for the men, in 1895, try as hard as they might, to secure more than 2,000. They were given full swing and encouraged to take as many as possible, though they needed no special encouragement, for the decrease in skins meant a corresponding decrease in food and comfort during the following winter. Moreover, the season was extended to the first week of September, and yet with no better results. Between August 12 and Septem- ber 10 they could scrape together only 188 skins. In order to give an idea of the dates and sizes of the drives on this rookery, I give the following table, extracted from Mr. Venning’s report: (p. 16): Number of skins taken on Karabelnoye rookery, Copper Island, during the summer season of 1893. Date of drive. Skins. || Date of drive. Skins. 872 27 116 398 fy ene e 110 778 Bl goectease ke 236 265 117 Total ........ 5, 845 1, 024 GLINKA ROOKERIES, 1882-83. (Plate 101.) The capacity of Glinka used to be more than double that of Karabelni, having in good years yielded over 20,000 skins. The best hauling grounds were Palata, Zapadni, and Pestahanaya, but bachelors then hauled out as far as Babinskaya Bukhta in the south and Gorelaya Bukhta in the north. These distant grounds were only drawn upon occasionally, and the grounds between Urili Kamen and Palata Mys furnished the bulk of the skins. Of these Pestshani hauling ground was the most prolific and the handiest, although the driving was very severe before the new salt house was built, and single drives yielding more than 4,000 skins from this place were no exceptions.! The principal breeding grounds occupied the inaccessible beach between the Stolbi in Gavarushkaya Bukhta to Palata Mys, comprising Sikatchinskaya and Zapalata, the gully and basin north of Palata, and, finally, the family grounds designated as Zapadni or Zapadni Mys. Palata, to the looker-on coming over the mountains, was probably the most impressive rookery view in the whole Commander Islands group. The solid blackening masses of breeding seals, filling the gully to overflowing and extending under the bluffs and along the beach on both sides, was a sight never to be forgotten. My original sketch, made in 1883 from a prominent point 800 feet above, is appended herewith as plate 52, in order to show the conditions as I found them then. It makes no pretensions at artistic merit, but it is faithful and true.” 1 Dr. Slunin reports that in 1887 a drive yielding 6,000 took place from this hauling ground. 2Tn the first edition of this report a later elaboration of this sketch had to be substituted, as the original had been mislaid. The latter, having come to light since, is therefore now reproduced as being more authentic. 15183—rr 4——10 146 : THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Zapalata and Sikatchinskaya were the mainstay of the rookery, however. There the breeding seals were absolutely safe against all possible interruptions from the land side, while the bays themselves are wonderfully sheltered by reefs and outlying rocks, thus affording admirable places of safety for the growing pups, features which. will be fully appreciated by an inspection of plates 55 and 56. To illustrate the condition of these rookeries during the palmy days of the business I am fortunate enough to be able to copy a couple of Voloshinof’s photo- graphs (pls. 53 and 57a) made in 1885, to which I shall refer more in detail later on. GLINKA ROOKERIES, 1895. (Plate 102.) On the 2d of August I approached the Glinka rookeries in a boat from the north and proceeded along their entire front from Lebiazhi Mys to Babinskaya Bukhta, where we camped. I saw breeding seals in most of the places where I formerly saw them, but in vastly reduced numbers. Bachelors were also seen, but they were few and far between. At Pestshani hauling ground, the place which once supplied many thousands, and which even as late as 1893 furnished 3,137 skins, there was not a single bachelor. True, a drive had been made from that place only a few days earlier, which had resulted in 700 skins, but these 700 skins were all that this famous hauling ground yielded in 1895. ; However, the location of nearly all the former hauling grounds was marked, not so much by little bunches of a dozen bachelors or so, but, curiously enough, by a line of black half-buils. They had hauled up and occupied the beaches with regular intervals, much as do the old bulls in spring before the arrival of the females; in fact, they were in a measure playing sikatch! These lonesome, patiently waiting polusikatchi were first seen at the old hauling grounds on both sides of Lebiazhi Mys, and then on the west side of Peresheyek and of Pestshani Mys, and finally at the eastern end of Babinskaya Bukhta. At these places they had hauled out by themselves. But, in addition, hundreds of these nearly mature young bulls (or sexually nature, though not strong enough to fight the older ones) skirted the breeding grounds, hauling out on outlying rocks and paying attention to the females coming out for a swim or a trip to the distant feeding grounds. On the breeding grounds dark-haired, vigorous- looking bulls abounded. This superabundance of vigorous, mature males was a strongly marked feature of the rookery. This is the more remarkable if we remember that it was already late in the season when I visited Glinka and that, although I stayed until August 11, I saw no diminution of it. The natives also informed me that on account of the still greater number of bulls earlier in the season the fighting had been violent and incessant on the rookeries, This abundance of bulls I have been told has been noticed for several years. In strong contrast to this exuberance of virility was the thinness of the female ranks. They spread over nearly the same territory as formerly, but the lines had shrunk and in many places there were large bare gaps. The magnificent Palata ‘In 1897, having Voloshinof’s picture with me, I was able to locate its standpoint exactly and duplicate his exposure of 1885. The result is pl. 72. Where his photograph shows teeming masses of seals sporting on the barren clay, mine shows these clayey hills overgrown with grass and no seals. GLINKA ROOKERIES, 1895. 147 showed many of the characteristic features that I knew so well, and yet it was only the shadow of the old rookery. Theline running backward up the gully was there, but it was very thin and narrow and broken in places. A comparison of my old sketch (pl. 52), taken at high water, with my recent photograph from the identical stand- point, low water (pl. 51), will give some idea of the difference I saw. Although taken from a point somewhat different from mine, Colonel Voloshinof’s photograph of Palata as it looked in 1885 (pl. 58a) fully bears out my sketch, when it is remembered that he was standing several hundred feet lower to the right and that consequently the solid belt of seals at the base of Palata must look so much narrower on his picture than onmine. My other photographs (pls. 48, 49), looking toward Palata and Sabatcha Dira from the outlying rocks off the former, serve to more fully illustrate the discon- nected and thin character of the breeding grounds in 1895. And as with Palata, so with Zapalata. The change was less striking, though by no means less radical. On the contrary, Zapalata, in proportion, was even more deserted. It is a source of great satisfaction to me that in photographing this rookery I happened to place my camera on the exact spot where Colonel Voloshinof ten years previously had exposed a plate, and although it evidently met with some mishap, so that this picture is one of the less satisfactory ones, I have reproduced the two (pls. 56 and 57a). On the whole light beach my photograph shows nothing but stones, ‘while the same area in Voloshinof’s is teeming with thousands of breeding seals. By turning my camera in the opposite direction, I obtained the other picture (pl. 55), showing the same depleted condition. To complete the series of photographs illustrating the condition of the various parts of the rookery, I finally reproduced one by Mr. Grebnitski, taken from the rocks in Sikatchinskaya Bukhta August 3, as I had no opportunity to photograph it myself. Tt tells the same story (57)). The total number of skins shipped from Glinka in 1895 was 4,809 (including a few hundreds of the autumn catch of 1894), a trifle more than one-half the catch of the previous year. In view of the great number of half-bulls and bulls it is interesting to note that the skins both from Karabelni and from Glinka were unusually small. No regular tally of the weight of the entire catch was kept on Copper Island, but upon our arrival there was a great complaint of the lightness of the skins. During my stay at Glinka, from August 2 to 11, the natives were unable to take more than one small drive, in spite of their anxiety to make more money and to obtain more fresh meat. The skins of this drive were weighed according to Mr. Grebnitski’s directions, who himself kept tally. The weight of the skins was noted to the half pound, but to simplify the list and make it easily comparable with the corresponding ones upon Bering Island I only recorded whole pounds; a skin weighing 74 pounds, for instance, I counted as 8 pounds, while 74 pounds was recorded as 7. Mr. Grebnitski’s tally and my tally will differ to that extent, but the average will undoubtedly be very nearly the same. This average, it will be seen, is scarcely 73 pounds. When I visited Copper Island in 1883 the company refused every skin under 8 pounds. 148 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Weight of skins brought to the salt house at Glinka, Copper Island, August 8, 1895. Weight. hei 8 pounds .- 9 pounds . 10 pounds . 11 pounds . 12 pounds 13 pounds . 14 pounds .... 15 pounds Total number of skins..-.---.------------2+-+- 228 Average weight of skins ......-.-.--- pounds..| 7.6 I may supplement this account of the Glinka rookeries by adding a table derived from Venning’s report (pp. 15-16), which shows the dates and sizes of the drives during 1893. Number of skins taken on Glinka rookeries, Copper Island, during the summer of 1893. Date of drive. Skins. Date of drive. Skins. COMPARATIVE CONDITION OF THE BERING ISLAND AND COPPER ISLAND ROOKERIES, 1895. In what little there has been said and written about the seal industry on the Commander Islands it has always been assumed that the conditions, aside from the difference in the physical aspect of the rookeries, were the same on both islands constituting the group. And this was actually the case not very long ago, at least in 1882-83, and, so far as I could ascertain, up to 1890. In that year, it is said, the bachelors were becoming somewhat scarce on Copper Island and some active work had to be done in order to secure the desired quantity, but inasmuch as this quantity appears to have been the largest ever shipped from Copper Island, the falling off can not have been excessive, though it may have been apparent on the hauling grounds. In 1892, however, the decrease in the number of females on Copper Island became serious enough to cause public comment, while on Bering Island difficulty was experienced in obtaining the requisite, though not limited, number of bachelors. Whatever the cause of the recent disturbance of the equilibrium of the rookeries on the Commander Islands, each island has been affected differently, and the conditions to-day of the rookeries on Copper Island differ radically from those of Bering Island. It may be useful to compare them point for point. CONDITION OF ROOKERIES IN 1896. 149 In Bering Island the number of females in proportion to the mature males is very much greater than on Copper Island. This results in an apparent deficiency in bulls on Bering Island and a corresponding superabundance of them on Copper Island. In Bering Island the killable males are of great size, as proven by the weight of the skins, which in 1895 averaged over 10 pounds. The greatest deficiency was consequently in the younger seals, while yearlings were almost entirely absent. The proportion between the ages of the killables was quite reversed on Copper Island, where a lack of the older bachelors was seriously felt, while the great bulk of the skins taken were from the younger classes, the skins averaging probably less than 8 pounds. As for the pups, it may be stated that they were abundant in proportion to the females on both islands, and no difference could be discovered in that respect. On Bering Island I found a considerable mortality due to starvation among the pups. On Copper Island no such thing was observed, but this negative result must not be taken as a proof or even an indication that no such mortality took place. It must be remembered that most of the breeding-grounds on Copper Island are inaccessible, and that it is almost an impossibility to distinguish the dead bodies of the pups from such a distance as it is necessary to watch them on Copper Island. It was by the merest accident that I myself discovered the sad state of affairs on Bering Island, for if I had not gone over the rookery after the wholesale drive of the breeding-ground I should have remained in ignorance of the fact. The natives themselves were either concealing it, out of fear that they would be blamed, or, more likely, they were ignorant of the extent of the calamity. After the season is over the natives keep aloof from the rookeries, as they are strictly enjoined from disturbing the breeding-grounds without necessity. The simple fact, therefore, that I can report no unusual mortality on the Glinka or Karabelni rookeries proves nothing one way or the other. CONDITION OF THE FUR-SEAL ROOKERIES IN 1896. COMMANDER ISLANDS. The following report upon my tour of inspection of the Commander Islands fur-seal rookeries has taken the form of a narration of the trip, being in fact mostly a transcript of the daily notes made. The Albatross left Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, July 23, in the evening, and came to anchor off Preobrazhenskoye village, Copper Island, about 6.30 p. m., July 30. Being informed by Mr. N. S. Wachsmuth, the new assistant administrator in charge of the island, that Mr. Grebnitski, who alone could give permission to inspect and photograph the rookeries, was at the time at Nikolski, Bering Island, we proceeded to the latter place at 10 p. m., after having made a call ashore. Mr. Nikolai Sergeivich Wachsmuth, formerly an army officer, but now in the civil service of his Government, is a young man and seems to have taken hold of his position with energy and enthusiasm. To this is unquestionably due the increased number of bachelors taken this year thus far on Copper Island, as compared with 1895, for the rookeries have been scanned much closer and scraped much cleaner than during any previous year. Means for taking seals at places where the natives never dreamed of 150 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. killing bachelors, such as boats and ropes, have been devised, and Mr. Wachsmuth himself would get up the first man in the morning and call the men together for the drives. The Albatross arrived off Nikolski the next day about 1 o’clock p. m., and Mr. Grebnitski came at once on board, extending a cordial welcome to us, and gave without reserve the fullest permission to inspect and photograph the rookeries. He even intimated that he might accompany us, and arrangements were consequently made for an early start next morning for South Rookery, where the landing was presumed to be good. We were informed that Mr. Barrett-Hamilton, the British agent, had arrived on July 19 on board H. B. M.S. Spartan and that he was at present on North Rookery. The news as to the condition of the sealing business was not encouraging. Bulls are still scarce, bachelors even more so, as up to July 25 only 2,354 skins had been taken. Nor are the skins quite as heavy as last year, the average weight being about 9 pounds; comparatively few 7 pounds, and yearlings nearly as scarce as last year. Females and pups, according to the tables, are driven as much or more than ever. Soutu Rookery, BERING ISLAND. Press of official business preventing Mr. Grebnitski from accompanying us the next morning, August 1, we steamed away to south rookery, but on account of the fog did not get there until 2 o’clock p. m. Making a landing in the flatboat, accompanied by two sailors, I was received by Laurenti Ivanof, the new starshena of the place, who informed me that up to date only 223 skins had been taken, and that the number of old bulls on the rookery had not exceeded six. Proceeding at once to photographic station No. 1, duplicated last year’s exposure (pl. 11). The day was warm,’ consequently nearly all the females were in the water, a large bunch of them sleeping and playing a little distance off the rookery, while quite a number of pups were also amusing themselves in the shallow water between the rocks. Quite a number were sitting on the latter and only a small proportion on the beach itself. A single bull was seen lying on one of the inner rocks; no bachelors could be distinguished. The seals were this year lying farther east than last year, as shown on the map., I mounted the published map of last year (Russ. Fur-seal Isls., pl. 10) on the plane table and placed the latter on the bluff just back of the rookery at the point desig- nated on the map accompanying this report (pl. 103) as station 4, the point being located by cuts from various points. As it was extreme low water, the reefs extended tarther and more rocks were out of the water, features which have been added on the new map. The location of the seals was also fixed by cuts. The map, although only a hasty sketch, proved quite satisfactory. I also duplicated my photograph of last year from station 3 (pl. 10). 1 The thermometer on board the Albatross registered as follows: 3 p.m., air, + 54° F.; water, + 48° F, 4p.m,, air, +56° F.; water, + 48° F, 5 p. un, vir, + 55° F.; water, + 54° Fy COPPER ISLAND IN 1896. 151 A count of the pups was attempted, which gave about 328 pups on the rocks and on the beach, while probably at least a hundred more were sporting in the water. In all there were probably fully 450 pups, which leads me to the conclusion that the condition of this breeding ground is not much worse than last year (1895), and also that the five old bulls of last year, with at least 100 females each, did their duty nobly. It would thus seem as if the conclusions which I was drawing last year and which I proposed might be tested on south rookery during the present season were sound. (See my Russ. Fur-seal Isls., p. 64.) Returned to the vessel about 5.30 p. m., and the Albatross was soon on her way to Copper Island. Table of fur seals killed at south rookery, Bering Island, 1896. Date. Date A Bachelors < Bachelors No. of drive. (new ri No. of drive. (new . atyle.) killed, style). killed. July 2 7 44 ---| duly 7 15 38 ...| duly 12 26 27 --| July 17 34 21 --.| July 23 28 28 ---| July 28 43 24 ---| July 30 31 19 --| Aug. 1 39 Aug. 4 52 5387 Aug. 9 61 CoppPrRr ISLAND. Chiefly on account of the intervening Sunday, which was spent at Preobraznen- skoye village, we arrived at Karabelni village August 3, in the morning. Mr. Wachsmuth kindly offered to accompany me to the rookery. The wind was southeast, with fog and considerable rain, and the people ashore informed us that it was also foggy and raining heavily on the west side of the island. There being consequently no sense in crossing the mountains to the rookery under these conditions, we waited on board until noon for better weather. In the meantime the wind was becoming more easterly, the barometer was falling rapidly, and the surf on the beach increasing. For that reason, seeing that it might become difficult to land later and that it might even be necessary for the Albatross to go to sea, Mr. Wachsmuth and I determined to go ashore, and, taking bed clothes and provisions with us, we installed ourselves in the Government house. The next morning, with a change in the wind to the northward, the rain ceased. In spite of the fog, therefore, we made up our mind to visit the rookery, even though photographing might be impracticable. As we left the village we saw the Albatross get up steam, and standing out to sea she was soon lost in the fog. KARABELNOYE ROOKERY. We started out at 6.45 a. m. (August 4)and reached my photographic station No. 1 (Russ. Fur-seal Isls., pl. X11) at 8a.m. The weather was favorable for viewing the seal, as it was cool, foggy, with an occasional drizzle, but for the same reason exceedingly unfavorable for photographing and for comparing with last year when I viewed the same rookery in bright sunshine. 152 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. At the Stolp there were apparently a few more seals than on August 1, last year (1895). In the little corner at the north end of the Stolp, where last year only one old bull with a few females was holding forth, there were now three harems of about 20 cows each, and on the rocks a little beyond to the north there was another harem of about the same size. The females in the harems on the west side appeared also to be somewhat more numerous. Several idle bulls and half-bulls were seen on the gravel beach to the left. Pups were plentiful, and a few were playing in the water, the surf being quite moderate on this side. We next went to photographic station 2. The same vbservations were made there. The number of females on the beach was certainly greater than when I inspected the place a year ago, Compared with pl. 40 (Russ. Fur Seal Isls.) it was seen that they were thicker in the inner belt under the bluffs and that they extended farther toward the lower margin of the picture (the creek), but it was also noted that there were less at the water’s edge, and that consequently the total difference was comparatively slight. I counted one-half of the seals on the patch shown in pl. 40 between the margin and the first bluff, and found 436 females in 23 harems, with scarcely half a dozen idle bulls. This shows 19 females tothe harem. In round figures the patch therefore contained 900 cows. Only two small patches of seals were seen sporting in the water at Bolshaya Bukhta, less than a hundred in each. Arriving at station 4 and looking toward station 2 (Russ. Fur-seal Isls., pl. 38a) similar observations were made; and as I had no photographic plate to spare, I sketched the additional numbers in on a copy of the illustration cited. In passing along the edge of the bluffs toward station 3 I was very particular to verify my assertion that the Copper Island rookeries can not be satisfactorily counted, in view of my experience this year on the Pribilofs where we successfully counted a number of rookeries, and I must reiterate my statement that a count with any pretense at even approximate accuracy is impracticable at Karabelni. There are places where the seals are absolutely concealed, and others again which can only be viewed from such a distance that no count can be made. From a boat it would be equally impossible because of the rocks and reefs which are fringing the rookery. I do not believe that it will be possible to get at more than an approximate figure by an estimate based upon a partial count. Basing my judgment on the size of the patch I have counted as compared with my Pribilof Islands experience, I should regard 10,000 female seals as a great exaggeration, the actual number being probably nearer 6,000 than 8,000. ‘ Beyond station 3 (Nepropusk) there were no more cows, and we only counted 16 bachelors on the cliffs below toward Vodopad. A few bachelors were also seen at Staritchkovaya Bukhta, but none elsewhere. In comparing to-day’s inspection with that of last year (1895) it is but fair to remember that the days upon which I then viewed the rookery were sunny and pleasant and that a great number of the cows were then in the water, while to-day was an ideal day for the seals to stay ashore; just middling cool, a light fog, but no rain to speak of. This difference in the condition dependent upon the weather was also shown by the greater number of seals lying at the water’s edge in 1895. The COPPER ISLAND IN 1896. 153 apparent increase this year is so slight that it is safe to say that on the corresponding date of 1895 the number would have been greater than it was this year had the weather been equally favorable from a seal’s standpoint. While it is true that the season (August 4) was too far advanced to make the comparison of the rookeries as satisfactory as it would have been two weeks earlier, yet from the nature of the beaches on Copper Island the animals can not spread out very much and the harems were still pretty well defined. Some bulls might possibly have left already, which may account for the somewhat high percentage of cows per harem. This might seem probable when we remember that 5 of the 6 bulls on south. rookery, Bering Island, have already absented themselves, but it must also be kept in mind that the latter are continuously disturbed by the drives. On the whole I should compare the condition of Karabelnoye rookery with that of North rookery on St. George or Kitovoye on St. Paul. The marked decrease in idle bulls and half bulls on Karabelni‘is not to be wondered at when we are told that 65 bulls have been killed off on purpose this year (up to the time of my visit) besides 75 large bachelors, whose skins weighed from 144 to 18 pounds. The sad experience of last year had taught the authorities not to expect a very large number of'skins and that some lively hustling would have to be done if any were to be got at all. A boat is therefore now stationed in Stolbovaya Bukhta and bachelors were slain and skinned in some of the places where they have been safe heretofore. Hence they had succeeded up to the time of my visit in getting at this rookery 2,049 acceptable skins, I append herewith some tables showing the number of skins taken at Karabelni and the weights of those taken up to the time of my visit. Also the number of seals on the various dates this spring prior to the first drive. Most of these details were kindly furnished by Mr. Wachsmuth. Table of fur seals killed at Karabelni, Copper Island, summer season, 1896. F mall Not Bach- ‘e- ‘| an Date (N.8.). : ac- Rookery. elors. | males. ae _ | cepted. 288 |--.---.-J-------- 6 | Stolbovaya. VASO: | ce eccisin sis eiaisie-eisye.0 10 | Vodopad. BIB: |nc.ci:ezier 52 38 Do. 172 2 13 14 | Stolbovaya. 485 |...--.- a talaralatesteed 22/° Do, 208 TD |eesinace 2 | Stolbovaya and Ner- pitcha. BG} ssieiseieselel caine (mtoeaiats Stolbovaya. 156 ; 1 peeaaites | 9 oe Do. 12 g q 2 oe 32 2 Y a 2 6 1 q q iy 154 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Weight of skins taken in eight drives at Karabelni, Copper Island, summer season, 1896. J June| July | July | July | July | July Pounds. ere ore | be | a> | 16 | at | 26° | “28. Total, 7-18 pounds..... 288 | 186) 573) 172) 485; 208 55 | 156 Grand total.....-.--..- 294 | 196 | 609 | 186 | 486} 229 55 | 156 Arrival of fur seal at Karabelni, Copper Island, 1896, as shown by their number on the rookeries at certain dates. Date, N.S. Bulls. | Bachelors. | Females. Remarks. Stolp. ---| Bolshaya. .--| Staritchkovaya. --| Dalnaya. -| Nerpitcha. With pups, Do. First drive. On August 5, although the weather had improved, the surf was still too heavy to allow a boat to be launched for some time. Landing being so bad at Karabelni, it was considered certain that no landing could be effected at Glinka for several days yet, the beach being much more exposed. Word having reached us that it would be possible to launch a boat on the south side, we decided to have our beds and provisions, etc., carried across the island, then pull to Pagani on the south side across from Glinka, and from there carry them again over the mountains to Glinka village. We left word with the natives for Captain Moser, as soon as it should be possible to communicate with the Albatross, to pick us up at Glinka in a couple of days. GLINKA ROOKERIES IN 1896. 155 When we reached the other side of the island at 11.30 a. m. we found that the surf was rapidly increasing, so that we had to make all haste possible in getting out from Stolbovaya Bukhta. In passing along Karabelnoye rookery a couple of bachelors were seen at the extreme end of the Stolp and a single half bull at Krepki Pad. Judging from a distance, the condition of the rookery was much the same as yesterday, the weather being pleasant, although overcast. Taking the whole rookery in a general view from the boat it seemed plain to me that 6,000 females is the extreme figure allowable for the seals hauled up yesterday and to day. By means of oars and sail we made satisfactory progress and soon had the northern end of the Glinka rookeries before us. GLINKA ROOKERIES. We passed near Lebiazhi Mys and saw the same number of isolated and idle half bulls decorating the beach on both sides of Peresheyekski Kamen as last year. I looked for a place to land, but it was breaking everywhere. We therefore passed slowly along the Urili Kamen rookery as close as seemed prudent. It was at once apparent that the condition of this rookery was considerably worse than last year. The more compact portion near Urili Kamen showed no decrease appreciable to me at that distance, but the patch near Peresheyekski Kamen was very much thinner and the intermediate patches were completely gone, save 3 or 4 bulls with 1 or 2 cows each. The Urili Kamen portion is one of the best looking rookeries on the island, the harems being three to four deep, pretty densely located, about like the best portion of Tolstoi rookery on St. Paul Island. There must have been between 2,000 and 3,000 cows to-day on that piece of ground; probably nearer the latter figure. At the Pestshanaya hauling ground there was a small flock of bachelors, less than a hundred. A few more half bulls and bachelors than last year were seen at the northern base of Pestshani Mys, but from there to Zapadni breeding ground, including Pestshani Mys and the entire Pagani, not a single seal, except a few (‘‘less than two dozen”) bachelors on the beach of the latter just below Cone Peak. We arrived at our intended landing place in Pagani at 2.30 p.m. The surf broke badly on the steep pebbly beach, but as it ‘was increasing every minute we had no time to look for better places, and so, preparing for the worst, pulled toward the beach. To make a long story short, the boat was thrown sideways on the beach, filled with water, and had a big hole stove into her bottom; we ourselves as well as all our things got soaked through, fortunately with the exception of my photograph outfit, and I myself had one thumb very badly sprained by being thrown violently down. With the greatest exertion we managed to save the boat from utter destruction and by taking advantage of each succeeding breaker to drag it sideways out of the surf and to a place of safety. A boy was sent to the village for the men to carry our things over the mountains. Wet and exhausted, we arrived at Glinka village about 4 o’cluck p.m. The morning of August 7 greeted us with blue sky and fine sunshine, and at 7,30 a. m. our party started for Palata. ’ 156 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Arriving at the “806 feet” station, I took photographs of Palata and Zapadni, and then climbed down several hundred feet to the right to get a view similar to Voloshinof’s view of Palata (Russ Fur Seal Vol., pl. 53a). At Palata there was evidently a very great shrinkage since last year. The harem runway up the gully was not continuous any more, but consisted of a small upper patch and a larger one at the lower end (pl. 70). The patches of seals along the beach between Palata and Sabatcha Dira were now entirely disconnected, and the nearer one at the mouth of a little stream from the killing ground is now known as Dopalata. Zapadni, viewed from the same standpoint, shows also considerable falling off, the eastern end having shrunk considerably. Owing to the distance at which these rookeries have to be viewed it is difficult to express an opinion as to their condition, but it seemed to me as if there were fewer idle bulls than last year (pl. 71). Zapalata seems to have suffered less than the others and looked very much like last year. In fact, there were a few more harems on the large flat rock and there appeared also more on the beach. On the other hand, there were less seals in the water than last year (pl. 14). From Zapalata we went down to where the waterfall runs over the edge of the bluff into Gavarushkaya, or rather into “‘Vodopad,” as the portion of this rookery is called, and found it much the same as last year. The conditions are similar to those at Zapalata. During 1896 bachelors have been taken at this place from among the breeding seals, access having been gained partly by boat and also by means of a rope located at this point, by which the men have let themselves down and up. Looking east (pl. 12), a few harems were seen on the rocks this side (west) of Gavarushki Stolp. At Babinskaya only half a dozen idle bulls and half bulls can be seen, consequently fewer than last year. I think it might be possible to count the breeding seals in these two places, viz, Sikatchinskaya and Gavarushkaya (Vodopad). The latter place is also the most favorable for viewing the Commander Island seals more closely, and I have convinced myself that the color of the cows is consid- erably and appreciably darker than in the Pribilof Island cows. - It was quite noticeable at this point that the sunshine alone did not affect the seals disagreeably. They were stretched out at full length, allowing themselves to be baked through without any attempt at getting into the shade or into the water off the rookery and nearly all the cows seen had dry fur. The Albatross arrived off Glinka that same evening, and as I had been over the whole rookery ground and the surf had gone down sufficiently to allow the launching of a boat, I at once boarded her. Before closing this chapter ou Glinka rookeries I may mention an occurrence which Mr. Wachsmuth related to me. On June 30 (new style) 1896, a large flock of bachelors, probably as many as 2,000, had been observed hauled out on the east side of the peninsula near southeast cape of Copper Island, but as the surf was too heavy at the time they could not be captured. A few days later, when the people came to take them, they had already disappeared. This goes to show that a flock of bachelors may occasionally, by reason or stress of weather or other conditions, haul out temporarily in a place not habitually visited SEALS KILLED AT GLINKA IN 1896. 157 by them. The very fact that this caused such a stir among the natives is proof enough of its unusual character. Mr. Wachsmuth also kindly furnished me with the following data concerning the killing, weight, and arrival of seals at this rookery for 1896 up to the time of my visit. . Table of fur seals killed at Glinka, Copper Island, summer season 1896. Bulls Bach- Fe- and | Not ac- elors. | males. | half | cepted. ‘ bulls. Date, N.S. Rookery. 2) Zapalata. 34 ges eee 0. 52 a and Urili am. Sisccieosscudwoes QE | wae seas | axpeeeiecleeeaciecs Pestshani and Urili Kam (found on Toad). AG etsiasote picaraises-ais 601 |.-...-.- 23 24 | Palata and Sabtcha Dira. seecis sas focacei ce Zapalata. cia roterctzis 5 | Babinskaya. 41 14 | Sabatcha Dira. 09 Hd 200 HD June|June| July | July | July | July | July | July | Aug.| Aug. Pounds. 39.30. | 2) | 7 | a7) | a9. | a | | | a a 1 1 36 7 5 14 Cl rere ements a oe aia) ceneicags 38 4 91 36 15 50 30 10 2 it 4 28 7 108 50 24 66 40 14 7 8.. 7 92 4/° 175 92 41 79 57 27 8 8h. - 5 49 2 108 87 38 55 43 12 5 De ie 14 52 2 146 89 60 68 50 21 5 . Of... 23 36 3 111 61 55 40 41 11 5 10... 22 31 9 100 65 52 28 41 11 6 104... 12 25 3 39 31 28 25 23 11 1 11...-- 28 82 2 61 25 46 17 19 8 3 1if...... 12 11 2 18 14 18 6 15 og) ies ADE ince ae oe 16 17 2 33 22 27 15 5 ce eee 12h. -----------------eeeee-| TL} 11 ]------ 13 4 10 6 Gi | ces 3 %) Total 7-18 pounds...) 211 | 444 44 | 1,049 | 601 | 458) 478 | 398 | 142) 51 Grand totals....-... ale | 475 45 | 1,085 | 608 | 463) 492 | 401 / 142] 51 158 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Arrivals of fur seals at Glinka, Copper Islund, 1896, as shown by their numbers on the rookeries on certain dates. “Date (N.S.). Bulls. | Bachelors. | Females. Remarks. Vodopad. -| Sikatchinskaya. Zapalata .) Theso-called fe- meee Palata | male disap- -| Dopalata.) peared later. -| Zapadni. -| Babinskaya. “| Some pups. First drive. NorTH ROOKERY, BERING ISLAND. Anchor was dropped off Sivutchi Kamen, north rookery, at 8 a.m. August 8, but it was blowing so hard from shore that we deemed it impossible to pull a boat ashore against it. By 4 o’clock in the afternoon it had moderated somewhat, and as there were no signs of any speedy improvement in the weather I determined to go ashore in spite of the rain. We were met on the beach by the Kossak, Alexander Selivanof, and the former Starshena, Peter Burdukovski, and learned that Mr. Barrett-Hamilton was then in Nikolski. I inspected both the Reef rookery and Kishotchnaya, and in spite of the weather made an attempt at photography, a somewhat useless proceedure, however, first because there was nothing but empty beaches to photograph, and second, the plates in that light would hardly receive any impression of the empty beaches themselves. Selivanof told me that there had been the usual lack of old bulls, but that there were plenty of females. As to the correctness of this latter statement I had no means of satisfying myself, for the rookery—except the rocks—was nearly deserted, most of the females having been driven into the water by the rain, and even a great number of the pups were in swimming. On the rocks, however, there were a great many, even on some of the nearer eastern ones, where no harems ever locate. Bachelors were not in evidence. The conditions at Kishotchnaya were similar. The harems were long since disorganized, and it was evidently too late to make any effective comparison, especially by photography. I am inclined to believe, however, that, so far asthe cows are concerned, the conditions are not appreciably different from what they were last year, and I have no doubt that Selivanof was correct in stating that there were no more bulls than usual. As for the bachelors, it will be seen that up to date (August 8) nearly 3,400 had been obtained. Last year 5,139 had been killed by August 8, so that the outlook for a catch even as large as last year’s is extremely slim. As a matter of fact, the total when the season closed in August 31, 1896, was only 6,098 as against 8,370 in 1895. Tappend a table showing the drives and numbers killed up to the time of my visit, kindly furnished by Mr. Grebnitski, also tables of details of all the drives and the weights of the skins taken. SEALS KILLED AT NORTH ROOKERY IN 1896. Table of fur seals killed at north rookery, Bering Island, June 17 to August 5, 1896 Date (N.S.). Bachelors.| Females. |Undersized.| Bitten. | Where taken. June 17........ auieesectsened 2 i July Sivutchi Kamen. Do. Reef. D 0. Sivuatchi Kamen. Kishotchnaya. Reef. Sivutchi Kamen. : 0. Reef. -| Kishotchnaya. Do. .| Sivutchi Kamen. -| Reef. Do. Sivutchi Kamen. Hie te bnaya: . Do. -| Reef. Sivutchi Kamen. Details of the drives on north rookery, Bering Island, 1896, showing sex and age of seals driven. - Escaping. ; Total Date. Killed. = . Remarks. Females. es: Pups. | Bulls. | ¢7iven- 192 6 209 125 8 415 279 6 773 | 1 female killed (skin, 10 pounds). 189 8 720 | 1 female killed (skin, 11 pounds). 446 1, 852 |....-... 15 13 | 2,326 | 3 females killed (skins, 10 pounds). 332 |, 1, 654 |. 12 95 14} 2,101 | 1 female killed (skin, 8 pounds), 715 2, 083 |. 59 281 25 | 3,163 | 5 females killed (skins,9and 11 pounds). 1, 028 2, 084 67 20 34 | 3,183 1,120 1,014 225 156 11} 2,526 1, 343 220 653 24) 38,142 682 1, 234 162 305 17 | 2,400 | 114 ‘damaged ”’ (stagy ?). 6,010 | 12,517 | 746 | 1,525 | 166 | 20, 964 Percentage of total : driven ....--..-.-.- 28, 65 59.73 3. 55 7.27 0.80 | 100. 00 Weight of skins taken on north rookery, Bering Island, 1896. [ shalelalalelalalalalale j Z Ss 4 zg | a a a g =I 5 =I 7 Date a) ee ee ee ee ee ee oo) ee le i= i= iJ i—3 i" 7 i=" i=" =" i) i=") i .—4 b pa ea Sal taal ° 4 a oo + 19 © ~ 2 ° bb Co) oa a ot al a a a a qd H | Lbs. 7 38 27 42 15 21 30 11.4 12 21 20 10 18; 110 20 11.5 67 84 30 38 18 1. 19 10 86 49 27 7 1 2 1 8.7 116 104 39 40 20 32 15 9.4 120 80 |. 41 17 7 5 4 8.7 212 193 | 151 60 32 10 9 9.4 Aug. 5..-.-./------ 235 452 203 84 24 10 11 3 8.4 15...... 3 312 454 247 69 18 4 vi 1 8.1 20...-.- 4 250 365 166 61 19 pe 13 3 8.3 | Slasescs 2 142 290 4g] 58] 21 7 2 3 8.4 | Total .. 15 | 1,103; 2,181) 1,333 | 607] 296) 146 | 134 | 108 9.3 The last two tables are highly interesting and instructive, viewed in comparison with the corresponding ones for 1895 (pp. 139 and 140). 160 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. With regard to the weight, it will be seen that the average in 1896 was a whole pound lower than in 1895, in spite of the fact that skins up to 17 pounds were taken. The lower average is due to a great falling off in the 10 to 13 pound skins and a corresponding increase in those weighing 7 and 8 pounds. It will be noticed that this increase in the smaller skins is particularly great after the 1st of August. This agrees well with the known fact that the younger seals arrive on the rookeries later than the older ones. The table of the details of the drives during 1896, showing the proportionate number of sex and age of the seals driven, demonstrates that the driving of females and young—in other words, the scraping of the rookery in search of killables—has been going on in 1896 much as in the year previous. The percentage of females appears to be somewhat smaller, due in a measure to the fact that the table for 1896 includes all the drives, even the earliest, when the proportion of females is less, but that of the pups, on the other hand, is very much greater. Foreseeing that it might be impossible to make a landing at Nikolski the following day, and that consequently, on account of the advanced season and the low state of our coal supply, it might be necessary for us to proceed directly to Petropaulski, I left with Selivanof a letter for Mr. Grebnitski, regretting the fact that we might have to forego the pleasure of bidding him personally farewell, and thanking him for our reception and treatment while on the islands. Had time allowed, it had been my intention to visit the alleged fur-seal rookery on the coast of Kamchatka, but for the reasons given above we had to go at once to Petropaulski, Kamchatka, where the Albatross anchored on August 11. DR. D.S. JORDAN’S NOTES ON THE GLINKA ROOKERIES, COPPER ISLAND, 1896. Dr. Jordan, in charge of the fur-seal investigation, made a short visit to the Glinka rookeries on August 25, 1896, during which he was enabled to make some valuable observation on the starving pups. It will be observed that during my own visit, shortly before, I was not in a position to continue my own observations of 1895 with regard to the mortality of the pups. In the special chapter relating to this subject (p. 106) I have called attention to the fact that both the natives and the local authorities evinced a strange inclination to treat this whole subject lightly, even to the extent of trying to explain away my observations in 1895 on Bering Island. Dr. Jordan also experienced this same reluctance to admit that pups are starving on the rookeries of the Commander Islands. His observations, doubly valuable because they were made in company with the British commissioners, are herewith appended as proof positive of the state of affairs which I pointed out last year. Of course, the starvation of the pups does not assume the same startling obvious proportions as on the Pribilof Islands. The pelagic sealing around the Commander Islands of late years is decreasing, and I have elsewhere given the reasons for the fact that the phenomenon is much more difficult to observe on the Commander Islands. DR. JORDAN’S FIELD NOTES. STARVED Pups, August 25.—Zapadni rookery, of Medni Island, is a stretch of coarse shingle and rounded rocks on a sloping beach at the foot of very high cliffs. In the sea are large DR. JORDAN’S NOTES IN 1896. 161 rocks, on which the female seals are now mostly gathered. On the shore are a small pod of females and a nunber of groups of pups. No males, young or old, appear. In the first little pod of 20 pups, 6 are evidently starving; 8 recently starved dead ones lie there, and there are 4 dead ones of older date, but also emaciated. Zapadui rookery seems not much larger than Little Polavina, of St. Paul. On the rookery ground are 11 fresh starved pups, besides 14 which seem, some of them at least, to have been starved, but which are now largely decomposed. There are many carcasses of dead seals on the beach nearly devoured, and dense swarms of small flesh flies abound, their maggots destroying a dead pup or dead seal carcass very quickly. Evidently of the very earliest pups only fragments remain. The air seems drier and warmer than on St. Paul, and a dead pup remains fresh only for a short time. Many which have not been more than a week dead have been reduced to skeletons and hair. A pod of 46 pups on shore is examined. Asa whole they seem much less active than Pribilof pups, smaller, sleepier, and more stupid. Seventeen of the number are evidently starving. Some look plump, but it is probable that nearly all of these land pups are really starving; the large and well-fed ones have taken to the water. Other pods show similar characteristics. In a group of some 200 about 80 are evidently starving. This is not a count, but a rough guess. The percentage in general holds for all groups examined. In this record no effort was made to get full counts for lack of time. I have only noted what I saw. It is very clear that the starving pup is in fullest evidence on the Glinka rookeries. On these rookeries trainpled pups must stand at the very minimum because the rookeries are narrow and rocky, preventing massing, and bulls are few. There is little chance of drowning. One pup in the water has crawled upon arock about 10 feet from the shore to die. The rising tide will drown him if he doesn’t starve first. On the edge of the slide at Palata is a little brook which has worn a small gully and which is doubtless responsible for the slide itself. In the brook were 4 dead starved pups, and in a pod of 150 lying near it at least 50 more are starving. The governor of Medui Island seemed rather sensitive on the subject of dead pups, as though he felt that he might be taken to task for it. He spoke of the trampling of bulls as the cause. I tried to throw the blame on the pelagic sealers, and expressed my hope that wise arrangements might put a stop to the loss. But it would seem that the authorities think the less said the better on this subject. It is probable that most of the pods of pups along the beach are made up of starving ones, the strong ones being in the water and on the bare outlying reef. Even a fairly plump one seemed dull and dwarfish, while among the others are all stages of emaciation. The excessively numerous beach flies make quick work of the bodies. Separating Palata from Zapalata is a huge wall of cliff, at the foot of which, on the Zapalata side, is a number of parallel or knife like reefs which extend well out to sea, bare at low tide, and uow black with seals and pups, the females almost as dark as the young. The pups find excellent places for swimming between the reefs. A good many are scattered about over the slide which forms the rookery, mostly asleep, while many are crowded on the beach below. 15188—pt 4——11 162 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. On the detached north end of Palata 42 dead starved pups were noticed, with 24 other dead ones mostly showing emaciation, but more than a week old, so that they can not be investigated. This rookery, like the others, is one on which very few pups would be trampled. One fresh pup, not emaciated, at the edge of the sea, has apparently drowned. This is the only pup seen in condition to be examined in which the death was obviously not due to starving. AUTOPSIES. 1. Zapadni.—Young male pup cast up by waves. Perfectly fresh; no trace of subcutaneous fat; lungs greatly congested, crepitate; no trace of water in them; heart normal, with some unclotted blood; liver very dark red; spleen purplish; stomach and intestines empty, except the lower part, which contains the dark-green tarry matter; gall bladder nearly empty; kidneys deeply congested, the left most so, Evidently starved, not drowned. 2. Zapadni—Female; wholly devoid of subcutaneous fat; vent foul with black tarry matter; lungs deeply congested, not crepitating; intestines pale, empty, except for fluid brown bile; stomach empty, with mucus and bile; kidneys slightly congested, the left most. 3. Sabatcha Dira.—Male; no subcutaneous fat; lungs excessively congested, almost black, not crepitating at all; heart normal, with some blood; liver very black; left kidney much congested, the right a little; intestines with tarry bile and slime’in lower part only. 4, Sabatcha Dira.—Male; lungs greatly congested, crepitate; no fat; liver dark; black matter in lower intestines as usual, the alimentary canal otherwise empty; kidneys congested, the right most so; heart normal, with some blood. DRIVEWAYS. Zapadni driveway: The drive from Zapadni goes up from the stony beach between two towers of rocks, climbing the gorge of a little brook which cuts into the bowlders and clay of the hillside, an excessively hard, rough little gully, very difficult for a man to climb, there being small cascades and wet clay in its course. The way is marked by road skeletons (pl. 13). After an ascent over ground of this sort for 300 or 400 feet, more or less, the drive goes up through steep grassy slopes, some of them of soft clay, somewhat cut into rough steps by men’s boots. The general character of the ground is unrelieved, although more or less broken by cross gullies and ridges. The final ridge is 760 feet above the sea. On the Glinka side is a long slope, at first quite steep, everywhere grassy and rather easy, but marked with road skeletons, as it is very long. The rye grass grows longer below, and a little stream has deep depressions, which serve as death traps, as the skeletons show when the seals fall in piles over one another. Above Glinka is a steep slide of yellow clay, from which the village is said to have received its name. This slide must be a hard place for the seals. The seals (few in number) that are released because too young or tvo old are allowed to go down to the sea, whence they go back to the west side again. THE ROOKERIES IN 1897. 163 Palata driveway: The drive from Palata is now rarely made, as the seals have grown so few. They are killed all along the beach, and the myriads of flies about the decaying carcasses must be the source of great annoyance to breeding seals. The drive ascends from the parade ground on the top of the landslide. This was formerly occupied by bachelors. But there are no separate droves of bachelors now. They are scattered in little clumps about and between the rookeries. The drive then for about 100 feet ascends a grassy cliff so steep that steps have been dug in it to facilitate climbing. Then follows some 700 feet of irregular but very steep slope, in which the easiest depressions are sought, though the hill is everywhere about as steep as a man can climb, and one who goes up it must cling to the grass. Above this slope the drive reaches the back of the knife-like ridge that separates Palata from Zapalata. This widens out into an easy level plateau for about 20 rods, marked with road skeletons. The elevation is 850 feet by Dr. Stejneger’s map. Then follows a steep climb up gravel and clay, with scanty grass and heather, worn into steps, the driveway bounded on the southwest by a slanting precipice that lies above Sabatcha Dira. A steep shoulder of heather and small plants is followed by a final climb into the clouds to the summit of the pass, 1,220 feet above the sea. From the summit an abrupt descent leads down a distance of 500 feet by a zigzag trail as steep as a horse could pass over, strewn with gravel and covered with low flowers, to the bed of a swift little brook. This stream flows down into a grassy basin, the slope becoming less and less, the rye grass and putchki growing taller. At the junction of this stream flowing into the little brook to the west this drive merges into the one from Zapadni. The drive from Palata is not in any place so difficult as the gully just above Zapadni, but it is half higher and twice as long—a trip one could not take on horseback, vor would it be easy to lead a horse over it. Comparing it with conditions on St. Paul, the Palata Pass is as steep as the cone of Bogoslof, twice as high, and is without water. Compared with the severest drive on St. Paul, it would stand as the ascent of Mount Blane to a walk in the park. It is a very fatiguing trip for a man. It took me, walking rapidly, thirty-eight minutes (deducting stops) from Palata to the grassy level, 860 feet; thence twenty-eight minutes to the top, 1,220; fifteen minutes down the upper slope, and fifteen more to Glinka. CONDITION OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS FUR-SEAL ROOKERIES IN 1897. The inspection of the Commander Islands rookeries during 1897 was beset by many difficulties and was at times not devoid of danger, chiefly on account of the lack of proper means of transportation. It is greatly to be regretted that no vessel could have been spared from the United States Revenue Service or Navy to stay about the islands during the sealing season. Much more work could then have been accom- plished and much valuable time have been saved, which was now lost in waiting for the uncertain visits of the foreign men-of-war or the company’s steamer. It must be remembered that the coasts of these island have no harbors, that the weather is usually stormy and foggy, that the rookeries are situated 12 to 20 miles away from the villages, and that landing at these places is often impossible or dangerous for weeks at a.time. Thus the steamer Kotik this year was forced to return to Petropaulski without having been able to land boats at the rookeries of Glinka and Karabelni, on Copper Island, although she was more than three weeks attempting the feat. 164 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Coasting in small open boats along these stormy islands is neither pleasant nor without danger. It thus took us five days to make the distance of 20 miles from Nikolski to South Rookery, on Bering Island; five days of storm, heavy swell, rain, dangerous surf, and long, weary, wet nights on sandy or rocky beaches, with no other shelter than the overturned boat. Nor was the sail from Preobrazhenskoye to Glinka and back without its hardships. Then the long, dreary waiting for the ships, the arrival of which can not be known beforehand within weeks, with the necessity of being present and prepared to embark immediately. Under such circumstances work is difficult and at times impossible, and the trip, which in addition involves rough passages at sea for weeks and weeks in vessels not meant for passenger transportation, is anything but a pleasure excursion. BERING ISLAND. North Rookery.—It will be remembered that in “The Russian Fur-Seal Islands” I made it a point that, while the Copper Island rookeries in 1895 showed tremendous falling off in the number of breeding females as compared with what I saw there in 1882-83, the North Rookery of Bering Island was much less affected, although, of course, a great diminution was quite perceptible even then. As an evidence I mentioned the general outline of the breeding mass of seals, aud more especially a characteristic feature of the same, viz, a “band” of harems across the northern end of the “sands.” This “band” was well shown in photographs taken both in 1885 and 1895. In 1806 my visit to this rookery was so late that I had no opportunity to institute an intelligent comparison with the conditions of 1895, but during the present year (1897) my inspection was contemporaneous with that of 1895, at the height of the season, and consequently fully comparable. As a result of this inspection, Iam able to demoustrate a very great decrease in the breeding females on north rookery since 1895. This rookery was visited by me twice during the height of the season of 1897— first on July 13, in company with Prof. D’Arcy Thompson and Mr. Barrett-Hamilton; the second time on July 16, in company with the latter gentleman. On July 13, at our first visit, the weather was very warm, probably as much as + 64° F., with bright sunshine, and at the time of our inspection it was very low water. Quite a large number of females were in the water off the Reef Rookery, but even allowing liberally for these it was at once evident that the number of females had greatly decreased since I inspected the rookery in 1895. The characteristic outline of the breeding mass had not only disappeared, there being hardly a trace of the “band,” but there was a general thinness of the ranks, and the “massed” patehes had shriveled up to an ominous degree. The best portion is still the western side of the “sands,” but even here the decrease was noticeable, while to the north of this the density showed the greatest falling off. The “sands” were fringed all around, though on the east side there were now actual breaks in the continuity of the line. As already noted, a large number of females were in the water off the rookery, both on the western and eastern side of the Reef. However, on July 15, 1895, the date when I photographed this rookery, the weather conditions were exactly similar, viz, a hot, sunshiny day, with hardly a breeze stirring, and the seals in the water were THE ROOKERIES IN 1897. 165 then equally numerous. (See pl. 22, Russ. Fur-Seal Isls., and the note referring to the same in the list of illustrations, p. 138.) The conditions are, therefore, absolutely comparable. It was noted that the pups had already podded to some extent, but the season was equally far advanced on July 15, 1895. Professor Thompson suggested that we make a rough estimate of the number of females actually on the ground (agreeing, as he did, with me that a regular count of this rookery is impracticable). We consequently counted independently a section of the eastern base of the “sands,” and both found it to contain about 600 females and 10 bulls. Professor Thompson’s estimate that the total occupied area of the rookery is fifteen times greater than that of the seals counted is possibly not very far from the truth, the result being about 9,000 to 10,000 females then on the rookery, and about 150 bulls. We could not get close enough to the seals to ascertain whether there was any great mortality among the new-born pups on the rookery ground proper. On the western edge of the Ladiginski Peninsula we counted about 15 dead pups, most of them with the hair already off. Mr. Barrett-Hamilton suggested that some of them might have died in yesterday’s drive (the first drive during the season), but the hair on the best preserved pup was already quite loose, and we all agreed that it had been dead for several days. We next went to Kishotchnaya, and found there a similar state of affairs. There was not a seal above the steep bevel of the beach; not one on the upper, flat, shingly portion which I have called the “parade.” In 1895 the two lateral sections of this rookery extended a considerable distance backward, leaving the middle section bare to the bevel, but all the harems situated there had now disappeared, and the number of seals appeared nearly one-half less. In 1895 I had to keep well concealed behind the large stone so as not to disturb the nearest harems, which were scarcely 10 yards away. ‘l'o-day Professor Thompson stood upright on the top of this rock without the seals on the beach even noticing his presence. A cursory and rather superficial count of the females gave about 600 for the northern and 700 for the southern section. Allowing 900 for the middle section, the total was about 2,200 females, certainly a maximum estimate. During our visit three days later, July 16, 1897, there was no change in the appearance of this part of the rookery (Kishotchnaya) except that there were but very few seals in the water, and a correspondingly large number on shore. On account of the unfavorable wind the guard whom the starshena sent with us would not allow us to go as far as we ourselves deemed safe and prudent. Mr. Barrett- Hamilton being very anxious to have a count of this rookery made as far as practicable, I agreed to undertake it jointly with him, though protesting that the conditions were such that not even an approximately accurate count could be made. ! willingly admit, however, that on account of the great reduction in the number of the females since 1895, a count is somewhat more feasible now than then. For this count I can claim no more accuracy than for a well-considered estimate based upon my experience in actually counting and estimating the rookeries on the Pribilof Islands, and it is of no value except as a check upon such an estimate. We divided the Kishotchnaya rookery into three sections, according to whether the seals were lying outside the two rocky ledges or between them. We counted each 166 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. division separately and compared the figures. For the first section (the southern), which could be observed best, our count agreed very closely (viz, 660 and 665), but for the two others Mr. Barrett-Hamilton’s figures were considerably below mine (about 300); mine being the higher ones, he accepted them. Following the various groups of female seals in the binocle I could distinguish in the Southseetion (43+ G05): sec cian cewis tissceseseieie se aietercinie ie cinictele's pie bee abe phineiele sejelee elke adieciclecia 708 Middleiscebionis: 5 sir, < aiie steletemretlarrecicilg wos et ayeiaiais Game Desig wsteays oo sep ghee MCE RS HERE Heme seeeeEEE 1, 034 Northséc tions: cinco chapt cutie sb ehceaecdeeiendece rime tcwsd Soca. mene oof ame Heeb emeweeeees 848 Total (Kishotchnaya), 2,590 female seals, or, in round numbers, 2,600 females. No allowance was made for seals which could not be seen. The number of these can only be guessed at, but including the very few seen in the water it is probably safe to say that there were altogether nearly 3,000 female seals on Kishotchnaya on July 16, 1897. Thisis also the figure I should have estimated offhand, and agrees pretty well with the estimate made July 13, viz, 2,200, and the large number seen in the water off the rookery. Hight hundred seals in the water occupy a large area, and this figure is probably over rather than under the actual number seen by us that day. Three thousand, then, will about represent the maximum number of females present at any one time during the height of the season at Kishotchnaya, as the day was an ideal one for the seals to remain ashore. The weather was perfect, comfortably cool, cloudy, no rain, wind light southeast, half water, rising tide. At the Reef we found on the 16th the same state of things as on Kishotchnaya, viz, a denser accumulation of the females on shore and none to speak of in the water; consequently the rookery looked fuller than it did three days previously at our first visit, and the gaps between the patches appeared more or less closed up. The capacity of Reef rookery for this season (1897) was undoubtedly at its highest to-day, yet that characteristic “band” across the “sands” was not there, not even a trace, as the few individuals which we had noticed on the 13th had now left it. Nothing attests better the decrease of this rookery since I visited it in 1895. Another point brought out by my inspection of the Bering Island rookeries in 1895 was the relative dearth of old bulls as compared with the condition on the Copper Island rookeries. The disproportion of the sexes was still evident on North Rookery in 1897, though much less marked than in 1895, on account of the decrease of the females. It would be waste of time and paper to try to present figures to demonstrate it, as the counts that have been made are utterly worthless. There may have been 150 bulls on the Reef this year, or there may have been 200; there is no way of telling with certainty. The rookery had of necessity to be watched from such a distance that only a fraction of the bulls can be seen. On Kishotchnaya the conditions are somewhat better, but the result of our count is not very satisfactory, as a recital of our experience on July 13 will show. The fact is, that the bulls are often so concealed while lying down among the females that it is impossible to see them, unless they are roused so as to stand up, and such a rousing can only be affected here in a few instances. A count of the bulls actually seen is therefore sure to be considerably under the true number. This was very forcibly shown during our inspection of Kishotchnaya on July 13. We had counted 7 bulls in the southern section, when Mr, Rodger, Professor Thompson’s assistant, accidentally stampeded a portion of the females. At once 3 bulls, hitherto overlooked, got up in NUMBER OF SEALS ON SOUTH ROOKERY. 167 full view, and Rodger, to use Mr. Barrett-Hamilton’s own words, “by stampeding them added 3 bulls to my list.” The general proposition, however, that there are still proportionally much fewer males on Bering Island than on Copper Island holds good (even after the killing of a number of them last year on the latter island) and is conceded by all. Whether this comparative dearth of males on Bering Island is particularly injurious to the condition of the herd will find a negative answer in the South rookery of Bering Island, as suggested by me on page 640f my Russian Fur-Seal Islands. South Rookery.—In view of the above suggestion I was ordered to pay special attention to the South Rookery during 1897. There being no inhabitable house at this rookery, we were obliged to camp in the neighborhood, and from July 24 to 30 we (Mr. Barrett-Hamilton and myself) visited the rookery two or three times a day. It will be remembered that this rookery is very small and situated under a steep bluff, which makes it possible to count the seals with some degree of accuracy. My visit in 1895 was too short to allow an actual count of the females, but I estimated their number at “about 600,” while the maximum number of sikatchi, or bulls, was said by good authority to have been only 5 during that season. In my report upon that visit I urged the advisability of undertaking an exact count of the young ones the following year, in order to ascertain whether these few bulls bad been sufficient for the impregnation of the whole number of females. I myself arrived too late in 1896 to be able to do it, and nobody else took up the suggestion. It was ascertained, however, that no more than 6 sikatchi had frequented the rookery that year. In 1897 Mr. Barrett-Hamilton agreed to undertake the count in common with myself. At first we intended to drive the pups off in a body and count them in that way, but there were various objections to this plan; first, that the driving would materially interfere with the sealing at this rookery, the bachelors hauling up among the females and being culled from among these; second, that so many of the pups were in the water during the day (at low water) (pl. 68) that it would be impossible to gather them all together on land, while in the evening, when they all came ashore, water was high (pl. 69), thus preventing any driving at all. We relinquished this plan the more willingly as we found it quite feasible to make a fairly accurate count from the bluff overlooking the rookery. Our general mode of procedure was first to define small separate groups of pups on shore and to count each one of these separately, then compare our figures, and in case of disagreement to count them over and over again until we arrived at nearly the same figures. We then counted those lying among the females nursing, those on separate rocks in the water, and those swimming. After a series of counts we found that only those made in the evening at high water, when all the pups were ashore, were of any value (pl. 69). An average of a selection of our best counts (7) gives 526 pups (minimum, 516; maximum, 533), which may be accepted as nearly exact. Similar counts of the females were made regularly. As a matter of course, the figures for the various counts of the females vary very much more than those of the pups for two obvious reasons: First, because the actual number of females present on the rookery varies greatly from day to day, while that of the pups is constant, except for the gradual increase due to new births or slight decrease due to death; second, because there nearly always were a number of females swimming off the 168 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. rookery (pl. 67), the number of which had to be more or less closely estimated. Nevertheless, the average of nine of our best counts may be taken as a fair daily average of the breeding females present at this rookery during our visit in 1897, this average being 449. The experience of last year on the Pribilof Islands, where it was found that the number of pups on the rookeries was nearly twice as great as the number of females counted as present in the harems at the height of the season, had prepared us for the above results, viz, a greater number of pups than of cows counted. On the other hand, it would be very erroneous were we to take the above number of females and to that apply a correction derived from the census of St. Paut Island, in order to find out the number of pups which ought to have been on the South Rookery in 1897, for the reason that the above figure of 449 females also includes all the seals that were seen in the sea off the rookery in addition to those in the harems on shore. The average number of females on shore (nine couuts) was about 236 (maximum 395, minimum 174). Only 2 full-grown bulls attended to this rookery. A young bull, or polusikatch, was observed occasionally on the outskirts of the two harems, but his visits were not regular, and when there he was only attended by a couple of cows. The two bulls were also unevenly matched, for it was evident that the larger and apparently older bull had the greatest attraction in the eyes of the cows, as most of the 500 females belonged to his harem. I do not believe that more than a dozen cows were the legitimate property of the younger bull. One evening (July 28) he was quite alone, separated from the other harem, consisting of 174 females, by a pod of about 300 sleeping pups. Astounding as it appears, there can be but little doubt that the single old bull had served the great majority of the 526 females on this rookery and, moreover, was in fit condition to keep the younger bull at a respectful distance as late in the season as July 30. For 526 pups to have been born on this rookery in 1897 the 6 bulls which were there in 1896 must have been sufficient to impregnate probably at least 750 cows, as a number of the latter were undoubtedly killed during the pelagic sealing in the autumn of 1896 and spring of 1897, besides those perishing from other causes during the winter migration. This result sets definitely at rest any fears that may have been entertained respecting the sufficiency of the male element now doing duty on the North Rookery of Bering Island CorrEer IsLAND. Glinka rookeries.—Owing to the lack of means of transportation, I was unable to reach the Glinka rookeries until August 20. A detailed and conclusive comparison with the conditions of these rookeries in 1896 and 1895 is therefore out of the question. The beaches were now to a great extent occupied by the newly arrived yearlings and 2-year-old virgin cows (pl. 64); yet it was quite possible, in places at least, to judge of the extent of the harems during the earlier part of the season. From such observations as I was enabled to make I have no hesitation in saying that the year 1897 shows some decrease of the seals observed by me in 1895, though not nearly as great in proportion as the falling off in the breedmg areas on Bering Island North Rookery. Under the circumstances, it would be useless to go into details, but I nay say that the places where I noticed a diminution in the area occupied by the seals were at MORTALITY AMONG PUPS. 169 Zapadni, south end of rookery (pl. 73); at Palata, where I found that the seals had almost abandoned the brow of the clayey bank to the north of the gully and the elevated flat ground between the latter and that bank (pl. 72); alsoat Zapalata I noted conditions indicating a falling off both at the western end and at the middle portion of the eastern end; at the rookery of Urili Kamen the middle portion seems to have disappeared. My observations relative to the falling off of the Palata breeding grounds are verified by a photograph by Mr. N. N. Lukin-Feodotitch, the Government overseer at Glinka, taken on July 28 (new style). The overstocking of these rookeries with bulls and half bulls was startlingly evident, in spite of the lateness of theseason. On all the abandoned breeding grounds there were groups of solitary bulls to be seen, while among the female seals, old and young, there was a large quantity of young bulls imitating the performance of the older sikatchi during the early part of the season. The killing of 172 superfluous bulls during 1896 does not seem to have had much effect; the number was too insignificant in proportion to those that were left, and during 1897 no bulls at all were killed off. This is greatly to be regretted, for while it is quite true that there is not the same chance of trampling to death of the newborn pups as in certain other rookeries, there are, nevertheless, a number of pups killed in this way, and the presence of this superfluity of males on the breeding ground is certainly not promoting the best interest of the rookeries. MORTALITY OF PUPS. Up to the end of our stay at South Rookery (July 30) no startling mortality was visible there. Early trampling to death was almost out of the question, and if any newborn pups died in this or any other way the bodies had been eaten or carried away by the blue foxes. During our stay we observed only three or four dead pups. Mr. Barrett-Hamilton on the last day secured three of these, but on account of our sudden departure no autopsy was made. This was hardly necessary, for the bodies were exceedingly emaciated and the rectum contained the tarry feces so characteristic of starvation. Besides these we noticed a few pups which appeared weak, as if starving. At Glinka, on August 20, I saw a great number of decayed carcasses of young pups, probably a hundred or more, between Zapadni and Sabatcha Dira. These had apparently been dead a long time. There were no dead bodies of pups which had died within a few days, though I found a couple of comparatively recent date, which from their extreme leanness appeared to have starved to death. A few, but only a few, of the pups which we saw on shore appeared weak and thin, and only one was in a so far advanced state of starvation as to make its death within a few days a matter of certainty. Hoping to have a chance toinvestigate the question of the mortality of the pups on North Rookery, Bering Island, during the time while the steamer was taking on board the skins, I returned to the islands during the latter part of September. On September 27 I went ashore at that rookery in the first boat and at once proceeded to the rookery ground in order to lose no time, as the vessel was only going to stay a few hours. There were only a few hundred female seals ashore, and as it was low water these were chiefly located on the outer rocks and mostly on the eastern side of the reef. The weather was cloudy, with heavy squalls of a fresh southeaster, 170 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. occasionally a light drizzling rain. Having received the oral permission of Mr. Grebnitski to go anywhere on the rookeries, I did not notify the kossak, who was at his house half a mile away. I commenced to count the dead pups which I saw in the windrows around the “sands,” starting from the southwestern end, distinguishing between those which had died within the last couple of weeks and those which were so utterly decayed as to indicate death at a very early period, probably shortly after birth. In the windrow around the “sands” I counted 42.) comparatively fresh carcasses and 143 old ones; total, 572. The former were rather large black pups, with a large proportion of gray ones or gray in part. They showed every appearance of being starved to death. A few dying gray pups, lean and helplessly crawling about on their bellies, were seen, and only very few, scarcely more than half a dozen, perfectly fresh bodies. Two or three skeletons, perfectly fresh and pink, showed how the large gulls (Larus glaucescens) had disposed of some of the bodies, while the presence of a couple of blue foxes accounts for the others. I have pointed out in my former reports that the foxes, so numerous on these islands, are accountable for the disappearance of a great number of dead pups from the beaches, and I may add here that our observations on the South Rookery make it appear probable that the number of the recently born dead pups eaten and carried away by the foxes is proportionately less than that of the starved pups, for several reasons: First, at the time of the births of the pups there is enough offal left on the killing grounds to make these more profitable to the foxes; second, the new-born dead pups are lying among the seals, and it is as much as a fox’s life is worth to venture in among the harems. We saw repeatedly how the cows resented the intrusion of the foxes and chased them off, and it was only by constant watching that the fox was enabled to snatch a body away; and, thirdly, the young foxes were growing all the time, requiring more and more food, and finally themselves invading rookeries where there would be no difficulty in securing the starved pups later in the season. Having finished the count around the “sands,” I proceeded to count the bodies on and around the rocks at the water’s edge and the higher portions of the “sands,” when I was stopped by a guard sent by the overseer, the kossak Selivanof, with an order for me to leave the rookery on the pretense that “the wind was bad.” In spite of the absurdity of the excuse, as I was on the lee side of the few hundred seals on the beach, I obeyed at once, having as a matter of necessity no other course open to me. Selivanof was in the village, and by the time I could see him and remonstrate it would be too late to begin the count again, as the steamer could not wait for me. The skins being nearly all in, I returned, therefore, to the ship. Though consequently exact figures can not be furnished, it is nevertheless certain that there has been in 1897 a considerable mortality among the pups on North Rookery, Bering Island, due to starvation. FUR-SEAL CATCH OF 1897. Statistics relative to the fur-seal catch on the Commander Islands, summer 1897. BERING ISLAND DRIVES. NORTH ROOKERY. : -| Date No. of 15 Bache- drive. die). Locality. lors, | Cows. | Total. 1897. 1] July 12 | Sivutchi Kamen..... 60 Reef 186 2 183 779 3 191 4 725 5 921 218 6 8 519 Kishotchnaya. . 181 7 Sivutchi Kamen 118 8| Sept. 7 aOf these 10 were stagey. b 23 stagey. ¢17 stagey. SOUTH ROOKERY. d Hout Date (new style). Bachelors. 1897. 1| July 14. 14 2| July 20. 32 3) August 1 23 4) August 9 30 5 | August 2: 26 6 | August 28 . 16 7 | September 5 151 2 153 COPPER ISLAND DRIVES. GLINKA. 2 Date Full No. of Locality. Over 20)Under 7} _—"- drive. sey ehig ocality: pounds.|pouuds, weight Total. 1897. : ; 1| July 3 | South end of island and other places ......... oneal eaaa case 6 333 | 339 i 2| July 4 | Sikatchinskaya. sistenisasecesenes|asecca ste 3 631] 634 S.}dily § | Babi Potion oq 00: -ncce a cosecescccecpeseresigwaeleasenip ne 1 257 258 4| July 12} Urili Kamen, Pagani, i Dira, Palata.......|.-..-..- 212 | 1,071 | 1,283 5 | July 18 | Palata.....--..---..02..- 20 ee ee eee cece ee eee eee e eee ee eee 3 6 66 Gl daly 25 || SaUAtChh De ie ec ee tnnarennsnasesmercsesecie ae asaene 22| a 344 366 7| July 27 | Zapadni, Sabatchi Dira..........2..-2+cceeeeeeeee[-ne rece 19] 4554) 5738 8 | July 28 | Zapalata....------ 202-222 - een ee eee eee eee fee eee eee 8 449 557 9 | July 30 | Zapalata, Babi Podiom. 321 321 10 | Aug. 3 | Zapadni, Urili .....--..- 243 285 11 | Aug. 9 | Zapalata, Palata, Zapadni, Urili-. 208 221 12 | Aug. 19 | Palata a clnjeiee shied A[np-gz oun © ~ ‘ : i fepeoten Fini PS “L2-1g oun : 1 : of a | a Pet an e309 Fa 0Z-FI oung | ct a A OWA Ao 19 | 1B Se Nit woo woe acta | tH eI-z oun | WM AMDHO 1A 5 A hawaein itornis x 8 OwWMoSwinWowa | > ‘g ounp-e Sey | wwewomo iat | os CAM CU A Fak Haas eo | wma |S Beat He Heo td | 1 “oe Av WA HID Cd | x Stoned HOI Ft 3 cots | Mt ani at hoot | op *e-LT Se Dammiacawwoooes | AP MAAAHHA -HOAG x Cowra | a WH how sininin © 2 “91-01 AvTT onmmnonowen |g WHO MMNMoWMOID~DD | weorimtc | | 0 HP win ho WED a 6-¢ AVI OAS Hoa | WAM COMONANMOMO |S wo a | 2 | AO Watts 2 -g kvy-9g 1d y wk WMO cose | wo MOOAMOAAAATION | q Poua HO | | HO Ite LewHoS | o ‘ez-6T Ady C9 CLD EU HOD IH | oH 69 sH oD Hen oo Im GT ED IIA OO | 6B La i xHea ED | OM THA TAIN 8 E g dy LW) its) ion! <4 a: isc} ‘TI-g dw CHOWAN |] ANAMAMO CIA 139 HOT Ht Ja 1° hence mia : : 5 ‘p ad V-62 “IVY CV HH 19 6 HAD XH 2 | A AOD OD HH tain co 13 CD 4 HAD XH XH la ~ : . Ve \ [as ig ES ear? ‘ 7 5 y 7 T 80-25 “TBP Hed IAN 1910 By AMAA LAA iri ha oF OY 19919 oD |e a: ee eae ; : ; ae ne: : ! : : TZ-GT “IVT CIE Feo oA | saa i inet i ia |e si 0o4 4 “FI-8 AUT Hibeihi eels seeeee Liisa |e ri fel —— Pit Ga topes Lege oa Steeles to [ef "92-22 40g | 1 ; ‘ ‘a fa |j ‘Te-st “ae | : initia fall 2 : oe foe ae dk a FI-8 “10.0 | : Anis tijal) oriiis 7 q a eb : fo eae LAC dee Tq | Lt mrt tes fo |] “Te-Fe “wee | ; ERE Ta? ca gele lh, Aas : . oe Ate ke 4 ode & Oe : : : 3 : ee ew H Praag G2 4 H ( = : ia sy : pe AEA le 7 Soke a. wa : : oe 8 : 3 : io aes ae a ee ee eg tte aH 2 — btig 3 oat eee ee ee eee cee aie eee: > 3 toe st fe gato Je . iit oe wed ww ee 4 Sah a & : oe eo srg Eee : a Q:: oe . 6 a me oot EE ‘eo ' g fs Ousg 8 . . S BZ 33; Bifi g Bris igs hie f S ggesi8 | Bi itigis: 3 © Beitee igi BR ig felt eee ie ge A ease ie ge fi id te ie tet g ‘ . . . 7) ae . ¢ # . 5 Bei ig @Ak st & Qa ge igZanigad 5 ggcotgo 3 site J8ee fe 3 5 Boe a (Bea & o BASE (2252555 a BON EE i Eogeenaé 14.8 a BoVssdcos Sok 5 ide oho mae DO Dik £559 on) 3.25 asbhaget bas aogSA Sob ost gen 22 3's Sanna sts Sn te bas SAO Asoc eaksa Basse Sabagoy © WOSd CHR 4aF Asm asda ase ess Sonal ROASOPAdP Ap WEEKLY CATCH OF SEALS. 271 Number of seals taken by 39 schooners during each week of the spring season, 1893-1896. sai a Ral wi ‘ . ® b a] |lales alalaiSl ste lsl 4 slelelzle | sislél.le Name of vessel. Peps [avila ye la pa | a Td a) eed ae ah eg FSP Alia le sale /aiale |S feta [aisle |a ste | 3 lala las a/SiS SS) R/B/E/BIE] RB] Ele! & | Bb] eB] &] lel eg] BS) el ele @| © | oO | o |'o Aa; ealal Aa] @ GI os | es | a =i BRS le ia lala) 4+ i/ <4 i4qi)¢/alae is) a ial 6] 6 |S isleis 1&96. Golden Fleece. ....... w-[ee-/.--]---]-.-]-=-] 10] 83) 14) 11] 70) 6] 13 Silver Fleece......_.. ee eee ees sarallees NSIGl.cecconuiees sSSe be AUD seca sie cecinnce " M.M. Morrill W. Ainsworth Jane Gray : aca laveea a Rattler..........-...- sa|sespous|ece|aes Total... 222.605 es 1895. is Penel ec . 8) 6] 6 46) 386) 23 Kaio Maru .. 79) 22:115| 115) 21) 82 Herman... 1) 5] 68 5) 55) 13) E, E. Webste 115] 15] 21] 54,3] 45 Alton ..... 7| 18) 22 T| 47 Bonanza .....--.--0-- BS (res eters! eer aes ambenlles | 28 5! 69/ 29 Bowhead....-. ...-.- wiz fameell sx2'alllste a -+{---) 24,108] 26) 95) 74 Winchester ..-....... sales le 3 --| 52; 25) 97) - 238) 53) 52 Sophia Sutherland -..|..!... wis ellesiies 54) 12) 271 13, 29] 35, FACE we wendeawe esl. .[aas ania ar - --| 22) 53] 62) Jane Gray-..--.------ sa ellociefeg: --{---| 47) 64 a 63 192, Ida Etta......... scaled] se dhenelveell eral (N28 26| 42 ‘Allie I, Algar ToALIIETI) ITZ] aa] 99! 15) 42} aa a 125) 151 Total... .....++- -. -[---|---| 85/108 )324/207}614 807) 705 847 1894, te nal ] Chishima MarulI..... --| 8) W--.|-..). 5} 5) 29) 52) 49) 64) 6] 59)..... 18; 49) 38 Chishima Maru III...]..!...| 15} 13]...) 5) 3) 25] 6) 2 B cesses is 5) 17) 65) = 22 : Louise Olsen .......- salessfeae! 8 ---|127) 93) 15/122) 138)..... 3] 169) 2 Allie I, Alger ? aaliac. -|---| 68,165; 63) 38] 42) 113) 58) 101 6 a Umbrina ....--------- is | aed a | tara Hanae osio 2}284:350 204) 170215} 204)° 19) 244) 170) a , E, Webster . sid : 150'176| 135 117/818 ewan berseae|wigmecd |. 17 fs | : eens 560 869 i “q19) 462 331485] 635] 155] 20,...|.../.. Agnes aMeDonala ayeeey VOT 2 cciinicarsin ce wcnces be Sadie Turpel...-..... Umbrina .........00-+ 191] 83).--).- =): 107 19! 180| . 91) 55'14a|aa5|i4 72 93) 59| 40| 71| 70)...| 1 172 93) 204) 178) 25)...|--2).. 184/626, 414/1, 131.7461, 940| 809 1, 666]1, 926]1, 244 87.1, 748 1, 008 452/345 /280 16 1 1 % 3 a e ic.) 272 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. THE CONTENTION OF THE PELAGIC SEALERS. The conclusions we arrive at from the inspection of these diagrams may therefore be summed up as follows: The seals are rapidly decreasing. The people, however, who are directly inter- ested in the fitting and sending out of the pelagic sealers, and the latter themselves, are not yet willing to admit that. They do admit—for the figures are indisputable— that the catches have been decreasing, but they insist that there are just as many seals in the water as ever; that the sealers have seen as many in 1896 as in 1893 or 1894, and they refuse, consequently, to believe that the pelagic sealing is threatening the very existence of the seal herds. They refuse to accept the statements of the experts who have been examining the rookeries and who report an alarming diminution of the breeding seals, professing to believe them either bribed or misled by the companies who have leased the islands. They explain the undeniable decrease in the catches by alleging that the weather has been so had in late years as to interfere with the sealing, and, on the Asiatic side, that the seals are now so wary and wild that the hunters can not get within range of them. As to the first assertion, that the weather has interfered with the sealing, let us examine the tables. From the table given above (p. 270), the average number of days on which hunting was done by each schooner off the coast of Japan was as follows: In 1893, average hunting days per schooner .........--------------+-+e-2+ +--+: 45.6 In 1894, average hunting days per schooner .........--.---. +--+. .-----+ 222-222 2ee 44.7 In 1895, average hunting days per schooner ..........---.-----.------ 2-22 -- eee 43.5 In 1896, average hunting days per schooner .....-.-.-.. -.-------- eee ee eee eee 49,5 These figures alone disprove the allegation completely, as they show that in 1896, the year when the absolute and relative catches were smallest, the hunting days were much more numerous, or, in other words, the weather was greatly more favorable than in any previous year. With regard to the other reason given for the decreasing catches, viz, the increasing wildness of the seals, it is sufficient to remark that the greatest drop in the average catch was in 1894, which fact in itself shows that the explanation given does not explain, for it is certain that if the decrease was due to the seals becoming shyer from the shooting the decrease would become greater for each succeeding year, and that consequently the greatest drop ought to be in 1896. It is quite likely that the seals have become more difficult of approach as a result of the shooting, but I maintain that the increased experience of the pelagic sealers in handling both vessel and gun has kept pace with and offset the effect of the noise of the shooting. As for the contention of the sealers that they have of late years seen quite as many seals at one time as formerly, it may be remarked that it is probably true. It is quite reasonable to suppose that the bands of traveling seals are of approximately the same size, or rather that the seals in traveling keep about as close together as formerly, and that the sealer consequently sees as many as then when he falls in with them. But the places for seeing the decrease are the rookeries, and now that the representatives of the pelagic sealing interests themselves have become convinced of this fact, there is no excuse any more for the insinuations of a few of the more bigoted sealing captains. : THE FUTURE OF PELAGIC SEALING. 278 That the more intelligent element among the sealers themselves are awakening to the fact that the seals are rapidly decreasing and that the pelagic sealing industry will soon be a thing of the past if really protective measures be not adopted speedily, is plain to any one who has conversed with them last year. I venture to prophesy that the pelagic sealers themselves will next cry for protection to the seals. Many of them are now willing to submit to a closed season to include the months of August and September—the more since it would scarcely be any sacrifice at all in view of the small number of seals which can be secured in the feeding ground nowadays. In 1896 there were not a dozen schooners on the feeding grounds of the Commander Islands, and these were mostly on the feeding grounds of the Bering Islands seals, because those of Copper Island are nearly exhausted. A glance at plate 110, diagram b, shows how slight this sacrifice would be, especially if we remember that at the Commander Islands there is no close season at all, and that the hunting is allowed there all summer outside of the 30-mile limit. THE FUTURE OF PELAGIC SEALING IN JAPANESE WATERS. I have already pointed out the rapid and continued decrease of pelagic sealing on the Asiatic side. Anyone looking at the diagram showing the average catch per vessel during 1893-1896 (pl. 110, fig. b) may continue the downward lines and make a fairly accurate guess at the number of skins the schooners are likely to get in the future. There can thus be no doubt that the average number of skins per vessel will continue to decrease, subject to possible occasional fluctuations due to unusually favorable circumstances. ‘ But that does not necessarily mean that the business will become less and less profitable in the same ratio. There may be two ways to prevent that. In the first place, if the price of the skins were to advance correspondingly as the number of pelagic skins on the market decreases, there might still be profit in pelagic sealing. Unfortunately for the business, the prospect for advancing prices are very slim. As a matter of fact, the prices have gone down at about the same ratio as the supply of pelagic skins. The reason is not far to seek. The value of the fully dressed seal. fur is mainly due to the artificial coloring and the labor spent in dressing the skin. it is consequently to a great extent an industrial and artificial product. The same skill and labor spent on other and cheaper furs result in furs very similar and nearly as attractive. The seal fur owes its fashionable position and high value chiefly to the persistent efforts of the Alaska Commercial Company to introduce it and their ability to manipulate the market to the best advantage. Should the United States and Russian Governments, moreover, undertake to brand all the female seals, it would undoubtedly depress the price of pelagic skins still further. No matter how much or how little the branding might damage the skins, the very fact that three out of every four pelagic skins would be more or less injured would still further prejudice the market against them and reduce their price. The other way of preventing the decrease in profits as the number of skins decreases would be the reduction of expenses in taking them. I have already alluded to the attempt at doing so in the present chapter under the heading “Three classes of pelagic sealers in Japanese waters” (p. 262), as I showed that the Japanese are 15183—pT 4——18 274 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. gradually driving the more expensive Canadian and American craft out of the busivess in Asiatic waters. Let us examine some figures relating to the schooners owned by the Japanese: 1894. Name of schooner. Skins Unohi Maru 176 Third Chishima Maru - 279 First Chishima Maru ........- 510 DOtAT o,5.55:2:cceleiniatdis emma sneeesee ee ee aeeemseciss 965 1895. Name of schooner. Skins Name of schooner. Skins Kalo Mart si cc wscecis san cccieccsevecnss 633 || First Chishima Marn.......--.--.----- 572 Unohi Mart... sc scccescs sesceesccecess 502 || Third Chishima Maru ..........------- 895 Yakumo Marn........-.-------------+ 74 —_ Kaiyen Maru .....2...0..0---eeeceeeee 222 Total scjcccniaccenaoccnaeseecncsen 2, 898 1896. Name of vessel. | Skins. | Name of vessel. | Skins Kaio Maru. .ccceesecccwscerwcacvecces 651 |; Kaiyen Maru 553 Yakumo Maru.....-.----.------------ 46 || Tenyu Maru.... 52 Unohi Marn .......-....--------+---+- 378 || Kamaishi Maru. 58 First Chishima Maru....-...--------- 411 || Hoju Maru .........2.. 22-2 e eee eee eee 84 Third Chishima Maru ........-.------ 714 — | MR Otel a cicec.cia se ccioisiecialsrareininpeaters wrscoreie 3, 007 Pelagic catch of Japanese sealing vessels in Asiatic waters, season 1897. Catch. Vessels. Tons.) Home port. Master. Owner. 0 | Cares Copper | Total Japan. | Island. First Chishima Maru........| 68 | Hakodate.....|.-.......-.....- Suisan Kaisha.... Third Chishima Maru. .| Evans ..- Kaio Maru... se Tanaka... Unobi Maru Yakumo Maru Ishikawa Maru Seitoku Maru -- Tenyu Maru. Kamaishi Maru Toyotsu Maru. Aiyo Maru... Tokiwa Mar Yachiyo Mar Kaiyen Maru Total ....--escuee VESSELS SEALING IN JAPANESE WATERS. 275 Pelagic catch of foreign sealing vessels domiciled in Japan, sealing in Asiatic waters, season 1897. Catch. Vessel. Tons.| Hame port. Flag. Master. Off Japan. Off Russian coast. Fe- Fe- Males.) viajes, | Lotal: |Males.| vales,| Total. Golden Fleece ...| 127 | Yokohama... | American. .) E,W. Funcke...| 384| 302] 636 62] 222] 284 Silver Fleece. apelen inn NG ssimnmerdel ts sions do ...... T. R,.Fhompson.|.......|-.----- 533 |......- anaes Saw Pointera acca QO ws caced British ..... — Bardsley...|...-.-- ances “286 acdensllndeees 224 DO tal oeseis sllowbsadl aeseseuecseceees| ceavedsedueeies 6 smalntiees toe ss see lncee ted leteead 1,455 |.----.- | zannina 650 TO tal cis ovdl sac veel caves eepasen ens |venccmesewen.| dapweewseenp verreelseseeiss |caweuet [esoeens [eevee 2 | iecexss 2, 105 aLost at Skotan. Of the 224 skins on board at the time of the wreck only 201 were saved. There were consequently pelagic sealers owned by Japanese operating in 1893, none; in 1894, 3; in 1895, 6; in 1896, 9; in 1897, 14. The home ports of the schooners of 1897 are as follows: Hakodate, 7 schooners; Kamaishi, 2 schooners; Tateyama, 1 schooner; Shinagawa, 1 schooner; Tokyo, 3 schooners; total, 14. In order to illustrate the activity of these it may be said that one of the new Tokyo schooners started out as early as January 18 and arrived on February 6 in Ogonohama with 124 skins. To show how cheaply the Japanese can transact their business, let me add the information contained in a letter from Japan dated February 12, 1897, that the Japanese skins for 1896 averaged, after deducting shipping and other expenses in London, about 15.50 yen; the average cost up to the time of arrival in Hakodate per skin was about 7.50 yen, leaving a net profit of 8 yen per skin. “As I stated to you last year, it is any belief that in a year or two the whole pelagic sealing business will be in the hands of the Japanese, as they can make a big profit where foreign schooners will starve.” To prove by figures how surely the foreigners are being driven out let me present the following table: Number of pelagic sealing vessels in Japanese waters, Forei; Cana- | United | V°88°S | Total Year. dian. | States. cee foreign, |J#Panese. Japan. 22 22 (2) 7 51 0 36 39 q 82 3 22 14 5 41 6 28 8 3 39 9 11 2 3 16 14 276 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. EXTRACTS OF SEALING LOGS. Extract of sealing log of the American schooner Golden Fleece, E. W. Funcke, master, for the spring season of 1897. [From the Official Sealing Log.] Seals. Date. Latitude. | Longitude. Shot Taken. Seen. | at. Maies. |Females. | Total. {o} Ui ° , Left Yokohama. 38 56N. 3 3 9 36 O8N. 141 02E. 20 Anchored at Yokohama. Lett Yokobama. 37 20 N. 141 30K. |......-. 25 5 37 18N. 141 36H, |........ 35 iL 14 25 -| 37 40N. 141, 43 Ee. |esee sce 12 3 -| Anchored at Oginohama. .| Lett Oginohsma. -| 388 O6N. 142, I7 Be posses. 16 30 12 De PANSCDIORPHAIQHORURG e a RON SSH NNSSOWDNOCHOMHORNNOCOHORNOOINRHEMN iS) Bere RoN DH OSNS PROPER AD NONA EXTRACTS FROM SEALING LOGS. 277 Extract of sealing log of the American schooner Golden Fleece, E. W. Funeke, master, for the apring season of 1897—Continued. [From the Official Sealing Log.] Seals. Date. Latitude. | Longitude. Taken. Seen, Shot t : s at. ‘ Males. | Females. | Total. 1897. Ss 4 oo! | Jume 25..........| 43 34N. 146 53 E. |......-. 1 1 0 1 26.. -| 42 57-N. 146 05 KE, |.-.---... 8 5 2 7 -| 42 41 N. 145 20 EK. |........ 18 7 8 15 -| 41 20N. 145 10 EK, |....-... 3 0 3 3 -| 41 57N. 144 18 E. |........ 0 1 -| Anchor Hokadate. Landed skins.]........|.--.---.|-----+----|---+-+--+ -| Left Hokadate. é schgsoeeets 41 47N. 143 46 E. Ota 2c |e cteisecicicioniziore | sisieic sain cielo asd Extract of sealing log of the American schooner Elsie, F. W. Currie, master, for the spring season of 1897 (57 tons). [From the Official Sealing Log. ] Number of seals. Date. Latitude. | Longitude. = Male. | Female. | Total. 2 J o t Apr. 1....- Ae mee meine PPeTeTTrer re rer eee 35 43 N 146 34 E. |.......-.- 2 2 37 46 .N. 143 54 E 4 63 67 37 59 N 148 47 E. 1 6 7 38 05 N 148 40 E. |.......-.- 1 1 37 42 N 143 07 E. |.....----- 9 9 38 39 N 141 59 E 3 8 11 32 20 N 142 20 H. |.......... 1 1 37 42 N. 142 34 FE 5 11 16 38 06 N. 143 22 EK, j........-. 1 1 37 36 N. 148 40 E 2 4 6 37 45 N 142 53 E 2 12 14 37 26 N 142 54 E. |......--.- 13 13 38 19 N. 145 21 EK. |......-.-. 2 2 37 37 N 147 30 E Le. |egearaiciacies! 1 37 47 N 144 09 E B: lescrteseces 4 May 37 32 N 143 55 E 7 44 51 : 37 15 N 143 45 E. 17 82 99 37 34 N 144 00 E. |.......... 1 37 28 N 148 29 EH. |......---. 1 1 37 33 N 143 48 E 7 18 25 37 14 N. 143 22 E 3 13 16 37 37 N 144 01 E 5 12 17 37 46 N. 143 50 E. |.....----- 2 2 37 «4! 143 58 E 53 18 fl 387 28 N 142 33 EB. 35 13 48 37 LN 142 2E 3 57 60 37 41 N 142 30E 2 6 8 39 03 N. 146 36 E. |.......... 1? e 39 24 N. 147 48 E. |.........- 2 2 39 40 N 147 45 E 1 1 2 38 05 N 145 48 EH, |......-.-- 7 7 39 17N 145 -00 E 1 1 2 40 44 N, 144 13 E 7 ‘ a 1 Ya bn " 1 June 1 ne 4 6 6 1 2 4 1 3 p> sence derst|oceseay eae eu 177 435 612 a Boats reporting large number of seals traveling to the northeast. 278 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Extract of sealing log of the American schooner St. Lawrence, S. Colder, master, for the spring season of 1897 (89 tons). [From the Official Sealing Log.] Number of seals. Date. Latitude. | Longitude. e Male, | Female. | Total. Ed ° f Mar. 16 10.N. 141 5145. |.......--- 9 9 387N. 142 26 E. py eee 1 03 N. 142 42 EK. |........-. 1 1 16N. 141 46 E. 4 26 30 20 N. 142 25 E. 1 3 4 Apr. 98N.| 142 525. 8 41 49 14N. 142 42. Fy lias ceccccc 1 1 31N. 140 03 E. 14 82 96 35 N. 142 18E. |.....-..-. 2 2 48N.|. 142 i8E. j.-.-....-. 1 1 05 N. 142 25E. 8 17 25 46N. 142. 18 B., |jseviencincies 1 1 26N.| .141 30K. |........-. 4 4 55 N. 141 474. 22 41N. 142 39K. 1 52 N. 144 46 E. 17 20 N. 141 33 E. 1 oo N. 142 12 E. 32 30 N. 142 03 E. 1 30 N. 142 20 EK. 1 04.N. 142 20 EB. 10 45 N. 141 54E. 2 20N. 142 02E. 1 25 N. 143 57 E. 8 O7N. 1438 43E Bs. asiesse sie 2 1 2 3 May 56 N. 143 59 EB, 4 5 43N. 143 27 E. li 39 61 46N. 148 30 E. 30 33 17N. 142 29 E. |........-- 5 5 43 N. 142 13H. ~1 10 11 50 N. 142 LT Bi |exseascaen 8 8 : 142 13 E. 8 12 He 2 3 6 8 2 5 7 15 6 11 2 7 June 2 46N.| 146 57E.] = 1 J.weeeeeee. 1 26N. 13 18 27N. 9 10 22.N. 1 2 10N.| 146 00OB.| 4 |......-... 4 20N. 1 8 32 N. 1 1 20N. 4 4 ODN.) 266 IR. | FT bwweesece 1 July 1 05N. 47 51 02N. 3 3 55 .N. 1 3 ‘ 9 9 1 1, Satis Ma tatsicnicig al eee elobeweteuet 517 661 aStraits of Tsugaru. b Hakodate. EXTRACTS FROM SEALING LOGS. 279 Extract of sealing log of the Japanese schooner Kaiyen Maru, of Tokyo, for the spring season of 1897. [From official report to Imperial fisheries bureau, Tokyo, Japan.] oe Number . sae Number Date. Position. of seals... Date. Position. of seals. 18! Feb. 24. Off Kinkasan...... 13 5 25.......]---.-d0 ...00-. 5 22 13 9 21 18 1 ||. 13 3 2 4 11 3 18 2 14 5 4 3 2 seeks 3 3 ogeedseuieeasseee 27 2 4 3 ‘ 3 8 14 6 15 i 4 1 5 8 13 6 1 |} 5 4 10 18 1 21 2 1 1 5 8 4 6 15 2 18 2 12 4 457 Extract of sealing log of the Japanese schooner Yachiyo Maru, of Tokyo, for the spring season of 1897. (From the official report to Imperial fisheries bureau, Tokyo, Japan.] , s43 Number ate Number Date. Position. of seals, Date. Position. of seals. 1897. 1897. . Mar. 15..-..-. Off Inuboye ......----- 1 || May 18....... Off Yamada..... eeenias 7 Loeeaciaislieacd do Dol ~~ ADsaewweedtees. do 3 3 18.. --.-d0 Bil BO sasesesiiraces do 2 19.. sxe 0' see | ee eee ees 3 21.. seeeOscs a | ne Peres Caen 2 22... -do .¢. ce .: ee Se 1 25.. --do lj}: 80... ee 4 = 26 wees [acess do 9}| June 4.......]....- 3 Apr. 5 Off Kinkasan .......... 48 gp Teeeeeee[eeeee 3 d 44 1 1 2 | re © Sees eee & 27 15 Ce | es 4: cee eeners Seen 17 | rr errr Pere 2 HA Eg appa ea ri uly 1.......]..-.- 4 2 ee a 13 36 2 7 3 1 3 10 1 4 4 Ma; 2 may 4 3 3 16 4 12 22 14 22 38 21 29 492 280 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. Extract of sealing log of the Japanese schooner Tokiwa Maru, of Tokyo, for the spring season of 1897. [From the official report to Imperia fisheries bureau, Tokyo, Japan.] Number Number Date. of seals. of seals. Position. Date. Position. He PORTH HEGRE DLotal