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Hie eat peren Shae AD “ uae is ths a Steet ages “ mit DAKE ne PINE Aas Seah bah os chee OL otk Oe Was Sprache 4 Eh eabaey ent a1 ts sorely MicGad egy apianinits oni eit Papa gh Oo ap * Sua tte 9% Sn yS ch aE ; wt Loe] Hs hated las Th Ee ep aii ges tpat} T49) aye sth yl tf bat w iaas ae WE Hh Sus es peta inn eed aA isa aes wie tans Petes pierre ie natin eiit tor cry hus y ere DRproe te rye a 48 ih iyi ninieitne HIS Hac ay eis Re as or MCL ECS at Gene Li aihiys FAN anid iy dent dtisdeng.g pot bias Bi rity A ot ty aan a1 ¢ e my leony san a ahieren “iy Higa 4 [Meds ogegers atest nae mes ES an veh iL ack oe | sual * ee we ie ayeud a) Shinins) ernie Siow satay 4 ete bid eon lie earns ase i menace oy My { Mae aA Bheg B ane vrs Sy atl ses fate (ad lthae (OL BEAD byes Hac “5 iS iets (Sek ipbas 8 ie surtepe ae te Seyi eden Tartu a : Helelay ag 8 tise ays Cen das rie Fae Hida wok ate Rade ee a nai Se 98 pies ‘ yee yea Ree : ; Hf he sah ate s Yi it het A a a as ) ig haat ary ade. sires wiht -4odd " \ ry Yates hag: Mt viele ( 8 well Ht thee My r ¥ othe be at ae fe : suet abe aoa atthe} it cee serait af ~« am! as i tute ety bw egy tye ie : peers bespe hte} ea Vedi ja! sh ie erertny tren) i Sh vevhb bikes Aa ged 4 yee A bred a ta a Ae MONDE af at wag etpeary Heaney abag 0 Ee 6 pee amen sc ct ag ws, otek #48 te Sabawdea pine ath bad wh meri si sane ped hilt Biv ied mie adn ay cots, ie Rho i ra nid $a oe ha Mae va gengls ae h eyed Aepedan 8 Seb te ae) ‘ti a ny ” wd Rar puis Pat iH 1 aM iva tsGiatasei os ideata sik 4 HSE Heke we yen etl sf vb Ay au my We Hie & aoe Cette My Wi dpe Lote aes ‘ rs Pi Meath d se ea odes es g beste Eyre te Mae ste: 9 PARe CAfege d (one Shee PS ie SUNK si atioretea he ey yey bay ey Beet sath Hae ge of Sic sede hucaaiMt af rity Best ASS Hah As at a pha gc we gs age at gy howe ae 4 Wa tai es tia dyaya « weg ti Meda 46 oy ihe Hit Be “a a1 y ae ay soy se OFT PORK SA hg aiaed 4h Pah 4 as) mh dd oes tat taal sky, Aad dey Bee ve ae SUB ritane § " AS AAV ie SG HE oe eteedenn ees 4 Ga Se ett T OM ror a i ‘ wath MARES OE earn iae AMS ye ean 45 Waa gy 48 gab tO nd 208 tee, asqenage) . Mew She 171 ME HH hy ut ifs Lee hte ieee isha hah os Hist get se yetet aiding pial : : Rs feaedt in sdadeen inet th gill ay ny oir ai ai aa 94 34 8G es BE OLR RORMR OD IeLe Pot Chel elgerr it) rf popesobhe aha eet kcect rr me ae eh ae he eh ait wie 4 oan ot mi Pliage i eae bey! etn ov tisha E ie ery fet (air ferns ick Sahih eT) 8 6 vat a ' Looms Mea ” Se baad ps V8 bso dy bieiat scl he at as bbs 4+ ere it tats Lema wa dail Bighy 1 thie , Wl ” 4} yes cr A Ps ey ea bY oh straddes a ‘ ssi yidies aise tanen ai ir eneerr preanee wey tie ani iS way Gs ete gine iia sail » ver he pile ba We otwh el aceiniat Soha Seetods tia SUR paeeK rel sae nes 43 ho nalnens De otetha OF BTM aH AL gh Mon es. LALA et P18 6 a ahaa: ial aha ve aa) ar tha pata phe Liiels H i + fs ‘ be en Vane id Nena My Shas aetna i Saeiay janis a) bale danas re jostle otssvteackt nat ed sTevcaeatea ie Rare “aie dnb etieie 9 tite + aval op HisdAtt dp in Koiietp ‘ ha al 9 posted ae poe pita teh tales me yh wily oy 4 radiy! : Gem MR ace h MOTARES 1 Os ws i oikiy ny 4 $ os Sieh | 8 fe HN edhe om Hany sicinerite rere iat a Fisirioy ‘oad eraiat el nalts arr) dads ila ay vedio ak aheticd ee ive Fei 9} A. <44 1 SGanae S088 4 aie RARE AK (5) ME Wald ia Gat Poa ay ib sae thons 2 ve od) tty oth ei atty ald oh) a Leva dett some a rere be “ih fii on avenue seat, aol 20 Oe obi on) otha ton al 6 Sa bel shag ‘i oe ying Beate, sities Sade eoyboatat tba) a aie wth oded ob ape beet oa wf admit aie bi rey nds oan a Side ain ane meaeeertsts end pupa ‘ he alain Lani pd moat ey hese ses ey es co Aoleicdatcarial gies gihadeeeets sinh ohne ti te istay pitty iss ie bh to yet 7 oe Fhonenae Bib tee iret “ had ee weet BR an Siw a eaee heard pan: pert Fieieh i aaty ia Fil ee. wee #0 Et gash wy atte iyi 4s a Heo ee adh ae Meee aH bg ate Teliyi nasi siag ele sa asad Wate ve wae) eda tetany ades 2 aS Fhe He tee ee eae (se ot eee Be) « ad ates eM Sah th, Ah RYE pee Sheen eds “be eprur) ” * i oe Bilin Bs EE i ee Ae FB POR LT UPON THE CONDITION OF-AFFATRS IN THE TERRITORY OF ALASKA, BY HENRY W: EELIOTeE SPECIAL AGENT TREASURY DZPARTMENT. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1875. | 8¢i, ee . ot of ie e? ad x La PP iy 4 Bh 4 A: i Mt val ; LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. WASHINGTON, D. C., November 16, 1874. Sir: In compliance with the provisions of the act of Congress approved April 22, 1874, I have the honor to submit the fol- lowing report upon the condition and importance of the fur- trade in the Territory of Alaska; ‘‘the present condition of the seal-fisheries of Alaska; the haunts and habits of the seal; the preservation and extension of the fisheries as a source of reve- nue to the United States, with like information respecting the fur-bearing animals of Alaska generally; the statistics of the fur-trade; and the condition of the people or natives, especially those upon whom the successful AP ne of the fisheries and fur-trade is dependent :” The first measure suggested by my sei eeiencedi di this season is one of reform in the present government of the Territory. It is supposed that a useless outlay of money and labor is not intended to be persisted in, when the same annual expend- iture will give prompt and effective supervision over interests in that region which seem now to be sadly neglected. The present mismanagement of affairs in Alaska is not attributable to any other cause than that of the universal ignorance prevail- ing in the United States, at the time of the transfer, in regard to the form of government needed, and since then no one seems to have taken any intelligent or active interest in the matter. In the following report, herewith submitted, I desire to draw your attention to. the statements and suggestions contained in the chapter devoted to this subject, and I trust that you may be pleased to give them your approval. The pecuniary value of the fur-seal interests of the Govern-. ment renders it highly important that the Treasury Department, now intrusted with its care and supervision, should possess definite and authoritative information as to its proper manage- ment—for its perpetuation in its original integrity, atleast. I, therefore, take great pleasure in calling your attention especially to the accompanying report upon the subject, which embodies the results of three seasons’ (1872, 1873, and 1874) close per- . A ALASKA. sonal observation and research on the ground, with maps and illustrations. In connection with the condition of the natives of the Terri- tory, on whom the successful prosecution of the fur-trade is. dependent, I have been led into a very careful study of the history and habits of the sea-otter in this country, to the suc- cessful hunting of which between four and five thousand Chris- tian Aleutians and Kodiakers look for a means of livelihood. Since the transfer, fire-arms, formerly proscribed, have been introduced among the sea-otter hunters. This, in combination with the keenest rivalry of opposition traders, makes it only a question of a very short time ere these valuable and interesting animals are exterminated, on the existence of which so many christianized natives are totally dependent for all of the com- forts, and many even of the necessities, of a semi-civilized life. The remedy for this is a very simple and effective one, and I beg leave to refer to my discussion of the subject in this report under the head of the sea-otter and its hunters. In my report it will be seen that I have given the Yukon, Aleutian, and Sitkan sections close attention, having yet to more fully examine the Kodiak, Cook’s Inlet, and Copper River districts; that I have, in connection with Lieut. Washburn Maynard, United States Navy, my associate during the past season, carefully resurveyed the area and position of the breed- ing-grounds of the fur-seal on the Prybilov Islands. We sur- veyed Saint Matthew’s Island, which is contiguous and was entirely unknown and uninhabited, in order to settle the ques- tion, so frequently asked, and to which no definite reply could be given, as to whether or not it was suitable ground for fur- seals to land upon and breed, should these animals ever become dissatisfied with their present locality; and that I have com- piled, from Russian and other authorities, facts and statistics as to the extent of the fur-trade in the early days of the Terri- tory, so as to compare with the condition of this business at the present, as I get it from traders and agents in the country gen- erally. Of necessity, I have been obliged to use my judgment in selecting and taking these figures, both from the written as well as the verbal authorities. These I submit as being very nearly correct, to the best of my knowledge and belief. The remarkable increase in the catch of fur-bearing animals since the change of ownership of the country is most striking, but in perfect harmony with the strong contrast between the indo- ALASKA. 5 Jent, make-shift management of the Russian-American Fur Company in later times and that of our energetic, economical traders. _ The extravagant statements which have been made in regard to the resources of this Territory, which, on the one hand, were they true, would fit it for the future reception of a highly-civil- ized population, while, on the other, it would be made a land of utter desolation, worthlessness, and an entire loss of seven millions of purchase-money, besides being a burden to the General Government, these announcements, so often made and reiterated throughout our country, have caused me to pay great attention to the subject, and in this report I have endeay- ored to give a concise description of the agricultural character of the Territory as I have seen it, which thus far might be truth- fully summed up in saying that there are more acres of better land lying now as wilderness and jungle in sight on the mountain- tops of the Alleghanies from the car-windows of the Pennsylvania road than can be found in all Alaska; and whez it is remem- bered that this land, wild, in the heart of one of our oldest and most thickly-populated States, will remain as it now is, cheap, and undisturbed for an indefinite time to come, notwithstand- ing its close proximity to the homes of millions of energetic and enterprising men, it is not difficult to estimate the value of the Alaskan acres, remote as they are, and barred out by a most disagreeable sea-coast climate, leaving out altogether the great West and vast agricultural regions of British America ; but then, directly to the contrary, it would be wrong to hint by this statement, true as it is, that the country is worthless, for on the Seal Islands alone the Government possesses property which would not remain in the market many days unsold were it offered for seven millions, and from which the annual revenue is doubly sufficient to meet all expenditures for the proper government of the whole Territory, if the matter was correctly adjusted. Again, it should be understood that, be- yond afew outcrops of Tertiary coal and small leads near Sitka of gold and silver, with reports of native copper in situ, nothing is known whatever of the mineral wealth of the Territory at the present writing, as far as I can learn, but which I have reason to think will develop into some value. My opinion with reference to the fishing interests in the Ter- ritory has been almost entirely formed by the accounts of old, experienced fishermen whom I have met in the country person- 6 ALASKA. ally engaged in fishing in these waters. The value and proba- ble yield of the cod-banks of Alaska have been greatly overrated, but it may be reasonably anticipated that the suecess attending the canning of salmon on the Columbia River will stimulate the prosecution of this industry at the mouths of all the large streams and rivers of the Territory. . In connection with my survey of affairs in the Territory, the Seal Islands in especial, I have been most fortunate in being associated with a gentleman so efficient and conscientious as Lieut. Washburn Maynard, the officer selected by the Secre- tary of the Navy, in compliance with the act of Congress, to accompany me on this tour of investigation, and to report in- dependently. It is also fitting that I should speak in flattering terms of the — high character of the service rendered us this season by Capt. J. G. Baker, commanding the United States revenue-cutter Reliance, who carried us with all care and expedition to such points as we saw fit to designate, and which it was possible to visit in a sailing-vessel, with the time allotted. The several subjects within the scope of my report I have arranged, and herewith respectfully present in the following order, Viz: CHAPTER I. THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. II, THE NATIVES OR PEOPLE OF ALASKA; THEIR CONDITION, &C. III. THE DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT IN THE TER- RITORY OF ALASKA. IV. TRADE IN THE TERRITORY AND THE TRADERS, STATIONS, WC. V. THE SEA-OTTER AND ITS HUNTING. VI. THE CONDITION OF AFFAIRS ON THE SEAL ISLANDS ; PRYBILOV GROUP. VII. THE HABITS OF THE FUR SEAL. VIII. Fiso AND FISHERIES. 1X. ORNITHOLOGY OF THE PRYBILOV ISLANDS. APPENDIX. I have endeavored in the preparation of this report to be as concise as possible, perhaps so to a fault, but the enumer- ation of the thousand and one little things that have combined to form opinion, and indirectly influence one’s judgment, can interest no one but the writer. aad ALASKA. 7? On the subject of Alaska, it is safe to assert that no other unexplored section of the world was ever brought into notice suddenly, about which so much has been emphatically and positively written, based entirely upon the whims and caprices of the writers, and, therefore, it will not be at all surprising if the truth in regard to the Territory does frequently come into conflict with many erroneous popular opinions respecting it. | With the hope that the results of my labor as presented in the following report will meet with your approval and support, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, HENRY W. ELLIOTT, Special Agent Treasury Department. Hon. B. H. Bristow, | Secretary of the Treasury. CHAP TE Rr. THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. THE TERRITORY OF ALASKA. So much has been said pro and con as to the natural wealth and advantages of our new acquisition, the Territory of Alaska, that the widest possible divergence of opinion has arisen upon this subject ; on the one hand, we hear that here is a country no more rugged or uninviting than is Sweden or Norway, where a high civilization exists, with just as much natural adaptation for the home of advancing humanity, with vast forests of the finest ship-timber, with iron, copper, coal, and possibly rich gold and silver mines, with valleys and plains upon which sheep and cattle can be bred and raised without more than ordinary care, soabun- dant is the grass and other vegetation ; that the climate is ex- tremely mild on the seaboard, no more damp and foggy than on the coast of Oregon, &c.; while, on the other hand, we are . as gravely told that it is an area of total desolation ; that it is locked up in the grasp of winter’s frosts for eight or ninemonths in the year; that icebergs and snow fill the sea and drift in fathomless rifts; that it is bare and barren, only moss and Swale grass; that even the inhabitants there drag out a miser- able existence on seal-meat, oil, and like food; and that it will never become the home of white men, because there is no object in the land that will draw them there save the small fur-trading interests. *There is truth in both declarations, but no such thing as a happy medium can be struck between the two views; a fair, dispassionate statement in regard to this matter, however, at the time of the transfer of the Territory, could hardly have been made, no citizen of the United States having the means or the opportunity to form a proper judgment. The Russians did not live here as a people, but as a company of fur-traders only, with a single eye to the getting of skins; and the matter of their subsistence while so doing was comparatively of little importance; but it should be said that at all of their posts throughout the Territory they fully tested the capabilities of soil and climate for garden-products, and at many of them 10 ALASKA. gave hogs and cattle a trial, with a deep interest in the success of their experiments. The Russian American Company in re- tiring from the country gave us a generally correct map of the Territory, accurate figures as to the numbers and distribution of the natives; but upon other points the most vague or else conflicting data, and in this condition of knowledge we took possession of the country. Its true status, therefore, and 2s importance were simply unknown to our people. Since that time, however, quite a number of advenieeae traders, miners, fishermen, and the like have had their atten- tion and interest centered here, and the resources of the country in small sections have been keenly scrutinized with a view to: what the country could or could not yield in supply of human wauts. THE DIVERSIFIED CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. Everybody is familiar with the geographical position of Alaska, with its extended area of coast-line, stretching from a trifle south of the 55th parallel of north latitude, above Fort Simpson, on the British Columbian Territory, far to the north- ward and westward away into the Arctic Ocean and above the ~ arctic circle; and, in describing the character of this vast trend of land, it should be divided into several natural districts, by reason of the local difference between them. The Sitkan district.—Starting from Portland Canalandrunning north to Cross Sound and the head of Lynn Canal, the eye glances over arange of country made up of hundreds of islands, large and small, and a bold, mountainous coast, all everywhere rugged and abrupt in contour, and, with exception of highest sum- mits, the hills, mountains, and valleys, the last always narrow and winding, are covered with a dense jungle of spruce and fir, cedar and shrubbery, so thick, dark, and damp, that it is traversed only by the expenditure of great physical energy, and a clear spot, either on islands or mainland, where an acre of grass might grow by itself, as it does in the little ‘‘ parks” far in the interior, cannot be found. In these forest-jungles, especially on the lowlands and always by the water-courses, will be found a fair proportion of ordinary timber of the char- acter above designated. The spruce and fir, however, are so heavily charged with resin, that they can be used for nothing but the roughest work; the cedar is, however, an excellent ar- ticle. But back from the Coast Range here,on which our bound- ALASKA. LE ary-line is dotted, springs up quite a different country again,. higher everywhere from the sea-level by thousands of feet, dry, with not one-tenth part of the rain-fall, vast rolling plains or ta- ble-lands and rounded mountain-tops, over which fire has swept not many years ago, for the last time, as it has frequently done before, utterly destroying the pine-forests, leaving nothing but the blackened and bleached trunks piled upon and across one another at the sport of fierce gales ; and springing up from be- neath this desolation and shutting over it is a new forest of young pine and poplars, with a large number of service-berry and salal bushes interspersed. The valleys here widen out, and contain large tracts of exceilent ground for cultivation, with the significant objection, however, of being subject to frosts so late in the spring as June 10, and so early in the summer as the 20th of August. This, of course, excludes the question of agricultural utility ; and although the grass grows everywhere here in the valleys in the most luxuriant manner, yet cattle cannot run out through the winters, which are here bitterly cold; widely different from those a hundred miles only to the westward across the Coast Range. Here, under the pow-. erful influence of the great Pacific, winter is never anything but wet and chilly, seldom ever giving the people a week’s skating on the small lake back of Sitka. Day after day there are high winds and drizzling rains, with breaks in the leaden sky showing gleams of clear blue and sunlight; and here the agriculturist or gardener has like cause for discouragement, for nothing will ripen ; whatever he plants grows and enters on its stages of decay without perfecting. It must, moreover, be remarked that there is but very little land fit even for this un- satisfactory and most unprofitable agriculture, 7. ¢., properly- drained and warm soil enough for the very hardiest cereals.. There is not one acre of such tillable land to every ten thou- sand of the objectionable character throughout the larger por- tion of this area, and certainly not more than one acré to a thousand in the best regions. Grass grows in small localities or areas, wherever it is not smothered by forests and thickets, in the vallevs over this whole Sitkan district; its presence, however, is not the rule, but the exception, so vigorous is the growth of shrubbery and timber; and even did it grow in large. amount, the curing of hay is simply impracticable. Although. the winters are mild, still there is not enough ranging-ground. Cy *) 12 ALASKA. to support herds of cattle throughout the year and have them within control. - Mount Saint Elias district—Reaching from Cross Sound to Prince William’s Sound is a second and clearly-defined region, exhibiting a bald, bare sea-front, with scarcely an island or a> rock in its long stretch of over three hundred miles; little belts of spruce timber skirt the lowlands by the sea, while that which is hilly and mountainous is almost bare; grass and berries grow, however, in great abundance. It is the most cheerless, but at the same time the most interesting, portion of the Territory, not from any other point of view, however, than that of the tourist or geologist, who will find Mount Saint Elias the highest peak in North America, and the superb mountains of Fairweather and Cillon,and the country about them, covered, for miles and miles, with mighty glaciers, a field of most instructive interest. An immense mass of ice comes down into the head of Lynn Canal, which, the Indians say, originates and travels from Mount Fair- weather over fifty miles away. This glacier is some eight miles wide where it faces the sea in the channel, and many hundred feet in thickness, perfectly magnificent, and should be visited, for, as yet, this region, like the most of our new Territory, has not been trodden by the foot of white man, and seldom even by the savage. Its exceptional presentation of timber, its long reaches of rounded, low, barren hills, and relative scarcity of both birds and animals, make this section about as uninviting, on economic grounds, as any in the Territory, and the paucity of Indian life within its limits speaks definitely for its poverty as to game and fish. : Cook’s Inlet district.—I refrain from giving the reports which I received from this section, inasmuch as they are very contra- dictory in many leading features; though, in a general way, the ideas given me are undoubtedly correct. They represent the country similar to Kodiak, with more timber. The Peninsular and Kodiak Island.—This region, lying between Nliamna Lake and the False Pass, between the head of the Pen- insula of Alaska and contiguous islands, is the most valuable section of the entire Territory, possessing the most equable cli- mate, especially so at Kodiak, growing the best garden-sup- plies of potatoes, turnips, W&c., the only place where hay can be made, enough fora few head of stock, with anything likeacertain- ty, from season to season; but the country comprised in this dis- trict, which forms the southern and western half of the Peninsula, iy ALASKA, Id does not possessany of the above-mentioned qualifications in the same degree by any means. The island of Kodiak and the whole district is, however, rngged and mountainous, with numerous small lakes and tiny rivers or streams, up which a considerable number of salmon run every year. Timber, of spruce and fir, grows in fair quantity in the northern and eastern end of Ko- diak, all the islands to the eastward, and down the Peninsula as far as Chignik Bay ; it is not large, but in size for fuel, rough building, &c. Grass grows most luxuriantly, especially on Ko- diak, but the area suitable for its support is limited, there be- ing no plains or dry and accessible valleys in which to cut and cure it. There are many winters here in which cattle might be keptin small numbers without exceptional care and expense, i. é.,enough to afford milk and beef for a small settlement, and also sheep and hogs. Little patches of land can be found where a small garden will thrive consisting of potatoes, turnips, &e.; but reaching down to the Aleutian Islands, and over them, is a region bare entirely of timber and nearly so of shrubbery, rugged, abrupt, and extremely mountainous, the surface broken into patches set, as it were, on end; this is no country adapted for agriculture, for the prevalence of foggy, dark weather would render even the limited area that could be utilized with sun- light unserviceable for the production of fruits and vegetables. Soil there is sufficiently rich and deep, but it is too cold to ma- ture or ripen garden-products, except in very favored locali- ties where, as at Ounalashka, a few potatoes of inferior quality, good turnips, and lettuce, are in the favorable seasons raised. The Western Islands are all essentially voleanic, with scarcely a trace of sedimentary rock to be found; consisting of high, steep ridges and peaks of porpbyries and volcanic tufa, with here and there syenitic granites. The vegetation, such as it is, principally Hmpetrum nigrum, grows most rank and luxuriant on the flanks and even the summits of many of these high places, and the light, frail stems of this plant, which are of about the size of strawberry-vines, the natives gather and bring down from the hills in large bundles for fire-wood. The only shrub that lifts its head above the earth, of value as wood, is a willow, (Salix reticulata,) which growsin scattered clumps along the little water- courses, twisted and contorted, yet of sufficient size to furnish in early days strong and serviceable frames for native skin- boats or ‘* baidars.” Scattered over the Aleutian Islands and on the Peninsula are many small lakes, some of them quite 14 ALASKA. | large. The Peninsular country is more rolling and level, on the north shore especially so; for from Port Moller on up to the head of Bristol Bay extensive flats make out from the high- lands and stretch between them and the sea in width varying from ten to sixty miles. | There are a number of volcanoes in this district, such as that of Makooshin, on Ounalashka Island, Akootan and Shishaldin, on Oonimak, which, however, do not eject lava, but emit smoke, . steam, and ashes, although in times past and within the memory of man large stones have been thrown out by many of them, and still earlier lavahas been poured out on Oonimak in immense streams. The seared, rugged courses of the once liquid rock make traveling on that island excessively fatiguing. Akootan, on Akootan Island, and Makooshin are, perhaps, the most active, or as lively as any in the Territory to-day. There has been no disturbance on their account in the country for the last thirty years to mention, but previous to that time many severe earth- quake shocks have been recorded, and the growth of a new island, Bogaslov, twenty miles north of Oomnak, in Bering Sea, has been witnessed by the present generation, and I think that the phenomena attending the appearance of this island far out at sea and alone must have been coincident with the whole history of the formation of the Aleutian Chain, and therefore I may be excused for giving the substance of the story as told by ‘several of the Russian writers. In the fall of 1796 the residents of Oonimak and Ounalashka were surprised by a series of loud reports and tremblings of the earth, followed by the appearance of a dense dark cloud, full of gas and ashes, which came down upon them from the sea to the northward, and, after a week or ten days, during which time the cloud hung steadily over them, accompanied with earthquakes and subterranean thunder, it cleared away somewhat, so that they saw distinctly to the northward a bright light burning above the sea, and, upon closer inspection in their boats, the people found that a small island, elevated about 100 feet above sea-level, had been forced up and was still in the pro- cess of elevation and enlargement, formed of lava and scoriz. The voleanic action did not cease on this island until 1825, when it left above the water an oval peak, almost inaccessible, 400 to 500 feet high, and four or five miles in circumference. It was soon after this occupied by sea-lions and resorted to by sea-fowl, ALASKA. 15 which were found here in 1825, when the Russians landed for the first time, and the rocks were still warm. “In this way and recently, geologically speaking, were the Aleutian Islands formed from the Peninsula westward, includ- ing the Prybilov Group and Saint Matthew’s, their appearance marking the course of a line of least resistance in the earth’s crust. The Yukon District—In this division may be placed all that country above the head of Bristol Bay and north and west of the Peninsular Range of mountains as they extend far into the interior, reaching to the arctic and far bey ond, an immense area of desolate sameness, almost unknown, and likely to be so for an indefinite time, the banks of the Yukon River being the only track traversed as yet by white men into the interior. This great range of country may properly be divided into two sections, the hills or timber-lands and the plains or tundra. The former seldom approach the waters of Bering or the Arctic Sea nearer than fifty or sixty miles, and generally trend some two to three hundred miles back. The general contourof the interior is a vast undulating plain, with high, rounded granitic hills and - ridges scattered here and there, on the flanks of which, and by the countless lakes and water-courses, grow in tolerable abun- dance sprace, fir, hemlock, birch, and poplar, with a large number of hardy shrubs indigenous all the world over to these latitudes. The summers short, but warm and pleasant; the winters long, and bitterly cold and inclement. The tundra, however, which fronts the whole coast-line of this, the most extensive section of the Territory, is, indeed, cheerless and repellant at any season; in the summer it is a great flat swale, full of bog-holes, slimy, decayed peat, innumer- able lakes, shallow, stagnant, and from all places swarm mos- quitoes of the most malignant type, while in winter it is a wide snow plain, over which fierce gales of wind, at zero tempera- ture, sweep in constant succession, making travel as painfal and dangerous as can be well imagined. In this season all ap- proach to the coast is barred by a great system of shoals and banks, which extend so far out to sea that a vessel drawing 10 feet of water will be hard aground, out of sight of land, off the mouth of the Yukon. , There is a vast area of this district between the head of Cook’s Inlet and the Arctic, and far back into the interior, that is entirely unknown, but as traders are extending their routes in all directions, this interior may in time be explored and noted. 16 ALASKA. The Ounalashka District—Under this head may be placed the Aleutian Islands; and as Illolook or Ounalashka Village is the most important place among them, both with regard to population and trade, and the best position as a port, its name may be fitly applied to the whole region. This great chain of rugged islands, enveloped during the greater part of the year in fogs, and swept over by frequent gales, that, in combination with the mists and currents, make it a region dreaded by the mariner, abounds in sharp hills, and hilly or bluffy mountainous masses. Nearly every island—and — there are many, Small and large—is as it were set up on end, with small patches of bottom-land here and there, in rare inter- vals, at the base of the hills and mountains. The appearance of any of these islands from a ship approach- ing them during the summer, on a clear sunny day—and such days are occasionally howe ae most attractive: a rich, dark coat of vivid green clothes the valleys, hills, and mountains, quite to the snow-line. In these narrow defiles and bot- tom-land patches, the grass is most luxuriant, growing waist- high, with low, stunted willow-bushes here and there in small quantity ; and it is at first not apparent, when one strolls about the country on such a day, that it is utterly worthless as an ag- ricultural or stock-raising country. The mountains principally consist of syenitic granites and porphyries, with sharp sum- mits and abrupt slopes, and present numerous small water- courses, with little or no valley-ground. The vegetation is rank and luxuriant, and, in favorable seasons, the grasses ripen their seeds well. Quite a variety of berries abound ; for example, salmon, huckle, crow, and blue berries. The only timber is a slight willow, nowhere larger than a man’s wrist, and not over 7 or 8 feet high, growing in small, scattered clumps, with stunted specimens climbing way up the hill-sides. The thick, dense carpet of crow-berry plants, into which one sinks at every step ankle-deep, covers the entire country, and makes traveling very tedious for a pedestrian. Several species of grass grow everywhere in patches, and if more sunlight were to fall upon these cold, moist places, where vegetation now springs up every year in such quantities, but of such inferior quality, hay might be cured, and it might be called a fair grazing-country; but al- though the islands would amply support herds of cattle and flocks of sheep during the summer-months, these animals would generally need shelter and feed for three to five months ‘ . ALASKA. in as winter comes on, and far into the spring during late seasons, when high winds rage and keep the snow in drifts. Bailey might also be grown with a little more sunlight; and potatoes might also be matured year after year in fair quantity, and a good kitchen-garden established in the most favored sections; but perpetual fogs and mists hang like palls over the land and render it of no agricultural importance. © The summers are mild, foggy, and humid, with an average temperature of 50° Fahrenheit, with winters also mild, foggy, and humid, and an average temperature of 30°. Minifaum thermometer here seldom or never falls lower than 10°; there never has been recorded four consecutive weeks of temperature lower than 3° or 5°. The weather begins to grow colder in October, and does not become milder until April. The natives here think that 12° to 15° is pleasant weather, but if it goes down to 3° or 5°, itis to them, horribly cold. There are, how- ever, exceptional seasons. For instance, the summer of 1831, in July and August the thermometer did not rise above 359, and evenings were not uncommon with as low a temperature as 129°. Rain falls at all times and with all winds, but mostly in the autumn, with southeast and easterly winds, and less with southwest winds in winter. Snow begins to fall in September, (and even in August,) and does not cease earlier than May, although it frequently melts as fast as it falls far into December. It is seen on the higher mountains all the year round. The average snow-fall is from 2 to 5 feet; the high, driving winds make the snow intensely disagreeable and impede traveling. The cloudiness of the district is remarkable; there are not a dozen cloudless days in the whole year; about thirty to fifty fine days; and Veniaminov says, after living there ten years, ‘that the sun may be seen in a hundred to a hundred and sixty days during the year.” Thunder is seldom ever heard, and lightning never seen; although the clouds seem to constantly suggest it. Auroras are also almost unknown, and when seen are very faint. The old Aleuts here say that in early times the snow was deeper and the cold greater than it has been for some time past, while, on the other hand, they assert that the winds are getting stronger and harsher as time rollson with them. Veni- 2 AL 18 ALASKA. aminov * says, ‘‘In all the time of my living here there was not one day from morning to evening that was entirely with- out wind, or was a perfect calm.” The winds blow here strong from all quarters, strongest in October, November, December, and March. The gales do not usually last more than three days at a time, but they follow in quick succession in the seasons above mentioned. | There are a multitude of little lakes of fresh water on the islands, and in nearly all of the small streams (for there are no large ones) are found brook-trout of good quality. In view of the foregoing, what shall we say of the resources of Alaska, viewed as regards its agricultural or horticultural capabilities ? It would seem undeniable that owing to the unfavorable cli- matic conditions which prevail on the coast and in the interior, the gloomy fogs and dampness of the former, and the intense, protracted severity of the winters, characteristic of the latter, unfit the Territory for the proper support of any considerable civilization. Men may, and undoubtedly will, soon live here, in compara- tive comfort, as they labor in mining-camps, lumber and ship- timber mills, and salmon-factories, but they will bring with them everything they want except fish and game, and when they leave the country it will be as desolate as they found it. Can a country be permanently and prosperously settled that will not in its whole extent allow the successful growth and ripening of a single crop of corn, wheat, or potatoes, and where the most needful of any domestic animals cannot be kept by poor people ? The Russians, who have subdued a rougher country, and set- tled in large communities under severer conditions than have been submitted to by any body of our own people as yet, were in this Territory, after some twenty years at least of patient, intelligent trial, obliged to send a colony to California to raise their potatoes, grain, and beef; the history of their settlement there, and forced abandonment in 1842, is well known. We may with pride refer to the rugged work of settlement so successfully made by our ancestors in New England, but it is idle to talk of the subjugation of Alaska as a task simply re- quiring a Similar expenditure of persistence, energy, and ability. * Zapieskie, &c., vol. 1, p. 98. ae ALASKA. 19 In Massachusetts* our forefathers had a land in which all the necessaries of life, and many of the luxuries, could be produced From the soil with certainty from year to year; in Alaska their lot would have been quite the reverse, and they could have main- tained themselves there with no better success than the present inhabitants. Attention should be directed to the development of its mineral wealth, which I have reason to think will yet prove to be considerable, and effort should be made to stimu- late and protect the present available industries of the fur- ‘trade, the canning of salmon, ce. *“T have seen with surprise and regret, that men whose forefathers wielded the ax in the forests of Maine, or gathered scanty crops on the hill- sides of Massachusetts, have seen fit to throw contempt and derision on the acquisition of a great territory naturally far richer than that in which they themselves originated, (!) principally on the ground that it is a ‘cold’ country.” (W.H. Dall, Alaska and its Resources, p. 242, Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1870.) ples av aed Da Cs Egat ba THE NATIVES OR PEOPLE OF ALASKA—THEIR CONDITION. THEIR LIFE IN THE PAST, IN THE PRESENT, AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE. In taking the subject of the condition of the people of Alaska into consideration, the character of the country in which they live should always be kept in mind, for the life of any people is insensibly but surely molded by the climate and land in which they are found: under favorable and genial influences of soil and climate, a rude race may be raised from barbarism, pass into civilization, and be sustained by these favoring sup- ports. The inhabitants of the Territory are divided into two decidedly distinct races, widely different in habits and disposition ; one of — these two classes consists of the Christian Aleuts, who live upon the Aleutian Islands, the Seal Islands, the Peninsula of Alaska, the adjacent Islands, and Kodiak; the Indians, occupy- ing all the rest of the inhabited country, constitute the other. It will be seen by a Russian table which I submit in connection with this subject that quite a large number, in 1863, of the natives, outside of the district above specified, are claimed as Christians, but I cannot recognize the claim to-day; they kave worn off what little Christianity they may have possessed ten years ago, and there is no Christian influence, properly speaking, in the Territory, outside of the Aleutians and the people of Kodiak; these people are naturally fitted for the reception of the principles of Christianity, or otherwise they would have remained Indians, as the others, who are savages, have done. The Russian Greek Catholic priests spared no effort in their attempts to convert the Koloshians of Sitka and those of kindred stock elsewhere in the Territory, but met with partial 2ilure in every instance. The fact that among all the savage races found on the north- west coast by Christian pioneers and teachers the Aleutians are the only practical converts to Christianity, goes far, in my ALASKA. | Ad opinion, to set them apart as very differently constituted in mind and disposition from our aborigines, to whom, however, they are intimately allied. They adopted the Christian faith with very little opposition, readily exchanging their barbarous customs and wild superstitions for the agreeable rites of the Greek Catholic Church and its more refined myths and legends. At the time of their first discovery they were living as savages in every sense of the word, bold and hardy ; but now, to all out- ward signs and professions of Christianity they respond as sincerely as our own church-going people. The question as to the derivation of these people is still a mooted one among ethnologists ; in all points of personal bear- ing, intelligence, character, as well as physical structure, they seem to form a link of perfect gradation between the Japanese and Eskimo, although their traditions and language are entirely distinct and peculiar to themselves; they, however, claim to have come first to the Aleutian Islands from a “ big land to the westward,” and that when they came here first they found the land uninhabited, and that they did not meet with any people until their ancestors had pushed on to the eastward asfar as the Peninsular and Kodiak. ; The Aleuts, as they appear to-day, have been so mixed with Russian, Koloshian, and. Kamschadale blood, &e., that they present characteristics in one way or another of the various races of men from the negro up to the Caucasian. The pre- dominant features among them are small, wide-set, dark eyes, broad and high cheek-bones, causing the jaw, which is full and square, to often appear peaked; coarse, straight black hair, small, neatly-shaped feet and hands, together with brownish- yellow complexion. The men will average in stature five feet four or five inches; the women less in proportion, although there are exceptions among them, some being over six feet in height, and others dwarfs. The number of these people, including those of Kodiak, who resemble the Aleutians only as €hristians, having no other nat- ural or blood affinity, is about 5,090, but when first discovered by the Russians they were four and five times as many; at least 20,000 were living on the Aleutian Islands and the Peninsular in 1760; and from that time, in obedience to that natural law which causes an inferior class to succumb to its superior when brought into opposition, the Aleuts were quickly diminished in number untilit became an object of care and solicitude on the 22 ALASKA. part of the Russians to save them for the prosecution of the fur- trade. In 1834 they numbered only about 4,000, Kodiak in- cluded, and therefore they have not diminished nor increased to any noteworthy degree during the last forty years. There has been a slight increase, if any, up to the present time. When first discovered they were livirg in large “ yourts” or ** o0-laga-muh” houses partially underground, which resemble very much such a structure as our farmers put up for a root- cellar, with the difference only of having the entrance through a hole in the top, going in and out on a rude ladder or notched timber post. Some of these yourts were very large, as shown by the ruins to-day; one on Oonimak Island, north side, is over 500 feet in length, with corresponding width, and one at Koshegan, Ounalashka Island, the foundations still standing, shows that it was 87 yards long and 40 wide; and an old woman who was living only two years ago, remembered when her people lived there, and called it “a handsome house.” In these yourts they lived by forties, fifties, and hundreds as a single family, with the double piece of protection and warmth, where fuel was so scarce and precious. For a full account of them as they existed when first visited by the Russian priests I can do no better than call attention to the history of their lives and condition, as published by Father Veniaminov,* a noble missionary, and who made good use of his time in recording faithfully the custom of a people which has_ been entirely changed by Christianity in less than one hundred years. As an illustration, showing how exceedingly supersti- tious they were in these early days, I may mention that there is a small stream running into the northwest Lead of Beaver Bay, Ounalashka Island, forming a very pretty little water- fall, and near by it is a large mass of dark basaltic rock; the water of this creek the Aleuts never dared to drink for fear of instant death, and to the stone they paid homage, and revered it as a devil petrified. As they are living at this time, nearly every family is in possession of a hut or ‘“ barrabkie,” built partly underground, walled up on the sides, and roofed over with dirt and sod; a small window placed at one end, and a low door at the other, which opens into a low, dark alley, which in turn communi- cates with the living-room by another small door. This living- * A translation is published in Alaska and its Resources, W. H. Dall: Lee & Shepard, 1870. { Y 7 : ] ALASKA. 23 room is not large, seldom over ten feet square, and often not more than seven or eight, with a hard earthen or wooden floor ; the walls are neatly boarded upand sometimes papered and em- bellished with pictures of church saints. Inthisroom the Aleut spends most of his time when not hunting; shuts himself up — in it with his family, builds a hot fire, lasting only a few minutes, in the littlé stove or Russian oven, and either drinks cup after cup of tea, or stupefies himself with ‘ quass” or native beer, and lies for hours, and days even, in dull, stupid enjoyment on his pallet. Ihave looked into a barrabkie where there were twenty men, women, and children packed into a living-room not more than ten feet square, all drinking tea, with the perspiration rolling down in beady streams from every face. Many of these huts are damp and exceedingly filthy, while others are dry and cleanly; but the temper and disposition of the Aleuts is that of improvidence and shiftless- ness, and all exist, with a few exceptions, as a matter of course, in a state of ignorance, though a great many read and write, in consequence of their relationship to the church, the services of which are recited in the Russian tongue, and as most of the subpriests, deacons, &c., are recruited from the ranks of the people themselves, (the boys only being educated for this pur- pose,) a large proportion of them speak and read Russian well enough for all ordinary use. The manners and customs of these people. to-day, possess in themselves nothing of a barbarous or remarkable character, aside from that which belongs to a state of advanced semi- civilization. They are exceedingly polite and civil, not only to their trading agents, but among themselves, and visit one with another freely and pleasantly, the women being great gossips; but, on the whole, their intercourse is very quiet indeed, for the topics of conversation are few, and, judging from their silent but unconstrained meetings, they seem-to have a mutual knowl- edge, as if by sympathy, as to what may be occupying each other’s minds, rendering speech superfluous. It is only when under the influence of beer or liquor that they lose their natu- rally quiet and amiable disposition and fall into drunken orgies. Having been so long under the control and influence of the Russians, they have adopted many of the customs of the latter, In giving birth-day dinners, naming their children, &e. They are great tea-drinkers, but seldom use coffee. On account 2A ABASKA, of scarcity of fuel, they use a great amount of hard bread, soda and sweet crackers, instead of buying flour and baking it. They are remarkably attached to their church, which is well adapted to them, and no other form of religion could be better or have a firmer hold upon the sensibilities of the people. Their chastity and sobriety cannot be commended. As parents, they are very indulgent while their children are infants or under the age of eight or nine years, but when this age is attained by their offspring they become harsh disciplinarians and task-masters, putting burdens upon young shoulders that are heavy enough for adults, always exacting implicit obedience. Though many children are born, the mothers are not successful in rearing them, for they are extremely negligent in regard to air and diet, irregular in their meals and slumbers, shiftless and un- clean, and they frequently indulge in intoxication while nurs- ing their infants. These vices cause an excessive mortality among the children. The Aleuts are dependent entirely upon themselves, except at the Seal Islands, for relief and aid in case of illness, yielding. themselves to such treatment as they can get with the utmost patience and resignation. They believe generally in a mild form of Shamanism, or in the laying on of hauds, which is practiced usually by old women. The average Aleut:is a bold, hardy trapper, as he must be to be successful as a sea-otter hunter, and this is the only profes- sion or calling that his country can offer him. He is a patient, steady workman, and sapplies as good manual labor as coulil be desired, and such as is required in the country. The Russians made sailors, pavigators, carpenters, blacksmiths, store-keepers, &c., of this race; but since the transfer of the Territory there are too many of our own people of that class idle for the Aleuts to compete with, and who come directly into the country in re- spouse to any demand for such labor, so that he falls back upon the sea-otter as his sole support a ee a relapse into barbar- ism. Competition in this business he has no occasion to fear from the white man, who would never consent to spend the same amount of skill and energy for the a which satisfy the Aleutian hunter. It will therefore be evident that the good condition of the na- tive hunters of this Territory is a matter of great importance to the traders who have ary deep interest in the fur-trade; and it is not remarkable, in view of the clearness of the case, as above stated, that the Aleuts to-day are existing in greater comfort, ALASKA. | 25 in better houses, with greater facilities for hunting, and receive better pay than they ever realized before for their skins. Of this I am confident, by personal observation of the present, and from a knowledge of the past derived from the archives of the Russian company, and the history, meager but true, of the early traders inthecountry. The enlightened and true business policy adopted by the agents of the Alaska Commercial Com- pany with regard to the improvement of the condition of the hunters of the Aleutian Islands has already begun to bear its golden fruit in an immensely-increased yield of sea-otters every year. This statement is fully corroborated by a person of all men in the whole country best qualified to pass an independent and correct opinion, Father Innocent Shiesnekov, an intelli- gent and pious Greek Catholic priest, in charge of the Aleu- tians, who was born and raised on the ground, and with whom I have had several interviews bearing upon the subject of this chapter. There is one general evil, not confined to this section of the Territory, but more injurious to the people here than elsewhere, and that is the curse of beer-drinking and the disorders which arise constantly from its effects. These people have an inordi- nate fondness for spirituous liquors, and as this is not permitted to be made, vended, or brought into the Territory, the traders among these natives keep such a sharp lookout for whisky- schooners, that the traffic is thoroughly suppressed among the Aleutians; and the people, therefore, determined to have some means of ministering to their craving appetites for strong drink, brew a thick, sour, alcoholic beer, by fermenting sugar, hops, flour, dried apples, &c., together, in certain proportions, with water, and many of them manage to keep intoxicated and stu- pefied for weeks, and even months, at a time; beating their wives and children, destroying their houses, and recently, on Several occasions, committing murder. This practice sakes every one of the settlements at frequent intervals, and always after the return of a successful hunting-party, a scene of la- mentable debauchery, which can only be stopped either by pro- hibiting the sale or importation of sugar into the Territory, or by empowering Government agents to inflict summary punish- ment for the least criminal offenses growing out of intoxication. No great severity in the punishment would be required, for it must be said, to their credit, that they are naturally a law-abiding 26 ALASKA. people, and the mere presence of an officer is, with few excep- tions, enough to secure obedience. For the present demoralization among the natives of the Ter- ritory in this respect (and it is a vital one) the Government alone is responsible. The people, during the last four or five years, have indulged in all manner of excesses while under the influence of beer, and have observed that, do what they will, from beating their wives up to cold-blooded murder, there is no authority in the laud to punish them; and this knowledge tends to continue this unhappy state of affairs. This laxity is an injustice toward the orderly and more soberly-inelined por- tion of the communities, subjecting them to the control of the leaders of drunken revels and toan immense amount of unneces- sary suffering. The sea-otter traders would gladly pay, in the form of a slight tax on the skins of that animal, more than enough to afford a liberal salary twice over for the services of some man armed with authority to suppress this demoralization and attend to other urgent matters neglected on the part of the Government. From the Aleuts we pass to the consideration of the rest of the people (Indians) of the Territory, who, by far the most numerous, are living now as they were when first discovered, over a hundred years ago; those of the north, belonging to the Eskimo race and immediate derivatives, are quite amiable in their barbarism when compared with the Koloshes and other tribes of Indians proper in their neighborhood. Any steps that may be taken for the elevation and improvement of the condi- tion of these Indians in the Territory of Alaska, however well intended, would be entirely abortive. If they work, and they frequently do, on the coasters as seamen, and about the scund and Victoria as laborers, wood-cutters, &c., the money neces- sary for a debauch or a gambling game is the incentive. The condition of any savage people is one that arouses the sympathy of benevolent minds, and for its amelioration has absorbed the best energies and resources of hundreds of brave, devoted men who have labored in our country, but the result: of such labor can only be successful under certain conditions of life and mental constitution of a savage race not found in Alaska. The Russian priests energetically struggled with these Indians of Alaska, from Bering’s Straits down to Queen Charlotte’s Island, backed up and cordially aided by the Russian-American Company, which hoped to gain more control over the natives, ALASKA, ait | (and would have done so had the missionaries succeeded,) but the result was most unsatisfactory. A thin varnish of decency, honesty, morality, &c., was put on, but the subject had to be revarnished every day or his evil nature would continue to shine out. From what we are led to plainly understand by the history of well-directed and persistent efforts in the past, we can only consider the present condition of the Indians of Alaska as that of savages, and beyond the power of the Government or of the church to change for the better. If they were a people living in a country favorable to exertion and were merely lazy and ignorant, then there would be hope with some assurance of success in effecting a change for the better, but the case is worse, for the obstacles are insuperable. They are living in the manner customary with all Indians who have an abundance of fish and game, and when they suffer in any section of the Territory, as they frequently do, for want of food, it is on account of the indolence and improvidence during the seasons of plenty, for all of these people on the main- land who, at regular periods of the year, have access to a most lavish profusion of fish and the flesh of deer, are never caught by a severe winter with a full supply of provisions on hand, and exist through the long, cold spring-months most miserably, often living upon their skin-garments, offal, &c. As an instance of this improvidence, Captain Hennig, an old trader, cites the following case: At the mouth of the Koishak River, which empties into Bristol Bay between the Peninsula and the main- land, the reindeer pass by swimming in large herds across in September as they go in feeding to and from the peninsula; the natives at this season run along the bank as the deer rise from the water and spear them with great ease and in any number that fancy or want may dictate. At one time Captain Hennig counted here seven hundred deer carcasses as they lay rotting and untouched save by the removal of the hides; not a pound of meat of the thousands putrefying had been saved by the natives, who would be living perhaps in less than five months in a state of starvation. These Indians are not steady, persistent hunters like the Aleuts ; they are fickle, and have far less to gain by trade in their estimation than the Aleutians, who, on the contrary, are not satisfied with a small amount of tobacco and a few beads, which are the staple commodities with the Indians, together 28 ALASKA. with a little powder and ball. The Aleuts want good clothes; they desire to dress their women and children well; they crave tea, sugar, flour, &c., all of which are simply despised by the savage, and, consequently, a little hanting will obtain all he ~ wants in return from the trader, and exertion beyond this, on his part, appears to him simply absurd or ridiculous. While the sea-otter trade in Alaska, therefore, is well devel- oped, the fur-trade on the mainland is by no means of the importance it might be made to assume were the hunting as energetically followed up as is that prosecuted by the people of Kodiak and the Aleutian Islands; the industry and energy, however, of ourtraders will undoubtedly add largely every suc- ceeding year to the yield, in creating desire among the Indians, and thus stimulating exertion on their part in hunting so as to insure its gratification. | I shall not enter into a description of these Indians. Their treacherous, indolent lives have been most accurately and fully described by a score of writers; one of the earliest, that of Portlock and Dixon, in 1786, 1787, and 1788, reads as if it had been written from my own notes taken this season, so little have they changed in the main of habit and disposition. Of course, when the Russians were obliged, in 1832,* to commence the liquor-trade with them in self-defense against American adventurers and the Hudson Bay Company, and the small-pox in 1835 swept like wild-fire through all the villages on the north- west coast, destroying nearly one-third of them, the combination of two such terrible evils, whisky and the plague, demoralized and diminished them to such an extent that they never have recovered their former strength, nor is it now probable that they will recover it. The number of Indians now living in the Territory is, accord- ing to best authority and my judgment, between eighteen and twenty thousand. Of this number, between ten and twelve thousand belong to that district bounded on the north by Cook’s Inlet and south by Fort Simpson ; the remainder inhabit that stretch of country reaching from Bristol Bay to Kotzebue Sound, and back into the far interior, where there are several tribes, supposed to be quite numerous, about which very little is known even by the traders. On this coast-line of Alaska, between Bering’s Straits and *This was stopped in 1842. A treaty was made between them and the Hudson Bay Company. ALASKA. 29 Fort Simpson, are found six distinct tongues through which their relations of affinity may be traced, viz: the Aleutian; the Kodiak ; the Kenai, or Cook’s Inlet ; the Yahkootat, or Mount Saint Elias country ; the Sitkan; and the Kahgan, or Prince of Wales Island. The ALEUTIAN TONGUE is the language of the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands and part of the Peninsula; it is divided into two dialects, one spoken by the Aleuts of Atka, and the other by those of Ounalashka. The KODIAK TONGUE is the root of all the dialects spoken on the shores of Bering Sea, and still farther north and to the east; it is the tongue spoken by the Choochkie of the Asiatic side, and is divided into six distinct dialects, and these again subdivided, so that the Kodiak root is the language of the fol- lowing tribes: The Malemutes, of Kotzebue Sound, Norton Sound, Port Clar- ence, the Diomedes, King, Sledge, and Saint Lawrence Islands. The Aziagmutes, of Saint Michael’s, part of the Pastol Bay and as far north as Norton’s Sound. The Agoolmutes, of the mouth of the Yukon River. The Magmutes, between Cape Romanzov and Cape Avinov. The Koskoquims, of Koskoquim Bay and River. The Aglahmutes, of the Nushagak country, and part of the Peninsula. The Nunivaks, of Nunivak Island, who use a dialect almost like the pure Kodiak, which is spoken on that island. The Keyoukons, of the Middle Yukon River. The Ingaleeks, of the Lower Yukon River. The Choogaks, between Cape Elizabeth and the mouth of Copper River, (taking all the south shore of the Kenai Penin- sula and Prince William’s Sound.) The KENAI TONGUE can hardly be called of Kodiak deriva- tion; it is divided into four dialects: The Kenai, of the Gulf of Kenai, or Cook’s Inlet. The Maidnorskie, or people on Copper River. The Kolchans, or people of the Upper Koskoquim River— quite a large tribe, estimated at six or seven thousand. The Kahvichpaks, a peopte on the Upper Yukon. In this dia- lect are many words of Kodiak and Yahlutat. The Kenai language is the most difficult of all the Indian tongues, so abounding in a profusion of harsh, guttural sounds that their own savage neighbors frequently try in vain to ac- quire them when it is for their interest to do so. 30 ALASRA. The YAHKUTAT TONGUE is spoken only by the people of Yah- kutat, or that belt of coast between Lituya Bay and Copper River ; it is divided into two dialects, viz: . The Yahkutats, from Icy Bay to Grok Sound. The Oogalenskie, from mouth of Copper River to Icy Bay. The SITKA, or KOLOSH TONGUE, is spoken by all the Indians from Lituya Bay to Prince of Wales Island, the Stickeen, and without any dialects, although there are ciealt or ten dads and they are relatively numerous. The KAHEGAN, or PRINCE OF WALES, is spoken on that island and iueen: Charlotte’s, and completes the list of lan- guages in the Territory, as far as 1 can intelligently compile and arrange them. From the tables which I give at the close of this chapter, the relative population of these different tribes can be recognized, and by them it will be seen that, save where the Aleutians and Kodiakers are living, together with a number of Russian haltf- breeds or creoles, there are no organized or fixed settlements in the Territory; the Indians roaming at will in the mountains and over the plains during the summer, fishing and berrying principally, until the severity of approaching winter drives them back to underground houses in the north, and wooden huts and ~ large barracoons by the sea at the south, where, reeking in filth, four and five months are passed in perfect comfort to them, pro- vided that they have food—passed in sloth and sleep, with the exception of a small proportion of them who are marten, mink, and fox trappers. These men frequently yerform an astonishing amount of labor, enduring incredible hardships, should they happen to be ambitious, but this is a very rare quality. The two leading stations in the Territory, (excepting the Pry- bilov Islands,) both with regard to trade and population, are the villages of Ounalashka and Kodiak, each with an Aleut and creole population of four hundred, more than double the num- ber occupying any other settlement, save that of Belcoy skie, which has two hundred and forty- gota with a sea-otter trade fully equal or superior to either Obnalashien or Kodiak. Then following in order of trade and population, we have the villages of Unga, of one hundred and sixty-two souls; Atka, of one hundred and thirty-one souls; Oomnak, of one hundred and nineteen souls; then comes Sitka, with a population to-day, principally Russian half-breeds, of one hundred and eighty-six,* * Not counting the troops, Government employés, or Indians. ALASKA. oY and no trade whatever to mention, and commercially of less importance than any one of the following poirts, in addition to the list above, viz: Koskoquim, Nushagak, and Saint Michael’s. Even should trade ever be re-established in Sitka, it would con- sist principally of the fur of marten, mink, and beaver, with air-dried deer-skins ; but as matters now stand in the Territory, there is no future for Sitka; a change only in the supervision of the interest of the Government in that district can benefit it, or make it worth the attention of a small trader to live there. On this point I speak at length in my chapter on the duty of the Government in this respect. The snm and substance of my investigations with reference to the condition of the people of Alaska during the past season may be given briefly as follows: That the Indians are living as usual, in nearly the same number and in the same condition as when under Russian rule, with the marked and significant exception that they have been under no restraint whatever by government for the past five years, such as they were ac- customed to have imposed upon them by the old régime, and that this is rapidly making it troublesome and dangerous for small traders to go in among them on the northwest coast. Those in the vicinity of Sitka have become familiar with the pro- cess of distillation of whisky from molasses, and make a large amount of it openly, in addition to what they get by illicit trading. The Christian Aleuts and Kodiakers are in, if anything, a better condition than at the time of the transfer; some sec- tions, as at Ounalashka, in a greatly improved state, which is, by the way, promised to all the rest in the course of a few years, if proper, prompt steps are taken by Government. But the condition of the small population of creoles, chiefly at Sitka, is changed very much for the worse; they were store- keepers, clerks, sailors, traders, artisans, &c., of the old com- pany, and there is no longer any great demand for that labor in the country, and not likely to be during their lives, at least; ' they are unfortunate in not having the training or the energy to make good hunters, for this is the only industry the Terri- tory holds out for them. To say that they are now in spirit and purse poor, is true, but still they are not in any physical misery, the abundance of fish and game preventing such a re- sult. From my observation and knowledge of them, I can truly state that they are now in a better condition in the Territory, 32 . SENSE A living as they do, than chey would be anywhere else in our country, with an exceptional case, of course, here and there, for they are not distinguished by either energy or industry, as a class. . I have been assured by the Russian bishop having the spirit- _ ual direction of affairs in the Greek Catholic Church, now es- tablished in the Territory, that there is no intention on the part of the home church to neglect its interest there; that he is at the present time busily engaged in fitting a class of young Russians for the work of priests and teachers in Alaska, by giving them a thorough knowledge of the English language in addition to the regular course of discipline usually necessary for his church. If we, on the part of the Government, attempt to teach them, we shall soon have to feed some eight or ten thousand paupers. All they need is to be sustained and protected in their hunting | industries, as is indicated in the following chapter, and they will take care of themselves. Gea ET Re LPL. THE DUTY OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH REGARD TO THE TERRITORY AND ITS PEOPLE. The measures which are now in force for the support of law and order in the Territory are entirely inadequate and costing much more than a correct and efficient system would. The case is a plain one, and the facts. in regard to it are as follows: The Territory of Alaska was received from the hands of a powerful fur-trading organization which held absolute sway over the entire domain, even to the life and death of the peo- ple, and which had governed the land despotically for more than sixty years. It was fully prepared at any moment to carry out its orders, and was supported by a small fleet of sail and steam vessels, and a regularly-organized troop of empioyés and retainers, over two thousand in number, placed here and there throughout the country, the headquarters being at Sitka, for political reasons. War and revenue-marine vessels, with duly-authorized officers and agents, were sent to the principal stations, villages, and ports, where they ran up our flag and loualy proclaimed the fact to the people, or natives, that they were now free and independ- ent; that no person or parties had the power to control or di- rect their trade in furs, or any other matter to which they might turn their attention; that crime of all description, theft, mur- der, &c., would be promptly dealt with, and that the agents of the American Government would visit them at irregular though frequent intervals, or upon call, with these vessels fully prepared to enforce andexecute the law. This was done in 1868 and 1869. This is all that has been done, and to-day, as matters are con- ducted, the country is as far from control by our Government as though it were a foreign land, the agents of the Government, both military and civil, being unable to exercise any effectual supervision over the affairs of the Territory, or to enforce the laws. a The propriety of quartering troops in this Territory may be seriously questioned ; for where any considerable body of na- tives exist they will be found upon the seaboard and estuaries, oe AE 34 ALASKA. and the only way by which their villages can be reached is by water. Traveling by land is simply impossible, so that to-day the two companies of artillery at Sitka are entirely unable to correct the most wanton outrage which the Indians might see fit to perpetrate but a mile from their sentry-lines. The practical result of quartering troops among people like these in Alaska is bad. The communities thus visited were net remarkable for sobriety, morality, or industry before the coming of our troops, but after their arrival the change for the worse, wherever the natives were brought in contact with them, was very marked. Honorable officers find it sufficiently diffi- cult to restrain their subordinates in camps and posts remote from demoralizing temptation, but when their men are sur- rounded by simple natives who will sell themselves for ram and tobacco, the inevitable result follows of debauchery and intem- perance. The history of the military occupation of this Terri- tory by our Government, although brief, reflects no honor upon the troops, and is a most unfortunate one for the natives with whom they came in contact, so much so that all the posts throughout the Territory have been discontinued except that of Sitka, of which the law, I believe, compels a continuance, and which, I trust, will be soon repealed for the relief of the troops, the credit of the Government, and also a saving of un- necessary expense to the public Treasury in moving the sol- diers to and from the Territory and of subsidizing a mail- steamer to carry their letters, &c. The present statute, which provides ostensibly for the gov- ernment of the Territory, authorizes the appointment of a col- lector of customs and four or five deputies there, the former lo- cated at Sitka, the others at Ounalashka, Kodiak, and Wran- gel, where they are able only to conjecture as to the condition of revenue details in their respective districts, for they are un- able to leave their posts. The collector of customs can exer- cise no adequate vigilance against the illicit manufacture and trade in whisky, smuggling, &¢., with the sailing-cutter which is allotted to this district. A small steam-vessel alone can fol- low these traders and smugglers through the innumerable nar- row and intricate channels and fjiords of the Aleutian and Alexander Archipelagoes. With the present sailing-cutter, no calculation can be made with reference to her movements; she is at the mercy of wind and tide; how long will be her trip to a given place, and when ALASKA. 35 she will return, no satisfactory conjecture can be made; she may be absent but. a few days, and the absence may be protracted a month. If the natives were to seize a trader’s schooner a hundred, or even fifty, miles away from Sitka, and were the col- lector to get instant word of it, weeks might elapse before the sailing-cutter could get upon the ground of the outrage, and would even then be utterly unable to follow the outlaws. There is no trading done at Sitka; the eight or ten thousand Indians between Cross Sound and Fort Simpson trade entirely in the inshore passages and channels with all sorts of men and craft; what is going on no one knows, and, as matters now stand, the collector and his deputies are certainly not to blame if they never know. As matters now stand, the town-site of Sitka is the only place in the Territory where the merest shadow of ability exists on the part of the Government to sustain law and order, protect property, &c. The troops there stationed are utterly helpless to - do anything outside of their station, and what is more, the Indi- ans know it and laugh at them when they are reproached and warned for misdemeanors. The collector of customs has a sail- ing-cutter, which is of no earthly use, for she cannot be used in the intricate inside passages, where the principal body of natives live, and can at the best make a wide, shy visit to Ko- diak or Ounalashka, or some such outside sea port, and then is at the mercy of the most fickle and uncertain weather for sailing, so that no calculation can be made upon her going or coming. The natives of the Territory have been living since the trans- fer under no effectual government restraint—a sudden and per- nicious change from the strict Russian régime ; for now every- where in the Aleutian Islands and at Kodiak the natives are in the habit of drinking “ quass,” or home-brewed beer, to such an extent that it bids fair to ruin them unless checked. The leaders in drunken orgies are getting perfectly reckless, for they have noted the fact that during the past five years there has been no punishment or notice taken by proper authority of crime, including theft, wife-beating, and murder ; that there is no such thing as the shadow, even, of suspicion or power on the part of the Government, of which they have only heard and know nothing. | That these people have not behaved worse during the last two or three years in their present life of unchecked license is a 36 ALASKA. a strong evidence of their naturally amiable and law-abiding disposition, and it is manifestly wrong on the part of the Gov- ernment to allow the disorderly element in the Aleutian ard Indian communities to gathcr such strength by continued inat- tention; for it is leading to the rapid demoralization of the Aleutians, and is making it unsafe for white traders to venture singly among the Indians. I therefore most earnestly call attention to a plan for reform in the Territory, which will not annually draw from the Treasury more than half of what is received every year from the tax netted from the Seal Islands alone. : The annual revenue derived by the Government from the Ter- ritory, about $300,000 net, is sufficient to support the proposed system of government, and afford an unexpended balance, every year, of from $100,000 to $150,000; and it would also result, in a very few years, in adding greatly to the receipts. The following is the plan, after much deliberation, which I venture to propose : * ji 1. Withdrawal of the troops from the Territory. 2. The placing of the collector of customs at Kodiak where he can live without the slightest danger of injury from savages, although if left alone at Sitka he would be subjected to no ac- | tual risk. There is no reason why the central point for the action of the revenue-oficers should be at Sitka in preference to either Kodiak or Ounalashka ; both of the latter being better situated, with ten times the amount of trade, and double the law-abiding population; but the deputy, now at Kodiak, might be transferred to Sitka. 3. A small revenue-steamer should be provided, with a single gun, and haviug compound engines, so that she will use but three or four tens of coal per diem, and steam seven to eight knots per hour, and fitted with spars to take advantage of favoring winds. Such a vessel could move to any point on brief notice. She should cruise steadily throughout the year, for she would move in good, sheltered channels. The appearance of this vessel, at frequent intervals, would be all that is necessary to guarantee security of life and property to traders throughout the entire district. Her cruising-trips would estab- lish a prompt means of communication between posts ; and she could visit Tongass or [Tort Simpson every two or three *Always excepting the Prybilov Group of Seal Islands, which are well pro: vided for by special acts of Congress, approved July 1, 1870, and March 5, 1872 ALASKA, a months and obtain the mail for the Territory, which the reve- nue-cutter stationed on Puget Sound should be detailed to bring at preconcerted intervals of two or three months, and, by so doing, give the Territory a mail-system. 4, The abolition of the present subsidized mail-steamer which runs between Portland and Sitka. The handful of white citizens there, only two of them citizens of the United States, have no moreright to claim the privilege of a mail-steamer, uhich now runs for their benefit exclusively, than have the in- habitants of Kodiak, Ounalashka, or Saint Michael’s, or half a_ dozen other villages of greater population or of more impor- tance in this Territory. 5. The appointment of an agent, a man of character and edu- cation, who will have an opportunity to keep the Government well informed of the exact condition of the people in the Terri- tory and its resources, by reason of the facilities for travel afforded by the revenue-steamer. 6. The extension of the jurisdiction of the courts of Oregon or Washington Territory over this Territory, so that when per- sons belonging to the Territory, guilty of murder, arson, &c., are arrested and sent down for trial, they can be punished, and not permitted to escape, as they have been iu more than one case already, for want of this jurisdiction. 7. The laws relating to our mining-lands might be so ex- tended as to include the Territory of Alaska. Gold and silver, copper, iron, and coal exist here, and there is no predicting what the future may bring forth, for prospectors are constantly at work. | By placing matters in the Territory on such a footing as I have described, at least some definite approach to a system of law and order would be initiated. There would be a steady and prompt means of communication between all the stations where life and property exist. No whisky-smuggling or op- pression of the natives could be carried on without its speedy apprehension and suppression, and the petty crimes which are so aggravating and demoralizing at present throughout the Territory would quickly cease. The annual revenue now derived from the Territory is more than sufficient to support the whole system recommended. Beyond the adoption of this plan, in my judgment, on the part of the Government, nothing more is required by the Territory and its people. Any scheme of establishing Indian 38 ALASKA. reservations or agencies in this country, with an idle and mis- chievous retinue of superintendents, chaplains, and school- teachers, seems to me entirely uncalled for. The people here are keen hunters and quick-witted traders, and need no help or care beyond that I have indicated. Such of them as are christianized bave long ago embraced the Greek Catholic faith, and adhere to it with devotion. The rest, or Indians, as they are called, are just as far from being in a Christian state of - mind as they were when first approached by the Russian priests, over a hundred years ago. With regard to the education of the children of the better class of the natives, that is, the Christian Aleuts, there appears to be one invincible obstacle. The children, sperin g astrange tongue, will not attend school, and their parents, as a body, will either prevent or discourage them by positive command, or by utter indifference. Ifthey are to be educated, their church alone can do it. It now controls them perfectly in this matter of education. That the children will not attend school has been most thoroughly tested already, not only by the Russians, but by ourselves during the past four years on the Seal Islands. In 1835 a school was opened at Ounalashka, and presided over by one of the most indomitable and excellent of men, Veniaminov, who tells us that in this settlement of over 275 souls then, only ‘twelve boys could be brought together.” When more than this is wanted by Alaska in the way of legislation by Govern- ment, it will suggest itself in due time, and in reason. fam. ta Cree rnk TV . ‘TRADE IN THE TERRITORY, AND THE TRADERS, STATIONS, STATISTICS, ETC. Trade is devoted chiefly to furs, with occasional dealings in oil and ivory ; itis divided among a few parties, the Alaska Commercial Company having a large preponderance, by virtue of greater resources and greater energy, than any or all of its competitors combined; the sagacity of its traders, and the kind- ness with which they treat the natives, have resulted in even more than quadrupling the yield of furs in the Yukon and OCunalashka districts, as reported by the Russian American Fur Company at the time of the transfer. The operation of this company is confined to the country west from Kodiak, embracing the Aleutian Islands, where they at the present time have but little competition; on the Yukon, Koskoquim, and Ounalash- ka they are opposed by Charles Jansen, and by David Shirpser at Beleovskie and Kodiak, ant a number of small traders and whalers in Kotzebue Sound. The trade east of Kodiak, up Cook’s Inlet, down the coast back of Sitka, to Fort Simpson, ~ is, so far as is known—for I was unable to examine this dis- trict—given up to small traders who ply in and out in light schooners, canoes, &c., and, doubtless, is quite extensive and largely illicit, for the natives will not trade at Sitka for money ; so the inference plainly is that they dispose of their furs for whisky, &c., in the inshore passages, where smuggling can be carried on. When the Russian traders first opened up the country the natives were every where found engaged in fierce intestine wars, and not prosecuting the chase of fur-bearing animals more than enough to supply themselves with skins for manufac- ture into garments; depending on the sea for their principal means of subsistence. They used the skin of the sea-otter and beaver generally for cloaks, employing usually three sea-otters for one cloak; one of these skins was cut into two pieces and afterward sewed to- gether, so as to form a square, and were loosely tied about the shoulders with sinall leather strings, fastened on each side; it AO ALASKA. was the sight of these sea-otter cloaks that excited the greed and cupidity, and stimulated the adventurous trips made by the first Russian traders in the Aleutian Islands, and the weari- some voyages of the English and French to the coast of Van- couver’s Island, and to the northward as far as Cook’s Inlet, so early as 1785~86. The beauty and value of the skin of the sea- otter alone drew men, who, in spite of all danger, visited every mile of the rugged coast of this Territory, nearly a hundred years ago, in rude, clumsy ships and shallops, and depended upon ruder nautical instruments, without charts, &e. The hardships endured and perils encountered by these hardy, indomitable adventurers can be appreciated only by the seaman of to-day, who may sail in their tracks, provided with a gener- ally correct chart of a coast then absolutely unknown, in the best Sailing-vessels, fully equipped with perfect nautical instru- ments, and yet this modern sailor cannot sleep day or night with safety while he is on the coast or among the islands, so severe is the trial. Th The first great demand by the natives in the Territory, as an equivalent for their furs, was iron ; the English traders used to make it up into thick wrought bands, about eighteen inches to two feet in length, with a breadth of two inches, called “ toes ;” for one of these, at first, they readily procured a fine sea-otter or two, and a hatchet would obtain two or three; tobacco, the present great staple of trade, was then scarcely in demand, but soon became so; flour, when given by the Russians to some Aleuts at Ounalashka, in 1788, was taken by them up to a hill- top and throwr by handfuls to the wind, the natives enjoying the sight of the mock snow-storm spectacle much more than the use of the material for food; over on the mainland, when crackers and sugar were given to some natives, at Nushagak, they spit it from their mouths with disgust, wearing an expres- sion of exceeding dislike for the strange food; lead pleased the Aleutians at first very inuch, it could be cut and fashioned so readily, but the most determined trials on their part faiied, of course, to make it retaina cutting-edge, and they finally gave it up. | By degrees, however, and quite rapidly, iron with form of spear heads, axes, knives, kettles, &c., became a drug among the people generally, and a taste for the wearing of cotton and woolen goods, the use of tea and tobacco, caused the natives of the Aleutian Islands to strain every nerve in hunting the sea- ALASKA. Al otter, and so effectually did they do so that the animals dimin- ished in a very short time to but a fraction of their former number; but the natives of the mainland, a very different class of people, and incapable of living in as advanced a civilization as the Aleutians, were never aroused, and never will be, to any such activity by any legitimate effort to trade; they only covet tobacco and rum, and a little of either, used as an Indian uses them, goes a long way. Therefore, while we may say that the fur-trade of the Aleu- tian Islands and the Peninsula, as far as Kodiak, has been and is to-day developed to its full importance, it is very evident that, with regard to the rest of the Territory, the annual yield can be and will be greatly augmented by the exertions of our energetic and industrious traders who are now scattered in keen rivalry over the ground. By the very nature of the business, character of country, and climate of Alaska, white men will never themselves do any sea-otter hunting or mainland trapping; it rests solely with the natives, and the annual yield depends entirely upon the exertions which these people may be inclined to make as a means of procuring coveted articles in the hands of the traders. The hardship and privation to whicz the fox and marten trap- pers, and especially the sea-otter hunters, are subjected while in pursuit of their quarry are very great, yet not so great but that white men could endure and would endure them did it pay well enough; but it will be seen by reference to the tables giving the fur yield of the Territory that in proportion to the number of hunters, all of whom are more or less skillful, the return is a small one, and would not equal the earnings of the ordinary mechanic or day-laborer in our country, with the marked exception of the wages of the inhabitants of the Seal Islands, who live better and receive more pay than a majority of our people who are dependent upon manual labor for support. The life and labor of the trader on the mainland and islands is one of much discomfort, and at certain seasons of the year of incessant activity. A chief trader, though burdened with much responsibility, lives quietly and comfortably at the re- doubt or station where he is posted, the headquarters usually of a very large district; but the tracing is all done by deputy traders, who are under the control of this head officer. These men start out from the post alone, perhaps accompanied by an Indian, with a dog-team and sled, which is loaded with several 42 ALASKA. hundred-weight of goods, such as are likely to be most prized by the tribes they intend to visit for the purposes of trade, usually tobacco, calico, beads, and powder and ball, caps, &e. ; but the great bulk is generally tobacco. These men start in the dead of winter, provided with nothing but a blanket, a tent, a few. pounds of dried meat or fish, and tea, and go in this way from tribe to tribe, from settlement to settlement, until the intended circuit is made or the goods disposed of. When the trader reaches a settlement he inquires if the Indians there have any furs; if-so, he pitches his tent and unpacks his goods under it, seats himself in the middle, near an aperture in the tent, so that the natives may approach and look in upon his assortment. Their skins are then passed through the opening with an intimation of what is desired from the trader’s stock in exchange. The trader examines the skins, tosses them over into a common heap, and tears off the cloth or passes out the tobacco as the Indians require; and this continues till the business is concluded. : If the trader finds at the close of his trading at any one or more settlements that the bulk or weight of his furs is too great — for removal on his sled, he gives the surplus into the care of some one of the people, counting over to him in the presence of the whole village all the skins. This man takes charge and honestly guards them until the trader comes in person or sends for them, and the whole community seems to feel as if their reputation were at stake, for they will neither molest the trader’s cache nor permit others to do so. This is certainly a strange and most noteworthy characteristic of the Indians of the great interior of Alaska, designated in this report as the Yukon district. The trading on the nortbwest .coast, however, from Puget Sound up to Prince William’s Sound, was and is conducted in a very different manner from that of the Yukon district. Here the traders, large and small, employed vessels varying from steamers of considerable size to sloops. Since, however, the withdrawal of the Russian American Company from the Terri- tory, and the steamer Labouchere of the Hudson Bay Com- pany, but one trading-steamer remains upon this coast, viz, the old Otter, the property of the last-named corporation. Sailing- vessels, small schooners principally, monopolize the trade, and of these there are eight or ten at least. The practice of these trading-vessels is to cruise along the ALASKA. 43 coast, running into the numerous canals, channels, and harbors so characteristic of the region, where they come to an anchor, within easy reach of the shore, and wait for the pvatives to come off to them in their canoes laden with whatever they may possess fit for barter. The trading itself is tedious be- yond all measure. The natives will sit in their canoes around the vessel for hours before showing the least atten- tion or desire for business; then when it does begin the haggling baffles description; each Indian after the other try- ing to get a little more than his predecessor, no matter how Slight or insignificant it may be. The traders of course dare not, even to gain precious time, deviate from an invariable rule or tariff in barter, and so the slow exchange goes on. The Indians throughout this whole section are shrewd and artful traders, and do not scruple to adopt any means by which they can outwit or deceive the white trader, so that it is unfortu- nately a case of diamond cut diamond wherever traders meet the natives of the northwest coast to-day. With the Indians of the Territory trade is carried on with- out the use of coin, but on the Aleutian Islands, among the Christian Aleuts, the people take cash for their furs and pay over the counters of the different stores for their goods; and this necessitates the keeping of accounts, since the traders oiten find it to their advantage to give credit to a penniless hunter. These accounts the Aleuts keep in very good shape, and they are seldom in error over their reckoning. The Russians pursued a different course from our people in — conducting their trade in this region, where they were free from the competition of rival traders. Baranov, the real founder and maker of the Russian American Company, was a man of indomitable energy and foresight, and gave the affairs of the company his vigilant personal supervision everywhere and at all times, but his successors were unlike him, and made no exertion to pay dividends to the stockholders, or to pay debts. All of these gentlemen, with one exception, General Vivia- tovskie, were officers of the imperial fleet, and lived in official rotation at Sitka, which was selected in preference to Kodiak as a better position in which to menace and repel the advances of the Hudson’s Bay people along the coast belonging to Alaska. They were surrounded by a troop of subordinates, living without regard to cost or expenditure of time or labor; a fleet of fourteen or fifteen vessels, steam and sail. Indeed, CS ALASKA. no better commentary on the management can be made than a reference to their archives, where in almost any one year, look, for instance, January, 1863, (Techmainov, vol. ii, p. 224,) at this table showing the number and distribution of the em- ployés and dependents : meee Russians, Fins, c Aleutes and Districts. and foreigners. Russian crcoles. Kuriles. Total. Men.| Women. | Men.| Women. | Men.| Women. | Men.| Women. District of Sitka..... 418 50 210 300 36 31 664 381 District of Kodiak...) 129 1] 480 489 !1,010 983 |1, 619 1, 473 DistrictofOunalashka AUN See ene 131 125 749 835 E84 960 District of Atka -.-.. OF BPA Be Oy 106 | 367 342 | 463 448 District of Yulkon.... BOCES SNS Bee Sele Q5 Pat 14 11 71 32 District of Kuriles... NN | SRS RPE aes 4 5 | 126 108 131 113 Total seseesesce 536 51 | 944 1, 046 |2, 302 2, 310 |3, 822 “2 406 Or a grand total of 6,977 dependents of all classes, and of this number over 1,200 were paid regular salaries, from the governor down to the serf. ; And yet, with this small army of servants and dependents, the Russians, for the last forty years of their possession, did not get one-half of the furs annually that our traders now secure every year since their establishment in the Territory, while there are not over two hundred men engaged in the whole busi- ness at present. Take the sea-otter trade for instance... The Russians called it a fair season when they secured in the course of the year, throughout the whole Territory, 350 to 400 sea-otters; many years occurred in which less than 200 were taken; but during the last two years 2,500 to 3,090 have been captured each sea- son in the Aleutian and Kodiak districts alone; and I estimate that not less than 500 have been taken from Cook’s Inlet down to ort Simpson. This great increase in the development of the business is simply due to the active personal supervision of the present agents and traders. In connection with this view of the trade and traders in the Territory, it is proper to mention the operations of the Alaska Commercial Company, as it has been the subject of comment by the press. The whole matter appears to amount to this, that the fur-trade of Alaska, (always excepting the Seal Islands,) placed, as it is, in a fair field for competition, will sooner or later be controlled by those who invest the most mouey in the undertaking and send the best men for the work, who make their stations more attractive to the natives, and ALASKA. AD5 render communication between their wide-scattered posts more frequent and regular. It will be more difficult every year for small or inexperienced traders to do anything at the fur-trade m this Territory, and the trade does not appear extensive enough to support the operations of two companies, each with as much capital invested as the one in question. The result would be that one would have to withdraw. As far, however, as the Government is concerned, the field for trade in Alaska is free and open to all; a practical illustration of which is shown in the following statement of affairs existing at Ouna- lashka: | Ounalashka is an Aleutian village of some four hundred souls, men, women, and children; of these sixty are first-class sea-otter hunters, and this is their profession. The Alaska Commercial Company have erected three large warehouses fronting a wharf, where their vessels unload and load; a large store-house, filled with a most extensive selection of goods; a very large dwelling-house for their traders; with office, court- yard, stables for cattle and sheep, a blacksmith-shop, &e., all finished in first-class style, and furnished thoroughly through- out. The company have also erected and are building snug cottages for their best hunters to live in; and there is a school- house, where the native children are invited to attend, which some do. In opposition to this, a young man is placed in a small, weather-worn, rickety shanty, which is made to serve as warehouse, store, and living-room for the agent; a most meager stock of goods, no assortment whatever; and yet this young man, who has not got one dollar to back him, came to me and complained of the almost total] loss of bis trade, and said in explanation that it was due to the fact that though the natives wanted to trade with him, yet they were living under the influence of fear to such an extent that they dared not do it, and hence transferred their trade. I told him, after looking about the place and talking with the natives and their priest tor three or four days, that the only fear that these people of Ounalashka had in the matter was a most whoiesome one; it was the fear, coupled with an absolute certainty, that, as he was situated for trade, they would not do as well at his estab- lishment as they could at his opponent’s, and the dullest of them could readily appreciate it; therefore, if any successful opposition to the Alaska Commercial Company is to be made in the Territory where it is established, money must, be freely 46 ALASKA. expended in buildings and upon the people, who will go with wonderful promptness and unanimity wherever they can make the most in trade and are best treated, for they are keen and shrewd. I now pass to the consideration of the several trading dis- tricts, and the character and quality of the furs obtained from them respectively. THE YUKON DISTRICT. KKOTZEBUE SOUND: The trade at this place with the natives is principally by whaling-vessels, which are supplied with liquors; they fit out and clear from the Sandwich Islands for the arctic, and take advantage of the impunity with which they ean visit this port and profit by this illicit occupation; for the natives here, as everywhere else, are passionately fond of liquor, and a large proportion of the best furs from the Lower Yukon, the region south of Saint Michael’s, is picked out by Indian traders and car- ried to this place, where they can be exchanged for whisky. The trade, however, that belongs to the sound itself is not ex- tensive; only a small number of Eskimo live here, in scattered settlements along the coast, at the mouths of debouching creeks, &c. The catch of fur-bearing animals is not large; the people themselves live more by trading than by hunting, 7. e., trading between the people living far to the southward and eastward on the one hand, and the whalers and others, making profits as middlemen. NORTON’S SOUND : A few Eskimo traders live here; the catch and yield of fur- bearing animals unimportant. These people assist the Kotzebue traders in getting their furs carried up and over to that place, and many of them go over to Port Clarence with an assortment of furs, beaver principally, where they meet the people from the Asiatic side, who cross Bering’s Straits in the winter on the ice by way of the Diomede Islands, with dog-sleds, loaded with tame reindeer-skins, tanned, which are in great demand by the natives of this district for manufacture into cloaks, coats, par- kies, &c., while the Asiatics are equally desirous of getting any and all kinds of fur, such as mink, marten, land-otter, beaver, &e., but desire beaver especially. ALASKA. 47 THE DIOMEDES, KinG’s ISLAND, SLEDGE ISLAND, AND SAINT LAWRENCE— Are inhabited by a few Eskimo, but there is no trade with them worth mentioning; they have a little walrus-oil and ivory, and a few red foxes, and occasionally get some whalebone. SAINT MICHAEL’S: This is a shipping-point only for the accumulated furs gath- ered by the traders from the Lower and Upper Yukon, at Nu- lato, Fort Yukon, and the Tannanah. The present annual yield from these points is the largest and most valuable from the mainland of Alaska. A vessel coming to Saint Michael’s in the Summer will find from one hundred to one hundred and fifty Indians; they have come in from long distances to the north- west, eastward, and southward; but the fur-trading on the Yukon River and its many tributaries is very irregular as to time and place year after year, the traders constantly moving from settlement to settlement. This year they may only get a thousand skins where they got five thousand last season, and vice versa. It is impossible to say where the best place for trade will be, the catch in different sections varying every winter with the depth of snow, the severity of climate, Sc. NUNIVAK: Trade here is small and unimportant, principally walrus-oil, some ivory, and a few red foxes. | CAPE ROMANZOV: Traders come up from the Koskoquim and down from the Yukon to this point, where they get some very good furs, mink, marten, and foxes. AtCape Avinova, the district there is quite celebrated for its marten catch, both in quantity and quality; a large number of brown bear range here, where they subsist upon berries, roots, reindeer, &c. The Indians live in small huts and settlements scattered all along the coast down from Saint Michael’s. Koskoquim: The trade is extensive, and done principally at Kolmakov Redoubt, about one hundred and fifty miles up the river from its mouth, and at a station some sixty miles below it. The traders come down the river in June with their cargoes and meet the ships. The principal trade is beaver, red foxes, mink, 48 ALASKA. (plenty,) marten, land-otter, (abundant,) bears, brown and black. The people of this district keep traveling all the year round. NUSHAGAK : About the same as at Koskoquim, but the quality of sable or marten deteriorates very much and rapidly as the trader goes south from this region. Thepeople are also great travelers, always on the move. This section closes the Yukon district, which forms the western boundary of that of the Peninsula and Kodiak. In this country, between Kotzebue and its south- ern boundary back into the interior as far as a ye niles, furs are gathered as follows: | Beaver are taken of the very best quality andin the greatest quantity, and an immense number of musk-rat skins, for the trader must buy everything, (these musk-rat skins are princi- pally shipped to France and Germany, for poor people wear them;) of red foxes, quite a large number are taken. black foxes are seldom obtained, perhaps three or four on an average - during the year. Silver-gray foxes, a small number annually. Mink and marten of very fine quality from Koskoquim to the northward, but from this point to the southward this fur deteri- orates rapidly. Land-otter, quite a large number of the best quality. Black and brown bear, a few ; a small trade in swans’- down. Hider-down, with profit, cannot be sold in San Irancisco, but it is valuable in Russia. (German goose-down is used by our upholsterrs in preference, as it is much cheaper and just as good.) eindeer-skins are dried; quite a large number of these which go east are tanned, and make a very superior leather. Figures to show the number of skins taken out of the coun- try might easily be obtained were it under the control of a sin- gle corporation, as it was under the Russian rule, but as it.is now, With ten or a dozen independent traders, large and small, all studiously concealing or purposely exaggerating their trans- actions in order to draw or divert trade, the figures, were they furnished, would be quite unreliable. The following table, how- ever, showing the yield of this district during a period of twenty years, between 1842 and 1861, as given by Russian au- thority, may be deemed correct; and I was assured by Father Shiesneekov, of Onnalashka, a Russian priest, born and raised in this country, that the present yield of furs is at least four AW oy eal ALASKA. 49 times as great every year, compared with the table, owing to the greater activity and energy of our traders: Zable showing the number of skins taken by the Russian American Company from the Yukon district, during the period between 1842 and 1861, twenty years. & = 3 3) 2 S Ss = a ro} = & A D> 2 =) ° y eo - cA I oO . - sS + “ D = = > as cI Pie ue Pre aks (hee es aa 5 =) a a cs Eo 4 a) Koskoquim .- ..| 32, 396 PETG se 2 OOS tes ei es SOTO see leases 327 93 Saint Michael's} 49,398 4, 954 8, 853 | -330 ASG68)) OP Shoe. <<: 52 1, C07 183 1,334 | 276 Total ...| $1,794 | 6,119 | 10,951 = 4, 668 | 13, 806 520 | 52 Guided by this exhibit, if I could rely on what has been affirmed by the traders whom I have met in the Territory, the catch in the Yukon district during the last three years has averaged six times as much as the Russian annual average. THE PENINSULAR AND KODIAK. OAGASHIK : This is the only trading-station on the north shore of the Peninsula, and it is in itself inconsiderable ; the people have a few red foxes, a few beaver, but quite a fair number of reindeer- skins, the country being fairly alive with these animals; they also are adjacent to the large walrus hauling-grounds in Bris- tol Bay, and some ivory is secured by them; they have a few brown bears, an occasional wolf-skin, and a little swans’-cown. BELCOVSKIE: A sea-otter post: the natives bring in the skins of these animals, which they obtain at Saanach and the Chernobour Rocks; the trade otherwise is unimportant—a few red foxes and brown bears. Saanach. A sea-otter post recently established: nearly two- thirds of the sea-otters captured in the whole Alaskan district are taken around this island. Unga. A sea-otter post, with small tradein red foxes, black and brown bears, &c. Kodiak, or Saint Paul’s—Once the headquarters of the old Russian American Company, but since 1825 it has been a mere trading-post; a large number of sea-otter hunters make it their home, and bring in their quarry for trade there; all the trade of Kenai and Cook’s Inlet came in here under the old 4 AL 50 ALASKA. régime, but it is now confined principally to the sea-otter trade ; the Cook’s Inlet and Katmai trade is mostly engrossed by trading-schooners plying between these places and Puget Sound; the yield of this district under the Russian control is given for twenty years, 1842-1861, inclusive, as follows: Sea-otters, 5,809 ; beaver, 85,381; marten, 14,295; minks, 1,175; musk-rats, 14,313; wolverines, 1,276; marmots, 712; wolves, 58. In the Cooxk’s INLET DISTRICT, the MOUNT SAINT ELIAS and SITKAN DISTRICTS, there are no well-established trading-posts, the business being conducted on shipboard everywhere, the natives coming off to the trading-schooners in their canoes. At the time of the Russian occupation there was considerable trading done at Sitka, but now it has fallen off entirely, the natives of that place and vicinity going back into the inside passages, where they can trade with whisky-schooprers in per- fect security, as affairs are now conducted in the Territory. A large variety of furs are brought in from the dense forests and high mountains of this region—such as red, black, and sil- ver foxes, brown and black bears, mink, marten, porcupines, beaver, land and sea otter, fur-seal, hair-seal, deer, rabbits, | squirrels, mountain-goats, ermines, and the hoary marmot or whistler. , THE OUNALASHKA DISTRICT: This embraces the whole of the Aleutian Archipelago, and is given entirely to the sea-otters; there is nothing clse in this section fit for trade save a few red and black foxes, and in it are established six stations, viz: Ounalaska, the largest and principal one, Akootan, Chernovskie, Oomnak, Atka, and Attou, which are the homes of the sea-otter hunters, and where they trade. The stations enumerated in the foregoing districts comprise all that are established in the Alaskan Territory. THE VALUE OF THE FUR-TRADE. With the exception of the Sitkan and Cook’s Inlet districts, the gross value of the annual fur-production of Alaska can be closely ascertained. I append to this head several tables from Russian authorities in reference to the subject, and call atten- tion to the fact that for the last ninety years or more, up to the present date, the prices of the leading furs in our market to-day are very much what they were then, with the exception of the ALASKA. 51 fur-seal, which has been greatly enhanced in value by reason of improvement in dressing, but the marten and the sea-otter stand to-day at almost the same figures at which they were bought and sold a hundred years ago in China, where the value of money has remained the same; the native hunters, how- ever, receive now three, four, and five times as much as they were paid by the Russian American Company for their skins. The following list may be taken as very nearly correct, and shows the gross value of the fur-trade of the Territory to the traders for the year 1873: . 100,000 fur-seal skins, at an average of $7..---.------.-.-..-.---- $700, 000 3,000 sea-otter skins, at an average of $75 .----.-..----.-------- 225, 060 50,000 skins from the Yukon district, assorted, atan average of $2. 100,000 30,000 skins from all the rest of the Territory, (this is a very un- satisfactory estimate,) at an average of $2 --..-...---.-------- 60, 000 = TE LUE Boe ee a eee 1, 085, 000 Which is more than double the annual receipts of any one of the best of the last twenty years of the Russian American Company, so far as can be judged by reference to their state- - ments, as is shown in the table at the close of this article. It seems that the Seal Islands represent two-thirds of the whole value of the fur-trade of Alaska, and that with the sea- otter interest combined there is scarcely anything left. Matters are now so arranged on the Seal Islands that the Gov- ernment nets arevenue of $300,000 per annum, with the pres- ervation of its interest there in all of its original integrity. With reference to the sea-otter trade, [ think I clearly show the necessity for protection from the Government in my dis- cussion of the subject in this report, and, in regard to the remaining interests, the country itself protects them. 52 ALASKA. Table showing the yield of the different stations in the Territory of Alaska, from the archives of the Russian American Fur Company, for a period of twenty years, between 1842 and 1861. n : : 2 D a there E 3: he a & 5 ay : a as S : a 3 “ ~~ oO ta =] rod | g = Buliedviseie: Bly 4) gcd le RD R id < <4 } mm | ee 15.300) yee er ae See oot 49, 398 ‘32; 396. |. 26.0)3. 2 3.|o=05.4| See eee 85, 381 Land-otterss.-cc-sscjesce=s 2. 4, 954 L165) |PSe to oee teen S294 SID eens = Sea-otterm. oa uaids oon) 35s at ah ee ee ere 2, 242 | 1,188 5, 686 | 3, 611 5, £09 Warsealt. ooo coos 2 ee 9 | i pel eeinighs EBB PARAM Ee Foxes, black.....-- 2) ssco0c).-|e- scsi ct] sen S. ecg: | Se bSe ae cee ee Foxes, Silver.....---). 5 s-0-5| 222-22. 2 c)ocn ence. on] Seco ee oo) or Waxes, ed oes Ke es ad, ae 10, 216 F500, 529k Siaee =| 19671 cera ere Foxes; blne ..-. 22-2 er Na (Ur epee 320°} | 2,503") 1,685 | 22522 Se oe ae ee ee MORES SwhitO <.5-).c5)sprs. |...) <4) -2 2.51 eee eer Table showing the exportation of furs by the Russian-American Company. Period of Period of Period of Variety of fur. 1797 - 1221, 1821 — 1842, 1842 - 1861, (24 years.) (21 years.) (19 years.) Sea-otter, adult and 1-year old skins ..--. 72, 894 25, 416 25, 899 Spa-ottentailsi. cs. -2. Ss sese ee cas see te Wee 34, 546 23, 506 25, 797 MEL GHUOES Seances ses soe sce eee oe 14, 969 29, 442 70, 473 PER SIA a ars areata ies de patent oie ween 1,232) 374. 458, 502 372, E94 MS OAVEIN Me Senor ekisstale Capinee he pmae omer 34, 546 162, 034 157, 484 Hpoxes black 73. -2 ect eee: no Soe ass 13, 702 17, 913 HOSES, CLOSSiO”r SILWER -ncce- ooetcee ss sece 21, 890 26, 462 ‘ 77, 847 FIRES POO 2 Sse ee eee eee Soe ae Ba (Sokee Se 30, 950 45, 947 Hoxes We aacaceasee oes ene eee eee 36, 362 55, 714 } 54. 134 Pongal WHS sn. 1.3 eft DASA 4, 234 13, 638 i MARIE S sos anita: Boe eo cee sae en eee 17, 289 15, 666 12, 782 Minks: 22.2.2 Sos. Se eee Eee ees 4, 202 15, 481 72 AViGIGODINES = oass- os eciiemeegam eee we a ee oy | 1, 564 10 1 45). Soy ee ea iat aN ee ede Oe yc. Tp a Ay 6 ae 1, 389 4, 253 6, 927 SWRI GS ie Seco alc Sere ae eee eee tne Rone 121 201 24 AOATSE ces dioec ns Sods Soe eee aoe eae 1, 602 5, 390 1, 893 MES NONG) VOWNE «ozo antes a eee aie 21) |p ons ae ee NGS Ker gant oe Sol os a eee ee Breces ee sg 4,491 6, 570 RW IRGS TOCUN =i on.2 5 ose eee Here ee cs 64,640 Ibs, |. 2-0 2.2 seeeeeeee 2€0, 040 Ibs. CASTORMMA Sse ccct eGo ace Bo ewok oe Hae 20:1D5..)2 2. sons neo 4, 960 Ibs. EVV aLe-DONGW- - vo sc Soot as nina cele cea sees 40, 040 IDS. | 2 ss se oceeeeee 138, 200 lbs. The following shows the amount of food-supplies required, independent of tea, tobacco, and liquor, for the annual subsist- ence of the employés of the Russian-American Company, (1863 ;) a year’s supply or more was always kept in advance in case of an emergency, (from Techmainov :) AWAGKA. 53 Wheat, 14,000 poods, at 3 rubles and 26 kopecks a pood, (or 36 pounds.) Flour, 498 poods, at 6 rubles and 31 kopecks a pood. Peas, 404 poods, at 4 rubles and 90 kopecks a pood. Split wheat, 404 poods, at 4 rubles and 90 kopecks a pood. Salt, 922 poods, at 3 rubles and 78 kopecks a pood. Butter, 498 poods, at 20 rubles and 20 kopecks a pood. Hams, 92 poods, at 59 kopecks a pound. The rubles are paper, equal to 20 cents each. A pood is 36 pounds English, or 40 Russian pounds. oe tne a a ag aa CU FLAP ew THE SEA-OTTER AND ITS HUNTING. The sea-otter, like the fur-seal, is another illustration of an animal long known and highly prized in the commercial world, yet respecting the habits and life of which nothing definite has been ascertained or published. The reason for this is obvi- ous, for, save the natives who hunt them, no one properly quali- fied has ever had an opportunity of seeing the sea-otter so as to study it in a state of nature, for, of all the shy, sensitive beasts, upon the capture of which man sets any value, this creature is the most keenly on the alert and difficult to obtain ; and, like the fur-seal in this Territory, it possesses the enhanc- ing value of being principally confined to our country. A truth- ful account of the strange, vigilant life of the sea-otter, and of the hardships and perils encountered by its hunters, would sur- pass in novelty and interest the most attractive work of fiction. When the Russian traders opened up the Aleutian Islands they found the natives commonly wearing sea-otter cloaks, which they parted with at first for a trifle, not placing any es- pecial value on the animal, as they did the hair-seal and the sea-lion, the flesh and skins of which were vastly more palata- ble and serviceable to them; but the offers of the greedy traders soon set the natives after them. During the first tew years the numbers of these animals taken all along the Alen- tian Chain, and down the whole northwest coast as far as Ore- gon, were very great, and compared with what are now captured seem perfectly fabulous; for instance, when the Prybilov Isl- ands were first discovered, two sailors, Lukannon and Kaiekov, killed at Saint Paul’s Island, in the first year of occupation, five thousand ; the next year they got less than a thousand, and in six years after not a single sea-otter appeared, and none have appeared since. When Shellikov’s party first visited Cook’s Inlet, they secured three thousand; during the second year, two thousand; in the third, only eight hundred; the season following they obtained six hundred; and finally, in 1812, less than a hundred, and since then not a tenth of that number. The first visit made by the Russians to the Gulf of Yahkutat, ALASKA. 55 in 1794, two thousand sea-otters were taken, but they dimin- ished so rapidly that in 1799 less than three hundred were taken. In 1798 a large party of Russians and Aleuts captured in Sitka Sound and neighborhood twelve hundred skins, besides those for which they traded with the natives there, fully as many more; and in the spring of 1800 a few American and English vessels came into Sitka Sound, anchored off the small Russian settlement there, and traded with the natives for over two thousand skins, getting the trade of the Indians by giving fire- arms and powder, ball, &c., which the Russians did not dare to do, living then, as they were, in the country. In one of the early years of the Russian American Company, 1804, Baranov went to the Okotsk from Alaska with fifteen thousand sea-otter skins, that were worth as much then as they are now, viz, fully $1,000,000. ‘The result of this warfare upon the sea-otters, with ten hunt- ers then where there is one to-day, was not long delayed. Eve- ry where throughout the whole coast-line frequented by them the diminution set in, and it became difficult to get to places where a thousand had once been as easily obtained as twenty-five or thirty. A Russian chronicler says: ‘* Tbe numbers of several kinds of animals are growing very mnucb less in the present as compared with past times; for instance, the company here (Ounalashka) regularly killed more than a thousand sea-otters annually ; now (1835) from seventy to a hundred and fifty are taken; and there was atime, in 1826, when the returns from the whole Ounalashkan district (the Aleutian Islands) were only ji7- teen skins.” _ ' It is also a fact coincident with this diminution of the sea- otters, that the population of the Aleutian Islands fell off almost in the same proportion. The Russians regarded the lives of these people as they did those of dogs, and treated them ac- cordingly; they took, under Baranov and his subordinates, hunt- ing-parties of five hundred to a thousand picked Aleuts, eleven or twelve hundred miles to the eastward of their homes, in skin- baidars and bidarkies, or kyacks, traversing one of the wildest and roughest of coasts, and used them not only for the severe drudgery of otter-hunting, but to fight the Koloshians and other savages all the way up and down the coast; this soon destroyed them, and few ever got back alive. When the Territory came into our possession the Russians were taking between four and five hundred sea-otters from the 56 ALASKA. Aleutian Islands and south of the peninsula of Alaske, with perhaps a hundred and fifty more from Kenai, Yahkutat, and the Sitkan district; the Hudson’s Bay Company and other traders getting about two hundred more from the coast of Queen Charlotte’s and Vancouver’s Islands, and off Gray’s Harbor, Washin gton Territory. . Now, during the last season, 1873, instead of less than seven hundred skins, as obtained by the Russians, our traders secured not much less than four thousand skins. This immense dilfer- ence is not due to the fact of there being a proportionate in- crease of sea-otters, but to the organization of hunting-parties in the same spirit and fashion as in the early days above men- tioned. The keen competition of our traders will ruin the busi- ness in a comparatively short time if some action is not taken by the Government; and to the credit of these traders let it be said, that while they cannot desist, for if they do others will step in and profit at their expense, yet they are anxious that some prohibition should be laid upon the business. This can be easily done, and in such a manner as to perpetuate the sea- otter, not only for themselves, but for the natives, who are de- pendent upon its hunting for a living which makes them supe- rior to savages. Over two-thirds of all the sea-otters taken in Alaska are secured in two small areas of water, little rocky islets and reefs around the island of Saanach and the Chernobours, which proves that these animals, in spite of the incessant hunting all the year round on this ground, seem to have some particular preference for it to the practical exclusion of nearly all the rest of the coast in the Territory. This may be due to its better adaptation as a breeding-ground. It is also noteworthy that all the sea-otters taken below the Straits of Fuca are skot by the Indians and white hunters off the beach in the surf at Gray’s Harbor, a stretch of less than twenty miles; here some fifty to a hundred are taken every year, while not half that number can be obtained from all the rest of the Orezon and Washington coast-line; there is nothing in the external appear- ance of this reach to cause its selection by the sea-otters, ex- cept perhaps that it may be a little less rocky. As matters are now conducted by the hunting parties, the sea-otters at Saanach and the Chernobours do not have a day’s rest during the whole year. Parties relieve each other in suc- cession, and a continual warfare is maintained. This persistence ALASKA. bf is stimulated by the traders, and is rendered still more deadly to the sea-otter by the use of rifles of the best make, which, in the hands of the young and ambitious natives, in spite of the warnings of the old men, must result in the extermination of these animals, as no authority exists in the land to prevent it. These same old men, in order to successfully compete with their rivals, have to drop their bone spears and arrows and take up fire-arms in self-defense. So the bad work goes on rapidly, though a majority of the natives and the traders deprecate it. With a view to check this evil and to perpetuate the life of the sea-otter in the Territory, I offer the following suggestions to the Department: 1st. Prohibit the use of fire-arms of any description in the hunting of the sea-otter in the Territory of Alaska. 2d. Make it unlawful for any party or parties to hunt this animal during the months of June, July, and August, fixing a suitable penalty, fine, or punishment. The first proposition gives the sea-otter a chance to live; and, with the second, may possibly promote an increase in the num- ber of this valuable animal. The enforcement by the Government of this prohibition will not be difficult, as it is desired by a great majority of the natives and all the traders having any real interest in the perpetuation of the business. A good deputy attached to the customs, whose salary and expenses might be more than paid by a trifling tax upon each otter-skin, say $1, could, if provided with a sound whale-boat, make his headquarters at Saanach and Belcovski and carry the law into effect. The trade of the Kodiak dis- trict centers at the village of that name, and the presence of the collector or his deputy will exert authority, and cause the old native hunters and many of the younger who have reflec- tion to comply with his demands. The collector then being provided with the small revenue-steamer spoken of in my chapter upon the duty of the Government toward the Territory, can insure compliance with the instructions given him, and punish violations. This proposed action on the part of the Government is urgent and humane, for upon the successful hunting of the sea-otter some five thousand Christianized natives are entirely dependent for the means to live in a condition superior to barbarism. 58 ALASKA. THE HABITS OF THE SEA-OTTER, (Hnhydra marina.) I have had a number of interesting interviews with several very intelligent traders, and an English hunter who had spent an entire winter on Saanach Island, shooting sea-otters, and enduring, while there, bitter privation and hardship; and chiefly from their accounts, aided by my own observation, I submit the following: | Saanach Island, Islets, and Reefs, is the great sea-otter ground of this country. The island itself is small, with a coast-line circuit of about eighteen miles. Spots of sand-beach are found here and there, but the major portion of it is composed of enor- mous water-worn bowlders piled up by the surf. The interior is low and rolling, with a ridge rising into three hills, the mid- dle one some 800 feet in height. There is no timber on it, but abundant grass, moss, &c., with a score of little fresh-water lakes, in which multitudes of ducks and geese are found every spring and fall. The natives do not live upon the island, because the making of fires and scattering of food-refuse alarms the otters, driving them off to sea; so that it is only camped upon, and fires are never built unless the wind is from the southward, for no sea-otters are ever found to the north of the island. The sufferings to which the native hunters subject themselves every winter on this island, going for many weeks without fires, even for cooking, with the thermometer down to zero, in a northerly gale of wind, is better imagined than de- scribed. : To the southward and westward, and stretching directly out to sea, some five to eight miles from Saanach Island, is a suc- cession of small islets, bare, most of them, at low water, but with numerous reefs and rocky shoals, beds of kelp, &c. This is the great sea-otter ground of Alaska, together with the Cherrobour Islets, to the eastward ibout thirty miles, which are similar to it. The sea-otter rarely lands upon the main island, but it is found just out of water on the reef-rocks and islets above men- tioned, in certain seasons, and at a little distance at sea during calm and pleasant weather. The adult sea-otter is an animal that will measure from three and a half to four feet at most, from nese to tip of tail, which is short and stumpy. The general contour of the body is closely like that of the beaver, with the skin lying in loose folds, so that when taken hold of in lifting the body out from the water, ALASKA. 59 it is as slack and draws up like the hide on the nape of a young dog. This skin, which is taken from the body with but one cut made in it at the posteriors, is turned inside out, and air- dried, and stretched, so that it then gives the erroneous impres- sion of an animal at least six feet in length, with girth and shape of a weasel or mink. There is no sexual dissimilarity in color or size, and both manifest the same intense shyness and aversion to man, coupled with the greatest solicitude for their young, which they bring into existence at all seasons of the year, for the natives get young pups every month in the year. , ALASKA. 91 the natives declare, has been slightly but steadily increasing. The seals everywhere on the breeding-grounds will become speedily habituated to close observation when it is quiet and undemonstrative, and take little notice of the approach of the observer. | | The seals will be found to change a little every year from rookery to rookery, but the aggregate number will be steadily about the same. The condition of the seal-life this season of 1874 compares very favorably with that of 1872, as will be seen from extracts from my notes taken on the ground: ‘¢ NORTHEAST POINT, July 18, 1874. ‘Quite a strip of ground near Webster’s house has been deserted this season, but a small expansion is observed on Sea Lion Hill. The rest of the ground is as mapped in 1872, with no noteworthy increase in any direction. The condition of the animals and their young, excellent; small irregularities in the massing of the families due to rain; sea-lions about the same; none on the west shore of the point.” “The aggregate of life on this great rookery is about the same as in 1872, the ‘holluschickie,’ or killable seals, hauling as well and as numerously as before. The proportions of the @if- ferent ages among them, of two, three, and four year olds, pretty well represented.” | “¢ POLAVINA, July 18, 1874. “ Stands as it did in 1872; breeding and hauling grounds in excellent condition; the latter, on Upper Polavina, are changing down upon Polavina sand-beach, trending for three miles to- ward Northeast Point. The numbers of the ‘holluschickie’ on this ground of Polavina, where they have not been disturbed now for some five years to mention in the way of taking, do not seem to be any greater than they are on the hauling-grounds adjacent to Northeast Point and the village, from which they are driven almost every day during this season of killing.” ‘‘LUKANNON AND KETAVIE, July 19, 1874. “Not materially changed in any respect from its condition at this time in 1872.” ‘¢ GORBOTCH, July 19, 1874. ““ Just the same. Condition excellent.” ‘6 REEF, July 19, 1874. _ “A slight contraction on the south sea-margin of this ground, compensated for by expansion under the bluffs on the north- west side. Condition excellent.” 92 ALASKA. ‘6 NASPEEL, July 20, 1874. ‘‘A diminution of one-half at least. Very few here this year. It is no place for a rookery; not a pistol-shot from the natives’ houses.” “6 LAGOON, July 20, 1874. ‘¢ No noteworthy change; if any, a trifling increase. Condi- tion good.” ‘¢ ToLsTO!, July 21, 1874. ‘¢ No perceptible change in this rookery from its good shape of 1872. The condition excellent.” ‘6 ZAPADNIE, July 22, 1874. ‘¢ An extension or increase of 2,000 feet of shore-line, with an average depth of 50 feet of breeding-ground, has been built on to Upper Zapadnie toward Tolstoi; the upper rookery proper has not altered its bearings or proportions; the sand-beach belt between it and Lower Zapadnie deserted by the breeding-seals almost entirely, and a fair track for the holluschickie left clear, over which they have traveled quite extensively this season, some 20,000 to 25,000 lying out to-day. Lower Zapadnie has lost in a noteworthy degree about an average of 20 feet of its depth, which, however, is much more than compensated for by the great increase to the upper rookery. ‘A small beginning had been made for a rookery on the shore just southwest from Zapadnie Lake, in 1872, but this year it has been entirely abandoned.” | On Saint George asurvey gives for this season the following in comparison with that of 1873: ‘“¢ ZAPADNIE, July 8, 1874. ‘This rookery shows a slight increase upon the figures of last year, about 5,000. Tine condition.” ‘“ STARRY ATEEL, July 6, 1874. ‘No noteworthy change from last year.” ‘“ NorntH ROOKERY, July 6, 1874. «** No essential change from last year; condition very good.” » “ LITTLE LASTERN, July 6, 1874. ‘¢ A slight diminution of some 2,000 or so. Condition excel- lent.” ‘¢ WASTERN ROOKERY, July 7, 1874. ‘¢ A small increase over last year of about 3,000, making the. aggregate seal-life similar to that of last season, with the cer- tainty of a small increase. i ALASKA. 93 “ The unusually early season, this year, brought the rookery- bulls on to the ground very much in advance of the general time; they landed as early as the 10th of April, but the arrival of the cows was as late as usual, corresponding to my observa- tions during the past two seasons. ‘The general condition of the animals of all classes is nes excellent—they are sleek, fat, and free from any taint of disease.” In this way it must be plain that the exact condition of these animals can be noted every season, and should a diminution be noticed, due to any cause known or unknown, the killing can be promptly stopped. Four years have passed, with the end of this season, in which 100,000 young males have been annually taken, and the effect on the seal-life cannot be seen; it has not injured it, to a certainty, and it has not promoted an increase. Two years more will make the matter conclusive, for then, if the breeding-grounds are as well supplied with males as they now are, then it will be evident that enough are saved every year for that service. We know pretty well now how many we can take without in- jury, but we do not know how many more than 100,000 can be. This problem of developing these interests to their full im- portance should not be taken in hand for a few years yet, not until the present system which I have drawn up for the watch- ing of the rookeries has been in operation for three or four years ; then, if it is advisable, on account of the superabun- dance of male seal-life, and the market will stand the increase of raw material, the killing may be very gradually increased from year to year, but not over jive thousand each season. The rookeries, like a barometer, will show a falling off of necessary bulls when the killing has .reached a point where the increase is detrimental. This can be seen at once by the proper persons and the killing checked without delay, in ample time to pre- vent harm. In this chapter I have given a translation of Bishop Veniami- nov’s history, the only one written, and very valuable as illus- trative of the manner in which the Russians conducted affairs ou the Prybilov Islands; but it is at once apparent that much of if was written necessarily from hearsay and not based upon fact or personal observation, hence many grave errors are con- tained in it. 94. ALASKA. THE PROPRIETY OF LEASING THE ISLANDS. It will be remembered that at the time this question was be- fure Congress much opposition to the principle of leasing was made, on the yround that the Government would realize more by taking the whole management of the business into its own hands. As to what arguments were used on either side of the question I am ignorant, but after a careful and impartial sur- vey of the subject on the ground itself, and in the trade, 1 am satisfied that those members of the House and Senate who, by their votes June, 1870, directed the Secretary of the Treasury to lease the Seal Islands of Alaska to the highest bidder, did the only correct and profitable thing that could be done in the - matter, both with regard to the preservation of the seal-life in its original integrity, and its own pecuniary gain ; and to make this statement of mine perfectly evident, the following facts may be presented : | First. When the Government took possession of these inter- ests In 1868-69, the gross value of a seal-skin then in the best mar- . ket, London, was less than the present tax and royalty paid upon it by the lessees ! Second. By the action of the intelligent business men who took tbe lease, in stimulating and encouraging the dressers. of the raw material, and in combining with leaders of fashion abroad, the demand for the fur has been greatly increased, and the price of the raw material has doubled, so that while the Government gets and nets nearly half of the gross sales, yet the lessees have a good margin of 15 to 20 per cent. at least on their capital, sustained entirely by their business capacity and energy. Third. The Government, should it attempt to manage this business, could not secure the services of such men as those who compose the business management of the Alaska Commercial Company without paying salaries to four and five agents as large or larger than that given to the President of the United States. This, however, the Government might cheerfully do, did it guarantee the selection and appointment of such men as those above mentioned, but it does not follow under our system of government, or any other that I know of, that a large salary indicates a corresponding amount of ability on the part of its recipient; an imbecile or a very common man is just as apt ALASKA. 95 te secure itasnot. Ordinary men cannot conduct this business successtully.* Fourth. As matters now stand, the greatest and best inter- ests of the lessees are identical with those of the Government ; that is, the preservation and, if possible, the increase of the seal-life; and if these lessees had it in their power, which they certainly have not, to ruin these interests by a few seasons of rapacity, they are too prudent to do so. Fifth. The frequent changes made in the office of the Secre- tary of the Treasury, who now, very properly, has the control of the business as it stands, do not guarantee on his part the close, careful scrutiny likely to be exercised by the lessees, who have but one purpose to carry out; and the character of the leading men among them is enough to assure the public that the business is in responsible hands, and in the care of persons who will use every effort for the preservation of the seal-life, as it is their interest to do. It is frequently urged with great persistency by misinformed *Another great obstacle to the success of the business, if controlled entirely by the Government, would arise in the disposal of the skins after they have been brought down from the islands. The Government would need to offer them at public auction in this country, and would be at the mercy of any well-organized combination of buyers; the Government agents conducting the sale could not counteract the efforts of such a combination as success- fully as the agents of a private corporation, who can look after their inter- ests in all the markets of the world and are supplied with money to use in manipulation of the market. On this ground I feel quite confident that the Treasury of the United States receives more money, net, under the system now in operation than it would by taking the exclusive control of the business; were any Gov- ernment officer supplied with, say, $100,000, to expend in “‘ working the market,” and intrusted with the disposal of 100,000 seal-skins, whenever he could so do to the best advantage of the Government, and were this agent a man of first-class business energy and ability, I think it quite likely the Same success might attend his labor in the London market that distinguishes the management of the Alaska Commercial Company; but the usual cry of fraud and robbery that would be raised against him, however honest he might be, would be such as to bring the whole business into positive disrepute or constant suspicion. The Government officer in this matter is placed at a great disadvantage should any such line of action be adopted, and the most prolitable course is for the Government not to offer in the markets through agents, but to pursue its present policy, levy a tax, and watch carefully the condition of the seal-life from year to year, as the killing is increased and the business developed to its full extent. In this way Alaska may be made to yield, by a tax laid on its Seal Islands alone, a very handsome rate of interest upon the money paid for the entire Territory. 96 ALASKA. or jealous authority that the lessees can and do take thousands of skins in excess of the limit of law, and that this catch in excess is Slyly shipped to China and Japan from the islands, &c. To show the folly of any such move as this on the part of the company, if even it were possible, I will briefly recapitulate the conditions under which the skins are taken. The natives do all the driving and skinning for the company ; no others are permitted or asked to land upon the islands to do this work as long as the inhabitants of the islands are equal to it. Every skin taken by the natives is counted by themselves, as they get forty cents per pelt for the labor; and at the expiration of every day’s labor in the field the natives know exactly how many skins have been taken by them, how many of these skins have been rejected by the company’s agent because they were carelessly cut and damaged in skinning, (usually about three- fourths of 1 per cent. of the whole catch,) and they have it re- corded every evening by those among themselves who are spe- cially charged with the duty. Thus, were 150,000 skins taken, or 200,000, the natives would know it as quickly as it was done, and would demand their compensation for the labor; and were any ship to approach the islands at any hour of the day or night, these people would know it at once, and would be aware of any shipment of skins that might be attempted. It would be common talk among the three hundred and seventy inhabitants, and thus leave it an open affair to any person who might come upon the ground charged with investigation. These people are constantly going to and from Ounalashka, where they have intimate intercourse with bitter enemies of the company, to whom they would not hesitate to tell the whole state of affairs on the islands. Should anything, therefore, be done contrary to the law, the act would be promptly reported « by these people, even if the Treasury agents were in collusion with the company, which, however, is simply out of the ques- tion. The Treasury agents count these skins into the ship, and one at least of their number goes down to San Francisco upon the vessel, where they are all counted out again by the custom- house officers of that port. Of the one hundred thousand skins annually taken, the company’s steamer ‘‘Alexander” usually carries down between sixty and seventy thousand, while the balance of the catch are put into the hold of a sailing-vessel 7 St 1 ere 1d ae LY iat a il EN 5 ol IS cla De i aS ALASKA. 97 at Ounalaskha, and counted again and certified to by the Treas- ury agent. It will at once be seen by examining the state of affairs and the conditions upon which the lease is granted, that the most scrupulous care in fulfilling the terms of the contract is the best and most profitable course for the lessees to pursue; that it would be downright folly in them to deviate in the slightest degree from the letter of the law, and thus lay themselves open at any time to discovery and the loss of their contract; their action can be investigated at any time by Congress, of which they are aware. They cannot bribe these three hundred and seventy-odd people on the islands to secrecy any more than they can conceal their action from them on the sealing-fields ; and any man of average ability can go among these people and inform himself as to the most minute details of the sealing- catch from the time the lease was granted, should he have rea- son to suspect the honesty of the Treasury agents. I therefore have no hesitation in stating that as far as the re- lationship existing between the Alaska Commercial Company and the Government is concerned, the best interests of the lat- ter are honestly and faithfully served, simply because it is the very best policy for the former so to do; that all the conditions of the lease are most scrupulously complied with and observed, and that the lessees hold themselves ready at any moment to comply with any just and proper modification of the regulations that time may develop. . With regard to the profits of this company upon their yearly catch of one hundred thousand seals, the agents of the Gov- - ernment have no concern whatever; after they have observed the faithful folfillment of the terms of the contract existing be- tween the company and the Government, the amount of their profit is a pure matter of business over which the lessees have entire control, and in regard to which they should not be sub- jected to impertinent inquisition. ; cee CONDITION OF THE NATIVES ON THE SEAL ISLANDS. This has been wonderfully improved by the action of the les- sees during the short time they have had control of affairs there. The truth of this will be realized by any one who may take the trouble to contrast the present condition of the people on these islands with what it was previous to the granting of the lease, and with that also of the people of their class who are now 7 AL OR ALASKA. living upon the Aleutian Islands and the mainland. The in- quirer will learn that these people, now so well and comfort- ably clad, fed, and housed, were at the time of the transfer of the Territory so poor and ill-provided for that they could not in many instances cover their nakedness; that they existed in absolute squalor; whereas they are now living in snug houses, such as our laboring classes occupy in the United States; that they earn and receive in coin, in less than two working-months every year, more than the same number of our common work- iIngmen receive on an average for a whole year’s service; and also that for all extra work other than of seal-skinning, such as loading and unloading the company’s vessels, building, grad- ing, &c., these people are paid by the day from fifty cents to one dollar, according to the character of service rendered. The agents of the company here do not pay the least atten- tion tu or interfere with the private life and personal relations of the people among themselves; and let me here state, to the credit of these people, that the peaceful and harmonious man- ner in which they live together as a rule, during nine idle months at least every year, would contrast most favorably with the lives of an equal number of our own working classes were they suddenly brought to these islands and put on the same footing. I will only hint at the insubordination and utter worthlessness of such a community after six or eight months of torpidity and isolation. It is true that the natives here have an inordinate fondness for liquor, and would destroy themselves were they not restrained in this propensity by the difficulty of obtaining this demoraliz- ing beverage, and hence the importance of the liquor prohibi- tion, which should be rigorously enforced. Only a small proportion of the present population are de- scendants of the pioneers who were brought by the several Russian companies in 1787~’88—a colony of 137 souls—recruited principally from the Aleuts at Ounalashka and Atka. ‘Their early life here was one of much hardship, and on several ocea- sions they were in actual need. They lived in a co-operative manner at first, in large barracoons or barrabkies, partly under- ground, economizing in this way their limited supply of fire- wood, being dependent upon the sea for such drift-timber as might chance to lodge as the currents, deflected from the Yau- kon and elsewhere, sweep around the islands; but during the ALASKA. 99 past twenty-five or thirty years they have all come into the general ownership and occupation of a hut to a family. The Russian Fur Company, controlling the islands, maintained on Saint Paul and Saint George a store and an agent, the people supporting a priest and building a church upon each island, and living in this manner very dirty, poor, and miser- able, they were brought into contact with the Americans at the time of the transfer of the Territory. The people are now supplied without charge with a physi- cian and medical stores on each island, and also a school; but the school is not well attended except by the very young chil- dren, principally the little girls, although every winter fifteen or twenty of the boys and young men are taught the Russian alphabet and church-service by three or four of the elder per- sons. ‘The non-attendance at school is not to be ascribed merely to indisposition on the part of the children and parents to at- tend the English schools established by the Alaska Commercial Company on both islands. The view expressed to the writer by one of the oldest and most intelligent of the people may be explanatory of their feeling and consequent action. JT do not,” said old Philip Vollkov, “‘ have any objection to the attendance of my children, nor have my neighbors to that of theirs, on your (English) school; but if our boys and young men neglect their Russian lessons, who is going to take our places when we die, in our church, at our christenings, and at our burials?” To any one familiar with the teachings of the Greek Catholie faith the objection of Vollkov is well taken ; but it is to be hoped that in the course of time, however, the Russian church-service may be conducted in English, for until then no satisfactory work can be done by an English school- teacher among them in the way of education. Up to the time of the transfer of the islands to the Alaska Commercial Company the inhabitants all lived in huts or sod- walled and dirt-roofed houses or barrabkies, partly under- ground. Most of these huts were, and are, damp, dark, and exceedingly filthy. Under the Russian régime the people gen- erally here had some excuse for such squalor; but as the case now stands it is due to the improvidence or shiftlessness of the natives themselves if they are living in this unclean condition and wear an appearance of discomfort. The use of seal-fat for fuel causes the deposit upon everything within doors of a thick coating of greasy, black soot, strongly impregnated with arank, 100 ALASKA. moldy, and indescribably offensive odor. In early times they were obliged to burn blubber very largely, having no other fuel at command than the precarious supply of drift-wood that the ocean-currents might bring them; but by the terms of the lease they are now supplied with a santierenld quantity of coal to make them quite comfortable during the winter. Since the Alaska Commercial Company have taken posses- sion of the islands, the natives are being quite rapidly put into neat and habitable houses, and plenty of lumber is distributed among those who have not as yet been removed to patch and make comfortable their old huts, and at the expiration of three more seasons the whole population of above eighty families will be occupants of as many suitable houses, where they will live more healthily. The example of the agents of the company on both islands and the assistant agent of the Treasury on Saint George during ~ the last three years, who have maintained perfect order, neat- ness, and industry about their buildings and business, has been a silent but powerful one for the better among the people. The intercourse of these gentlemen with the natives is always court- eous, pleasant, and often generous, when deserved; giving the simple inhabitants a slow but steady elevation toward mo- rality, sobriety, and industry, such as they never have had be- fore, having been treated like so many animals by the Russians ;. and the conduct of most of the United States revenue and mil- itary officers and men stationed here between the transfer of the Territory and the granting of the lease cannot be described as other than disgraceful, their behavior being marked by drunk- enness, debauchery, and brawls, their habits soon rendering the name American offensive to even these simple people. The population of Saint Paul is, at the present writing, 220 men, women, and children; that of Saint George, 138. It has neither much increased nor diminished during the last fifty years, but would have fallen off had not recruits been regularly drawn from the mainland and other islands, the births not being equal to the deaths. In view of the great improvement in their condition, it may be reasonably anticipated that these people will at least hold their own, even though they do not increase to any remarkable degree. As an incentive and encouragement for their good behavior, they have been assured that as long as they are capable and willing to perform the labor of skinning the seal-catch, so long . | 4 a ALASKA. FOL will they enjoy the exclusive privilege of participating in this labor and its reward. As to the especial fitness of these people for the labor connected with the sealing business, no comment is needed ; nothing better in the way of manual service, skilled and rapid, could be rendered by any other body of men equal in numbers. They appear to shake off the periodic lethargy of winter, and rush with enthusiasm into the severe exercise and duty of capturing, killing, and skinning the seals. Seal-meat is their staple food, and the village of Saint Paul, 220 souls, consumes about 400 pounds per diem, and they are permitted every fall to kill about 5,000 pups, or an average of 22 or 23 to each man, woman, and child. The pups will dress 10 pounds. This shows an average consumption of 515 pounds of seal-meat to each person during the year. In addition, the natives eat a great deal of butter and sweet crackers. If these _ people could get all they desire, they would consume about 500 pounds of butter and 450 pounds sweet crackers per week, and indefinite quantities of sugar. Of this article, 150 pounds a week is allowed them in this village. If unable to get sweet crackers, they consume about 300 pounds of bard or pilot bread, and, in addition to this, about 600 pounds of flour per week; of tobacco, 50 pounds; candles, 75 pounds; rice, 50 pounds each per week ; they burn over 600 gallons of kerosene oil during the year; vinegar is used in limited quantities, about 50 gallons per season; mustard and pepper, 4 to 14 pounds per week for the whole village; beans they reject; split pease, a few; salt meats they will take reluctantly if given to them, but will never buy them ; they use a little coffee during the year, about 100 pounds ; canned fruit they will purchase to any quantity, and would bankrupt themselves to obtain it, if the opportunity were afford- ed; potatoes they sometimes demand, as well as onions, but these vegetables cannot be brought here to advantage. The question will naturally be asked, How do these people employ themselves throughout the long nine months in which they have little or nothing todo? It may be answered that they are entirely idle during most of this period. Some of the men are, however, disagreeable exceptions, as they are enthu- siastic gamblers, passing whole nights at their sittings, even during the sealing-season, playing games at cards taught them by the Russians and persons who have been on the islands since the transfer of the Territory. But the majority of the men, women, and children, being compelled to make no exertion to 102 . ALASKA. obtain the necessaries of life—such as seal-meat, hard bread, tea, &c.—sleep most of the time when unoccupied in cooking, eating, and the daily observance of the routine of the Greek Catholic Church. Their religious duties alone preserve them from absolute stagnation; for, in obedience to its teachings, they attend church quite regularly, make and receive calls on their saints’ days, which are very numerous, and their birth- days are generally enlivened with home-brewed beer, or ** quass,” upon which all classes become more or less intoxicated. They add to these entertainments of the emannimik the musie of the > accordeon, an instrument of which they are very found; and a great number of the women in particular can play indiffer- ently a limited selection of airs, many of which are the old battle-songs and ballads so popular during the rebellion, and which the soldiers quartered here in 1869 taught them. From the soldiers, also, they learned to dance various figures, and to waltz. These dances, however, the old folks do not enjoy, and they seldom indulge in them, unless under the influence of beer. From the following statement it will be seen that these people are doing better work every succeeding season; for example, 90,000 seals were taken this year in sixteen days less time than it took to get 75,000 in 1871, viz: In Saint Paul’s Island, 1871, 55 days’ work of 66 men secured 75,000 seals. In 1872, 50 days’ work of 71 men secured 75,000 seals. In 1873, 40 days’ work of 71 men secured 75,000 seals, In 1874, 39 days’ work of 84 men secured 90,000 seals.* This shows plainly that they are in better physical condition than at first; it furnishes also wndeniable proof of the undimin- ished supply of killable seals. INHABITANTS OF SAINT PAUL, JULY 1, 1870, TAKEN FROM PHILIP VOLKOV’S LISTS, AUGUST 8, 1873. [The names in italics are either dead or absent from the island at the present writing.] 1. Philip Keemachneek. 6. Mareena, his wife. 2. Hffroseenia, his wife. 7. Alexsander, his son. 3d. Ivan, his son. 8. Sylvester, his son. 4. Danelo, his son. 9. Hefeem Anoolanak. 5. Vasseele Seedoolee. 10. Matroona, his wife. *This inercase of 15,000 on Saint Paul was made this season with a similar reduction on Saint George; the proportion of seal-life being smali on the latter compared with the former. a. 12. 13. 14. 15 16. ive 18. 19. 20. at, 22. 23. 24, 25. 26. 27. 28. 20. 30. ss) ae 32. 33. 34, 30. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41, 42. 43. 44, 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. ALASKA. Simeon, adopted son. 50 Marka Aveelyah. 51 Feeleechat, his wife. Peter Peeshenkov. Matroona, his wife. Ivan Eemanov. Anna, his wife. Yeagor, his son. Loobovy, his step-daughter. Maxseem, his step-son. Maria, his niece. Nickolai Krukov. Peter Krukov. Avgrafeena, his wife. Ivan Korchooteen. Ooleeana, his wife. Yahkov Koochootin. Lookahria, his sister. Natalia Makooleena. Maria Paranchina. Keesar Shabbylean. A grafeena, his wife. Neckon, his son. Ripsimia Plottnikova. Avdotia, her daughter. Prokoopee Meeseekin. Eveduxsia, his wife. Avdotia Meeseekina, his step-mother. Anna, daughter of Meesee- kin. Deemeetree Veatkin. Evelampia Veatkin. Balakshin, (Benedict.) Matroona, his wife. Meexhae, his son. Balakshin, 2d, (Benedict.) Stepan Krakov. Natalia, his wife. Avdokia Seeribneekova, (widow.) Timofay, her son. a9 4 woe oS “1 S> Cl Oo eo 103 . Olga, her daughter. . Paraskeevee, her daugh- ter. . Akooleena, her daughter. . Michael Barrhov. . Malania, his wife. . Agnes, his daughter. . Daniel, his nephew. . Avdotia Schepeteenah, (widow.) . Tahreentee, her son. . Elarie, her son. . Hee-une-iah, her daughter. . Kerick Booterin, 1st chief. 2. Seeg-lee-teekiah, his wife. . Patalamon, his son. . Kerick, his son. . Salomayee, his daughter. . Ooleeta, his daughter. . George Booterin, his son. . Carp Booterin. . Lookariah Booterin. . Alexander Pancov. . Porfeerie, his son. . Avdotia, his step-daughter. . Paraskeevie, his step- daughter. . Yakov Sootyahgin. . Eeroadea, his wife. . Feedosayee Saydeek. . Anesia, his wife. . Anna, his daughter. . Feoktista, his god-mother. . Dayneese Saydeek. . Baiz yahzeekov, (Evlampia.) . Anna, his wife. . Maria, has daughter. . Maroon Nakock. . Paraskeevie, his wife. . Gachar, his step-son. , nephew. . Paraskeevie, niece. 104 ALASRA. 89. Natalia Habaroova. 127 90. Pavel Habarov, her son. 128 91. Paul Shics-neekov, ( priest.) 129. 92. Meeh-ah-elo, his son. 130 95. Meeloveedova,Alexsandra, 131. (widow.) 132 94, Simeon, her son. 133 95. Alexsandra, her daughier. 134 96. Antone, her son. 135 97. Marcia, her daughter. 136 98. Kerick Artamanov. 137 99. Olga, his wife. 138 100. Melania, his daughter... 139 101. Vasseleesee, hisdaughter. 140 102. Kah-sayn-yah, his 141 daughter. 142 103. Gearman Artamanov. 143 104. Anna Tarantayvah, 144 (widow.) 145 105. Anna, her daughter. 146 106. Stepan Bayloglazov. 147 107. Yealeena, his wife. 148 108. Sayrgee, his son. 149 109. Anna, his daughter. 150 110. Paraskeevie, his adopted 151 real a 152 111. Ermolie Cushing. 153 112. Faokla, his wife. 154 113. Faokla, his daughter. 155 114. Oolyahnah, his daughter. 156 115. Aggie Cushing, his son. 157 116. Antone Sootyahgen. 158 117. Oolyahnah, his wife. 159 118. Meetrofan, his son. 160 119. Meehaie, his son. 120. Yahkov Mandrigan. 161 121. Atfanashia, his wife. 122. Lookaylecan, his son. 162 123. Maria, bis daughter. 163 24, Oseep Pahomov. 164 125. Varvarah, his wife. 165 126. Maria Seedova, (widow.) 166 . Ahkakee, her son. 2. Alexea Neci#leasapae . Akooleena, his wife. . Christeena, his daughter. . Agrafeena, his daughter. 6. Keer Saydeek. . Yealeena, his wife. . Maria, his daughter. . Ivan Mandrigan. . Tatahyahn, his wife. . Vasseelee, his son. . Marfa, his daughter. . Feelat Teetov. . Peter, his son. . Yeaon, his son. . Yeagor Arkashav. . Alexsandra, his wife. . Martin, his step-son. . Nekolaie, his step-son. . Stepan, his step-son. . Kereek, his son. . Arsaynee, his son. . Tatayahnabh, ie . Timofay Evanov. . Fevronia, his daughter. , Paymen Kooznitzov. . Oseep Baizyahzeekov. . Alexsandra, his wife. . Paul, his son. . Kahsaynyah, his step- . Avdokia, his step-daugh- 2. Kahsaynyah, his daughter. . Ivan Paranciin. . Zaharrov Evemainov. 3. Keereenayah, his wile. 3. Fevronia, his daughter. , daughter. , daughter. , daughter. , daughter. daughter. ter. a —— * a 5 wd — ~ “ ‘ 167. 168. 169. 170. i. 172. 173. 174. ~ 175. 176. it. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. 184, 185. 186. Si. 188. 189. 199. Ot, 192. 193. 194, 195. 196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. ALASKA. Ivan Hapov. 205. Anna, sister-in-law. 206. Alexsandra, his daughter. 207. Ivan, his son. 208. Yeagor Korchootin. 209. Zachar Saydeek. 210. Oosteenia, his wife. vi) UE Vasseelee, his son. aD. Marvra, his daughter. 218. Nekon, his nephew. 214. Feelip Saydeek. 215. Stepan Skahvortsov. 216. Philip Vollkov. ZAG. Ellen, his daughter. 218 Matroona, his daughter. 219 Markiel Vollkov, his son. 220 Gavreelo Korchurgin. 221 Lukaylean, his son. 222 Ivan Sootyahgen. 223 Heeyoniah, his wife. 224 Aneesia, his daughter. 225 Emelian Sootyahgen. 226 Marko Korchootin. 227 Darevah, his wife. 228 Ivan, his son. Zeenovia, his daughter. 229 Timofay Glottov. 230 Maria, his wife. , his son. Ivan, his son. Yeafeemia, his daughter. Traklin Mandrigan. Ocsteenie, his wife. Keon, his son. Paul Soovorrov. Vassa, his wife. , his son. Akyleena, his mother. ONATR OPH 105 Agrafeena, his adopted girl. Kefeem Korchootin. Palahgayee, his wife. Peter, his son. Luka Mandrigan. Eereena, his wife. Neekeeta Yitchmaino.v Christeena, his daughter. Domenah, his daughter. Taheesah, his daughter. Ivan Yitchmamov. Michael Korzerov. Alexsandra, his wife. . Stepan Korzerov. . Paul Korzerov. . Ivan Kozlov. . Palahgayah, his mother. . Feodor, her son. . Hveducksia, her daughter. . Platone Tarakanoy. . Marfa, his wife. . Akoolena, his mother. . Kerick Tarakanov. . Domian M. Kok, (John Frater.) . Oolyahnah, his wife. . Anna, his daughter. . Salomayah, Artomanov’s daughter. White men in charge. . Dr. McIntyre. H. W. McIntyre. . Dr. Cramer. . Jdohn M. Morton. . Chas. Bryant. D. Webster. , & cooper. , a carpenter. 106 ALASKA. Annual division or cash settlement made by the natives on Saint Pauls Island, among themselves, the proceeds of their work in. taking and skinning 75,000 seals, at 40 cents per skin, $30,000, with extra work connected with it, making $30,637.37. Seventy-four shares, proportioned as follows: . December 31, 1872.—37 first-class shares, at.... $451 22 cach. 23 second-class shares, at. 406 99 each. 4 third-class shares, at... 360 97 each. 10 fourth-class shares, at.. 315 85 each. The shares do not represent more than forty-five able-bodied men. Annual division or cash settlement made by the people on Saint George’s Island, among themselves, the proceeds of their work in taking and skinning 25,000 seals, at 40 cents per skin, $10,000. Aug. 1,1873.—17 shares, each 961 skins, or $384.40. $6, 294 80 2 shares, each 935 skins, or $374... 748 00 — 3 shares, each 821 skins, or $328.40. 985 20 1 share, 820 skins, or $328... ..... 328 60 3 shares, each 770 skins, or $308... 924 00 3 shares, each 400 skins, or $160... 480 00 Twenty-nine shares, or the twenty-nine laboring sealers; of this number two are women. Only twenty-five of them are able-bodied men. The divisions above are the result of their own choice. They make this apportionment among themselves without advice or suggestion from the agents of the company. These people have $3,320 on interest in the office of the Alaska Commercial Com- pany at this date, and have credit on the books for $31,800; and when the division is made up on Saint Paul at the regu- lar annual time of settlement in December, $30,000 will be added to the above exhibit. | The people here are occupying, rent-free at the present time, thirty frame houses built by and belonging to the Alaska Commercial Company on the Seal Islands. Twenty of these houses are new frame, 11 by 20 feet. These people have their misers and spendthrifts, but it will be seen that very few of them care much for saving their money, inasmuch as only four or five of them have as yet taken any steps toward such action. One man on Saint Paul has over $1,800 saved, aud drawing interest at 9 per cent. to-day. ALASKA. LOZ THE HISTORY OF THE BUSINESS AS CONDUCTED BY THE RUSSIANS. [Translated by the writer from Veniaminov’s Zapieskie, &c., Saint Petersburg, 1842, vol. ii, pp. 568. *] From the time of the discovery of the Prybilov Islands, up to 1805, (or that is, until the time of the arrival in America of General Resanov,) the taking of fur-seals on both islands pro- gressed without count or lists, and without responsible heads or chiefs, because then (1787 to 1805 inclusive) there were a number of companies represented by as many agents or leaders, and all of them vied with each other in taking as many as they could before the killing was stopped. After this, in 1806 and 1807, there were no seals taken, and nearly all the people. were removed to Ounalashka. In 1808 killing was again commenced, but the people iu this year wereallowed tokillonly on Saint George; on Saint Paul hunt- ers were not permitted this year or the next: it was not until the fourth year after this that as many as half the number pre- viously taken wereannually killed. From this time (Saint George, 1808, and Saint Paul, 1810) up to 1822, taking fur-seals progressed on both islands without any economy and with slight cireum- spection, as if there were a race in killing for the most skins. Cows were taken in the drives and killed, and were also driven _ from the rookeries to places where they were slaughtered. It was only in 1822 that G. Moorayvev (governor) ordered that young seals should be spared every year for breeding, and from that time there were taken from the Prybilov Islands, in- stead of 40,000 to 50,000, which Moorayvev ordered to be spared in four successive years, no more than 8,000 to 10,000. Since this, G. Chestyahkov, chief ruler after Moorayvev, estimated that from the increase resulting from the legislation of Mooray- vey, which was so honestly carried out on the Prybilov Islands that in these four years the seals on Saint Paul increased to double their previous number, he could give an order which in- creased the number to be annually slain to 40,000, and this last order or course directed for these islands demanded as many seals as could be got, but with all possible exertion hardly 28,000 were obtained. hae this, when it was most plainly seen that the ae. were. on account of this wicked killing, steadily growing less and less * The italics are mine, and the translation is nearly literal, as might be inferred by the idiom here and there.—H. W. E. 108 ALASKA. in number, the directions were observed for greater caution in killing the grown seals and young females which. came in with the droves of killing-seals, and to endeavor to separate, if pos- sible, these from those which should be slain. But.all this hardly served to do more than keep the seals at one figure or number, and hence did not cause an inerease. Finally, in 1834, the governor of the company, upon the clear (or ‘“‘handsome”) argument of Baron Wrangel, which was placed before him, resolved to make new regulations respecting — them, to take effect in the same year, (1834,) and, following this, on the island of Saint Paul only 4,000 were killed instead of 12,600. On the island of Saint George the seals were allowed to rest in 1826 and 1827, and since that time greater caution and care have been observed, and head-men or foremen have kept a care- ful count of the killing. From this it will be seen that no anxiety or care as to the pres- ervation of the seal-life began until 1805, (¢. ¢., with the united companies.) It is further evident that all half-measures, seen or not seen, were useful no longer, as they only served to preserve a small portion of the seal-life, and only the last step (1834) with the present people or inhabitants has proved of benefit. And if such regulations of the company continue for fifteen years, (7. e., until 1849,) it may be truly said that then the seal-life will be attracted quite rapidly under the careful direction of head-men, so that in quite a short time a handsome yield may be taken every year. In connection with this subject, if the company are moderate and these regulations are carried out, the seal- life will serve them and be depended upon as shown in this volume, Table No. 2. Nearly all the old men think and assert that the seals which are spared every year, (‘‘ zapooskat kotov,”) ¢. e., those which have not been killed for several years, are truly of little use for breeding, lying about as if they were outcasts or disfranchised always. About these seals, they show that after the seals were spared, they were always less than they should be, as, for instance, on the island of Saint George, after two years of sav- ing or sparing of 5,500 seals, in the first year they got, instead of 10,000 or 8,000, as expected, only 4,778. But this diminution, which is shown in the most convincing manner, (1,) is due to wrong and injustice, because it would not ALASKA. 109 have been otherwise with any kind of animals—even cattle would have been exterminated; because a great many here think and count that the seal-mother brings forth her young in her third year, 2. e., the next two years after her own birth. As itis well shown here, the spared seals (** zapooskie”) werenot more than three years old, and therefore it was not possible to dis- cern the correct or truenumbers as they really were. Taking the females killed by the people, together with all the seals which were purposely spared, it was seen that the seal-mothers did not begin to bear earlier than the jifth year of their lives. Illus- trative of this is the following: | | (a) On the island of Saint George, after the first “‘ zapooska,” in 1828, the killing of five-year-old seals was continued gradu- ally up to five times as many as at first; with those of five years old, the killing stopped; then next year twelve times as many six-year-olds were observed on the islands as compared with their number of the last years, and with or in the seventh year came seven times as many. This shows that females born in 1828 did not begin to bear young until their fifth year, and become with young accordingly; that the large ones did not appear or come in six years, (from 1828,) as is evident, for in the fifth year all the females did not bring forth. b. Itis knownthat the male seals cannot become “ seecatchies” (adult bulls) earlier than their fifth or sixth year; following this, if may be said that the female bears earlier than the fourth year. ce. If the male seal cannot become a bull (‘‘seecatchie ”) earlier than the fifth year, then, as Buffon remarks, ‘“ animals can live seven times the length of the period required for their maturity ;” therefore a seecatch cannot live less than thirty years, and a female not less than twenty-eight.* Taking the opinion of Buffon for ground in saying that animals do not come to their full maturity until one-seventh -* “This remark is sustained by the observation of old men, and especially by one of the best creoles, Shiesneekov, who was on the island of Saint Paul in 1817, and who knows of one “ seecatch,” (known by a bald head,) which in that time had already a large herd of cows or females, surrounded and hunted by a like number of females and strong, savage old bulls; therefore it may be safely thought that this bull did not get his growth until his fifth year, and at this time he could not have been less than ten years old ; and this same bull came every year to the island and the same place for fifteen years in succession, up to 1832, and it was only in the later years that his harem grew smaller and smaller in number.” : : : : 110 ALASKA. of their lives has passed, it goes also to prove that the female Seal cannot bear young before her fourth year. It is without doubt a fact that female seals do not begin to bear young before their fifth year, i. ¢., the next four years after the one of their birth, and not in the third or fourth. Certainly we can allow that some females bear in their fourth year ; that, however, is not the rule, but the exception. To make it more apparent that females cannot bear young in their third year, consider the two-year-old females, and compare them with “see- catchie” (adult bulls) and cows, (adult females,) and it will be evident to all that this is impossible. Do the females bear young every year; and how often in their lives do they bring forth ? To settle this question is very difficult, for it is impossible to make any observations upon their movements; but I think that the females in their younger years (or prime) bring forth every year, and as they get older, every other year; thus (according to people accustomed to them) they may each bring forth in their whole lives from ten to fifteen young, and even more. This opinion is founded on the fact that never (except in one year, 1832) have an excessive number of females been seen without young ; that cows not pregnant hardly ever come to the Prybilov Islands ; that such females cannot be seen every year. As to how large a number of females do not bear, according to the opinions and personal observations of the old people, the following may be depended upon with confidence: not more than one-fifth of the mature or “ effective” females are without young; but to avoid erroneous impressions or conflicting state- ments between others and myself, I have had but one season, (‘‘trayt”) in which to personally observe and consider the multi- plication of seals. There is one more very important question in the considera- tion of the breeding or the increase of seals, and that.is, of the number of young seals born in one year, how many are males ; and is the number of males always the same in proportion to the Semales ? Judging from the holluschickie accumulated from the “za- pooska” in 1822-24 on the island of Saint Paul, and in 1826-’27 on the island of Saint George, the number of young males was very variable; for example, on the island of Saint Paul, in three years 11,000 seals were spared, and in the following three years there were killed 7,000, 7. ¢e., about two-thirds of the number ALASKA. 7 EDS saved; opposed to this, on the island of Saint George, from - 8,500 spared seals in two years, less than 3,000 were taken, hardly one-third. Why this irregularity? Why should more young males be born at one time, and at another less? Or why should there be years in which many cows do not bear young ? According to the belief of the people here, I think that of the number of seals born every year, half are males, and as many females. To demonstrate the above-mentioned conditions of seal-life, the table, No. 1, has been formed of the number of seals annu- ally killed on the Prybilov Islands from 1817 to 1838, (when this work was ended.) From this it will be seen that— ee: 1. No single successive year presents a good number of seals killed as compared with the previous year; the number is always less. 2. The annual number of seals killed was not in a constant ratio. 3. And, therefore, in the regular hunting-season there is less need or occasion during the next fifteen years to demand the ‘whole seal kind. 4, Fewer seals were killed in those years generally following @ previous year in which there were larger numbers of the ‘‘holluschickie;” that is, when the-young males were not com- pletely destroyed, and more were killed when the number of ~ Ape aaa ” was less. 5. The number of “holluschickie” is a true register or show- sae of the numbers of seals; i. ¢., if the “holluschickie” increase and exist like the young females, and conversely. 6. Holluschickie break from the (common) herd and gather by themselves no earlier than the third year, as seen in the case of the spared seals on the islands of Saint George and Saint Paul, the latter from 1822-24, 1835~37, inclusive; the former from 1826~—27. 7. The number of seals killed on the island of Saint George after two years (“‘zapooska”) was resumed and gradually in- creased to five times aS many. 8. In the fifth year from the first ‘‘ zapooskie” (or saving) it became possible to count or reckon on the number remaining, and six-year-olds began to appear twelve times as numerous, and seven-year-olds came in numbers sevenfold greater than 112 ALASKA. their previous small number; and, therefore, the number of three-year-old seals was quite constant. 9. If on the island of Saint George, in 1826~27, the seals had not had this rest, (“‘zapooska.”) and the killing had been continued, even at the diminished ratio of one-eighth, in 1840 or 1842 there would not have been a single seal left, as appears by the following table: Seals. Seals | Meco tee epee apne alae Sas Wie ES 5, 000 |. 1833 5. 2.3. . oceee eee ee 1,360 See ent ee en Sa 4,400 | 1834..020. 22502 ee 1,190 i pig tape D7 ass Dyk pa Long Mita RA ok 3, 020 } 1335 .. 2223 soe eee eee 1, 040 PSD Sear, ren ee ee 2; S16.) 1836. 2. Bee ee 850 RSQS. SAL Sion Pen eee eh ES 2,468") 18372: 1 eee 700 PESO). 2 so tek a ae ee ene 2,160 | 1888... -J22. 2a 580 Thor Poms ye eae Sree ce NP LY a 1, 890 | 1839.2. 228 2a ee 500 | Kors a ean © apy ERR GAY A Dr SS A 1,554) 1840... oe 2 ace eee 400 10. Following two years of “zapooska,” (saving,) the seal-life is enhanced for more than ten years, and the loss sustained by the company in the time of ‘ zapooskov” (about 8,500) is made good in the long run. The case may be thus stated: If the company had not spared the seals in 1826-27, they would have received, from 1826 to 1838, (twelve years,) no more than 24,000, but by making this zapooska regulation for two years they got . in ten years 31,576, and, beyond this, they can yet take 15,000 without another, or any, zapooska. 11. And in this case, where such an insignificant number of seals was spared on Saint George, (about 8,500,) and in such a short time, (two years,) the result was at once significant every year; that is, three times more appeared than the number spared. The result, therefore, must be large annually on the island of Saint Paul, where, in consequence of the last orders or directions of the governor, already four years of saving have been in force, in which time over 30,000 seals have been left for breeding. On this account, and in conformity with the above, I here present a table, a prophesy of the seals that are to come in the next fifteen years from 7,060 seals saved on the island of Saint Paul in 1835. On the island of Saint Paul, at the direction of the governor, a “zapoosk” or saving was made of 12,700 seals; that is, before the year 1834 there were killed 12,700 seals, and on the following year, if this saving had not been made, according to the testi- mony of the inhabitants, no more than 12,200 seals would or eae. te ee ALASKA. 113 could have been taken from the islands, it being thought that this number (12,200) was only one twenty-fifth of the whole ; but instead of killing 12,200, only 4,052 were taken, leaving in 1835, for breeding, 8,148 fresh young seals, males and females, together. In making this hypothetical table of seals that are to come, I take the average killing, that is, one-eighth part, and proceed on the supposition that the number of saved seals will not be less than 7,060. In the number of 7,060 seals we can calculate upon 3,600 females; that is, a slight majority of males. With the new females born under this “‘ zapooska” I place half of those born the first year, and so on. Females, in the twelve or eighteen years next after their birth, must become less in number from natural causes, and by the twenty-second year of their lives they must be quite useless for breeding. - Of the number of seals which may be born during the next four years of ‘“‘zapooska,” or longer, we may take half for females. This number is included in the table, and the males, or *“holluschickie,” make up the total. From the II Table, observe that— 1. Old females, that is, those which in 1835 were capable of bearing young, in 1850 must be canceled, (minus.) They prob- ably die in proportion of one-eighth of the whole number every year. 2. For the first four years of zapooska, until the new females begin to bear, their number will be generally less. 3. A constant number of seals wiil continue during the first six years of their zapooska; in twelve vears these seals will double, in fourteen years they will have increased threefold ; and after fifteen years of this zapooska or saving of 7,060, in the first year 24,000 may be taker from them, in the second 28,000, in the third 32,000, in the fourth 36,000, in the fifth 41,000; thus in five years more that 160,000 can be taken. Then, under the supervision of persons who will see that one-fifth of the seals be steadily spared, 32,000 may be taken every year for a long time. 4. Moreover, from the production of fifteen years “‘ zapooska” there can be taken from 60,000 to 70,000 holluschickie, which, together with 160,000 seals, makes 230,000. 5. If this “‘zapooska” for the next fifteen years is not made 8 AL 114. ALASKA. for the seal-life, diminution will certainly ensue, and all this time, with all possible effort, no more than 50,000 seals will be taken. Here it should be‘said that this hypothetical table of the probable increase of seals is made on the supposition of the decrease of females, and an average is taken accordingly. Furthermore, on the island of Saint Paul, in 183637, instead of 7,900 seals being killed, but 4,860 were taken. Henee it follows that these 1,500 females thus saved in two years, and which are omitted from the table, will also make a very significant addition to the incoming seals.* * TI give thischapter of Veniaminov’s without abridgment, although it is full of errors, to show that while the Russians gave this matter evidently much thought at headquarters, yet they failed to send some one on to the ground, who, by first making himself acquainted with the habits of the seals from close observation of their lives, should then be fitted to prepare rules and regulations founded upon this knowledge. These suggestions of Veniaminov were, however, a vast improvement on the work as it was con- ducted, and they were adopted at once, but it was not until 1845 that the great importance of never disturbing the breeding-seals was recognized. 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Gules t lta ote ae oe ae ae =" 00le 1008 = (00) s\00G2 G16. |ST6 ». |GlGe. “ete. > \Sie- = (bias “leie.lei@.- \ele- \0e9 |e t siete nner ne |e Bek Gah Ooops) Bets |s6 soa te aa JOY: S008 - 2002 O00-0 S020. Ee 080eL 020 Te 0Soer= J0coeE. icon \0c0.1. 0201 \0g0) Pcee |-°s "|= "=" =s5") Oo SOS € | 0) | “S88Ta G wsreeetoreeset=ss---109% [00h (008 +=: |000‘E 00‘ |006‘T |00s‘t looa‘t loos't |o0%‘t [00% ‘t |003 ‘t |o0s ‘1 |006 0 0 0 0 009 'e | “Se8t | T “OSBT | “CERT | “PSB | "ES8T | ‘SeBT | “TEST | “OSL | “OFS | “8hBT | “AFSL | ‘9PST | “SET | “PFST | EFST | “GhST | IPST | “OPST | “GEST | SEBT | "LEST | ‘DERT | CEST l 66 1G 06 6T aT LY 9T cT ia! eT or TI or 6 8 L | 9 G v & G I a hae ne BBN ist Beas bev Siac _ om ae oe PAS ue CRA am ck Cae 116 ALASKA. From this table behold that— a. Every fifteen years, from 3,600 females, there can be received in sixteen years 24,700 seals; in sixteen years still more ; and in twenty years 41,640. b. In the twenty-first year the incomers begin to diminish, provided that if inthe mean time, or the following sixteen years, a certain number of young seals are not left to breed; and if every year a known number are left to breed, then in all following years the yield will never be less than 20,000 every year. TABLE III.—Calculation as to the coming of the seals on the island of Saint George, made up from two years, and based upon that experience, (1827-28. ) iL lle GS | Lees es ve MN (Ne Grand Year. | total 1926. |1827./1828.|1929.|1830.|1831.|1832.|1833.|1834./1835.|1836./1837.| 3 ees see Te) te06 0 2 Te Re eats Peet 450| 700/ 700/ 700) 700! 700] voo|........ 9 | 1827 |.......| Breeding |2,050|.....|.....].....]---.. 360| 600; 600! 600] 600| 600|........ Soir) eek, Ae faoht 27 1,700|1,500]1.200|1,000) 700! 550| 400/ 250] 100| 50)........ Females. .... | 2, 200 |2,050/1,700|1,500! 1 ,200)1,450|1,760|1,850)1,700/1,550|1,400|1,350).....--. Holluschickie .| 2/200 |2050'1/6c0)1.500|1,200'1,45011.760|1,800)1,700!1,500|1.500|1,400|........ Motal cial 4, 400 |4,100'3,30013,000'2,400/2,90013,520 3,650 3,400)3,050:2,900 2.750) 30, 870 The actual taking of seals was as follows: Seals. An 18982 2.2 xtc tO Ses sae oda Pike: ea bo) fmt S20. Sack ceed eee ee See ae ee Ree wcan @ OnOn Wa SQOe eae Bie ecg ee ee wines els 2, 834 Pn Pew 5 Ben Dros a Seclied seen Jae seeoae oe 3, 084 Lana ES LR ae PES he oa get ee 2) Be 32 ves re - 5 296 L Si ec tis seem en stid cree aiirarieet inc | ote an es | ft og abe In P8345 3 + at he pomuskwciic 2s pe neice one po! Sa, VonL In 18838 Cees ol DS eo a eS ai, pay ORS la USSG 2 ee hee eS AB Be as ites Je 2 - 2,550 MM S30 es ee hae Go see Ua de wh ce deere tee ee (cee te Syaeeees Dota ios 2/2): sige ghee tes be ali phela se -.- 31,476 From this table it will be seen that up to 1838 my cal- Seals. culation makes a yield of ..... pie AOE ae ia ee 30, 570 While the actual result was.............- bi Pe ee ol, 476 Difference of....-. aid wine Meee ae Sip se oe ep 606 The difference determines that the hypothesis upon which the table is based is correct. ALASKA. 117 A CONFERENCE WITH THE NATIVES OF THE SEAL ISLANDS, JULY 20-26, 1874. For the purpose of learning what these people might have to say in regard to the seal business as it is now conducted, Lieu- tenant Maynard and myself asked the chiefs to select those men among themselves who knew most in regard to the matter, especially those who had been most in the habit of noting the rookeries, and have them meet us privately to hear what they might feel disposed to do if they had anything to say in the matter; and accordingly some fifteen of them, oldest and wisest, including all the chiefs of Saint Paul and one that belongs to Saint George, met us. We had a smart Russian creole for in- terpreter, a sailor from our own vessel, and sat for two long evenings with them in conference. The result may be summed up as follows: In regard to the condition of the seal-life, the natives are both watchful and solicitous, but do not present any argument against the annual killing of 100,000 young maies over one year and under five, as is now conducted; that is, 90,000 on Saint Paul and 10,000 on Saint George; but the Saint Paul people have a very natural and strong feeling that they should alone reap the benefit that arises from the increase in the number killed on their island; that the $6,000, which is represented by the ad- ditional 15,000 killed last summer on this island, should be shared among themselves, and feel a little sore about having the Saint George people come over here to do this work and take the proceeds, which they did on their own island (Saint George) last year. They do not think 90,000 any too many on Saint Paul, if they alone shall kill the animals and take the reward ; but suddenly, when it is found that they are to be paid only for the original erroneous pro rata, 75,000, they become very fearful of the result of killing 90,000, with as many five-year-old bulls as have been killed this summer. As this solicitude is due to no other reason than this very perceptible anxiety, its expres- sion must be taken with some reservation. But this constant anticipation of injurious results, even if there exist no grounds for apprehension, is of great advantage to both the agents of Government and the company; for the public may rest assured that the first evidence of any decrease of seal-life on these rook- eries of Saint Paul will be at once observed by the jealous eyes of their many native keepers, even were there no agents of ae 118 ALASKA. cither party now in contro! capable of discerning it, which is not likely, however, to be the case. We explained to them, in return, that the law which limited the killing on Saint George to 25,000, and on Saint Paul to 75,000, was based upon the imperfect information furnished by the agents of the Government sent to the islands, and that kill- ing 25,000 out of 100,000 on an island where there was not one-twentieth of the number of seals that were on the ground where the remaining 75,000 were taken, was entirely wrong, and must be corrected, for the best interests of all parties concerned; and that they had no right to profit at the expense of their brethren on Saint George, who were expected, at the time the law was made, to share equally with them the proceeds of this labor, and in this spirit the defective law was framed. This explanation appeared to relieve their minds. They spoke to us with great satisfaction of the bettered con- dition in which they are living as compared with the state in which they lived but a short time since. A very perceptible shade of gloom settled on the countenances of all when we as- sured them that the Government could not permit any more ‘‘quass” or beer drunkenness among them. We set forth the propriety of this course on the part of the Secretary of the Treas- ury as justified by the following reasons: — 1. They are at present living without the restraint of police- men and prisons, fines, &c., which we employ for the suppression of such disorder in our own land, and it was best for them to live sober and avoid the necessity of having such institutions. 2. That they were, by the great generosity of the Govern- ment and the company, allowed to enjoy the sole privilege of participation in the sealing-labor and its good reward, by which they were enabled to live in such comfort and ease; that if they indulged in drinking they would drop out from the skinning- gangs, and be unable in a few years to attend properly to their duty on the killing-grounds; that then the company would have the power and would be justified in procuring others to do - this work, and that then but a short time would elapse before the labor of persons not addicted to drink would crowd them and their children out of their comfortable possession. In the course of our conversation with them in regard to the events of early days on the island, they gave the following as facts, relying on the “ vivid imaginations and faithful memories” ALASKA. 119 with which they are credited by the man who, of all men, best knew them, Veniaminov: “ In 1835, on the ‘ Lagoon’ rookery, there were only two bulls ; the cows were, however, in number excessive; about as many as are on ‘Na Speel’ to-day, (2,000.) On ‘Zapadnie’ about one thousand cows, bulls, and pups; at Southwest Point there was nothing; two small rookeries were on the north shore of Saint Paul, near a place called ‘Maroonitch;’ they have been de- serted, however, by the seals for a long time; the oldest man on the island, Zachar Seedick, aged 57, has never seen them there; has only heard of it. ‘On Northeast Point there were seven small rookeries running around the point; only fifteen hundred cows, pups, and bulls, all told; this number inciudes the ‘holluschickie, which in those days lay in among the breeding-seals, there being so few bulls that they were permitted to do so. On‘ Polavina’ there were about five hundred cows, bulls, pups, and ‘ holluschickie;’ on ‘ Lukannon’ and ‘ Ketavie,’ about three hundred; only ten bulls on ‘ Ketavie,’ so few young males lying in all together that they took no note of them on these rookeries; on the ‘ Reef’ and ‘Gorbotch,’ about one thousand only; of these some eight hundred, ‘ holluschickie’ included, lying in with the breeding- seals; there were about twenty old bulls only on Gorbotch, and but ten on the Reef; on ‘Nau Speel’ there were about a hun- dred. The village was here then as now. “In 1845 we took the young males alone, respecting the sexes for the first time; took only about twenty a day on North- east Point; on the Reef, all the way from one hundred and fifty to two hundred a day. ‘“‘In 1857 the breeding-rookeries were nearly as large as they are now ; but have been rather gradually increasing ever since. Prior to 1835 the village was up at the little fresh-water lake, and the seals are reported, previous to this date, many years, to have run all over the present village ground, very much as they do at Zapadnie to-day.” - In regard to the numbers of the fur-seal when the Russians first took possession of the ground, in 1787, the present genera- tion, descendants of these pioneers, have only a general vague impression that the seals were somewhat more numerous in the first days of Russian occupation than they are now. ‘With regard tothe probable truth of the foregoing statement of the natives to us, I can only call attention to the fact that the entire sum of seal-life, as given by them, is 4,100 of all classes; now, Bishop Veniaminov publishes an authentic record of the killing on these islands from 1817 to 1837, (the time in which he finished his work,) by which it will be seen that in this year of 1835, 4,052 seals were killed and taken; and if the : account of the natives was true, that would leave on the island | only 50 for 1836, in which year, however, 4,040 were killed, and | in 1837 4,220, and there was a steady increase in the killing | by the Russians up to 1850, when they governed their catch ; | 120 ; ALASKA. ' by the market alone. . | This great diminution of the seal-life, setting in at 1817 and running on steadily in decline until 1834, when it began to . mend, is well accounted for by Veniaminov’s account. From this it will be seen that after greedy Russian companies on these islands had killed seals for over fifteen years in unknown numbers without causing any great change in the ratio of num- bers, a diminution began gradually to set in, which became obvious in 1817, and attained its maximum in 183435, when hardly a tithe of the former numbers appeared on the ground ; but from that year change in the management, &c., promoted an increase, and they steadily augmented up to their former great numbers, by 1855-07 reaching a maximum at which they have remained, as far as my investigations throw light on the i subject ; a few years more of proper observation on the ground | here will settle the matter to the satisfaction of all concerned. A variety of reasons have been given for this diminution, but the case is clear that as the animals to be slain were selected at random on the breeding-grounds from males and females, they gradually, in consequence of this incessant mo- lestation, began to shun the islands, seeking some other land, and there breeding, in spite of many natural difficulties; but as soon, however, as the Russians began to respect the prinei- ple of never driving or killing the females, the seals gradually regained their confidence, and finally returned to these islands, the most convenient and best adapted for their occupation in the northern hemisphere. This was the reason for their dis- appearance at that time, or they were suffering from the rav- ages of some unknown distemper. (1S 0 cd hal OR ee THE HABITS OF THE FUR-SEAL, ETO. THE SEAL-LIFE ON THE PRYBILOV ISLANDS may be classed under four heads, as follows, viz: The Fur-SEAL, (Callorhinus ursinus,) Kautickie of the Rus- sians. The SEeA-Lion, (Humetopias stellerii,) See vitchie of the Rus- -sians. The HAtr-SHAL, (Phoca vitulina,) Nearhpah of the Russians. The WALRUS, (Rosmarus arcticus,) Morsjee of the Russians. Of the above, the hair-seal is the animal upon which pop- ular and, indeed, scientific opinion is founded as to what a seal appears like, and has in this way given to the people a false idea of its relatives, above enumerated, and has made it exceed- ingly difficult for the naturalist to correctly discriminate be- tween them; for, although it belongs to the same family, it does not even have a generic affinity to those seals with which it has been persistently confounded, viz, the fur-seal and sea- lion, no more so than has the raccoon to the black or grizzly bear, both being as nearly related to each other. A detailed description of this seal, Phoca vitulina, is quite unnecessary, aS species of the genus are common pets all over the world where zodlogical gardens are established, and its grotesquely stuffed skin is still more frequently to be met with. lt differs, however, so completely in shape and habit from its congeners on these islands, that it may be well, so as to pre- serve a sharp line of distinction, to state that it seldom comes up from the water more than a few rods, at the most, generally resting at the margin of the surf-wash; it takes up no position on land to hold and protect a harem, preferring the detached water-worn rocks which occasionally project out a little above the sea-level and are only wet entirely over by heavy storms; and the animal when it is disturbed immediately goes to sea. Upon these small spots of rocky, wet isolation from the main island, and some secluded places on the north shore, the “ nearh- pah,” as the natives call it, brings forth its young, which is a -< Lh atl ALASKA. single pup, perfectly white, weighing about three or four pounds. This pup grows rapidly, and weighs, in three to four months, forty or fifty pounds, and at that time has a coat of soft, steel- gray hair on the head, limbs, and abdomen, with the back most richly mottled and barred lengthwise with dark-brown and brown-black. When they appear in the spring, following, this gray tone to their color has become a dingy ocher, and the mot- tling appears well over the head and on the upper side or back of the flippers, or feet, correspondingly dim. There is no appreciable difference as to color or size between the sexes. They are not polygamous, as far as I have observed. They are exceedingly timid and wary at all times, and in this way they are diametrically opposed, not by shape alone, but by habit and disposition, to the fur-seal and sea-hion. Their skin is of little value compared with that of the fur- seal, and their chief merit is the relative greater juiciness and sweetness of their flesh to those who are in any way partial to seal-meat. I desire also to correct a common error, made in comparing Phocide with Otaride, where it is stated that, in consequence of the peculiar structure of their limbs, their progression on land is “mainly accomplished by a wriggling, serpentine motion of the body, slightly assisted by the extremities.” This is not so; for, when excited to run or exert themselves to reach the water suddenly, they strike out quickly with both fore feet, simultaneously lift and drag the whole body, without any wrig- eling whatever, from 6 inches to a foot ahead and slightly from the earth, according to the violence of the effort and the char- acter of the ground; the body then falls flat, and the fore-flip- pers are free for another similar action, and this 1s done so earnestly and rapidly that in attempting to head off a young nearhpah from the water I was obliged to leave a brisk walk and take to a dog-trot to do it. The hind feet are not used when exerted in rapid movement at all, and are dragged along in the wake of the body, perfectly limp. They do use their posterior parts, however, when leisurely climbing up and over rocks, or playing one with another, but it is always a weak effort, and clumsy. These remarks of mine, it should be borne in mind, apply only to the Phoca vitulina, that is found around these islands at all seasons of the year, but in very small num- bers. I have never seen more than twenty five or thirty at any ALASKA. 12S one time, but I think its principle of locomotion will be found to apply on land to all the rest of its genera. The scarcity of this species and of all its generic allies is notable in the waters of the North Pacific as compared with those of the circumpolar Atlantic, where the hair-seals are found in immense numbers, giving employment every year to a fleet of sailing and steam vessels which go forth from St. John’s, Halifax, and elsewhere, fitted for seal-fishing, taking over three hundred thousand of these animals each season, the principal object being the oil rendered from them, the skins having but small commercial value.* THE FUR-SEAL, (CALLORHINUS URSINUS,) Which repairs tothese islands to breed, &e.,in numbers that seem almost fabulous, is by far the highest organized of all the Pinni- pedia, and, indeed, for that matter, when land and water are fully taken into account, there is no other animal superior to it from a purely physical point of view; and few creatures that can be said to exhibit a higher order of instinct, approaching even intelligence, belonging to the animal kingdom. Regarding a male six to seven years old, and full grown, when he comes up from the sea in the spring on to his station for the breeding-season, we have an animal that will measure 64 to 74 feet in length, from tip of nose to end of tail, and weighing at least 400 pounds, and sometimes as much, perhaps, as 600. (?) The head, which in comparison with the immense thick neck and shoulders, seems to be disproportionately small ; but as we come to examine it we will find that it is mostly all occupied by the brain; the light frame-work of the skull sup- ports an expressive pair of large bluish-hazel eyes, and a muz- zle and jaws of nearly the same size and form observed in any full-blooded Newfoundland dog, with the difference of having no flabby, hanging lips; the upper lips support a white and yellowish-gray mustache, long, and, when not torn in combat, luxuriant, composed of heavy stiff bristles. Observe it as it comes leisurely swimming on toward the land ; how high above the water it carries its head, and how deliberately it surveys the beach, after having stepped up on it; *An excellent and, I have every reason to believe, correct descrip- tion of this seal-fishery in the North Atlantic has been published by Michael Carroll, who writes in a manner indicative of great familiarity with the business. ' ee ee ae ee 124 ALASKA. it may be truly said to step with its fore flippers, for they regu- larly alternate as it moves up, carrying the head well above them, at least three feet from the ground, with a perfectly erect neck. The fore feet, or hands, are a pair of dark bluish-black flip. pers, about 8 or 10 inches broad at their junction with the body, running out to an ovate point some 15 to 18 inches from this union, which is at the carpal joint, corresponding to our wrist; all the rest of the fore-arm, the ulna, radius, and humerus, being concealed under the skin and thick blubber folds of the main body and neck, concealed entirely at this season when it is so fat; but later, when flesh or fat has been consumed by absorption, they come quite plainly into view. On the upper side of these flippers, the hair straggles down finer and fainter, as it comes down to a point close to and slightly beyond where the phalanges and the metacarpal bones are jointed, similar to the spot where our knuckles are placed, and there ends, leaving the skin bare and wrinkled in places at the margin of the inner side, showing five small pits containing abortive nails, which are situated immediately over the union of the phalanges with their cartilaginous continuations to the end of the flipper. On the under side of the flipper the skin is entirely bare from the end up to the body connection, deeply and regularly wrin- kled with seams and furrows, which cross one anes So as to leave a kind of sharp diamond-pattern. But we observe as the seal moves along that, though it han- dles its fore limbs in a most creditable manner, it brings up its rear in quite a different style ; for after every second step ahead with the fore feet it arches its spine, and with it drags and lifts together the hinder limbs to a fit position under its body for another movement forward, by which the spine is again straight- ened out so as to take a fresh hitch up on the posteriors. This is the leisurely and natural movement on land when not dis- turbed, the body being carried clear of the ground. The radical difference in the form and action of the hinder feet cannot fail to strike the eye at once. They are one-seventh longer and very much lighter and more slender; they, too, are merged in the body like those anterior; nothing can be seen of the leg above the tarsal joint. The shape of this kind flipper is strikingly like a human foot, provided the latter were drawn out to a length of 20 or 22 ok eee ee ee a ALASKA. 125 inches, the instep flattened down and the toes run out into thin, membraneous, oval-tipped points, only skin-thick, leav- ing three strong cylindrical grayish horn-colored nails, half an inch long, back six inches from these skinny toe-ends, without any nails to mention on the big and little toes. On the upper side of this foot the hair comes down to the point where the metatarsus and phalangeal bones joint and fades out; from this junction the phalanges, about six inches down to the nails, are entirely bare and stand ribbed up in bold relief on the membrane which unites them as a web; the nails mark the ends of the phalangeal bones and their union in turn with the cartilaginous processes, which run rapidly tapering aud flattening, out to the ends of the thin toe-flaps. Now, as we look at this fur-seal’s progression, that which Seems most odd is the gingerly manner (if I may be allowed to use the expression) in which it carries these hind-flippers; they are held out at right angles from the body directly oppo- site the pelvis, the toe-ends and flaps slightly waving and curl- ing or drooping over, supported daintily, as it were, above the earth, only suffering its weight behind to fall upon the heels, which are opposed to each other scarcely five inches apart. We shall, as we see him again later in the season, have to notice a different mode of progression, both when lording it over his harem or when he grows shy and restless at the end of the breeding-season, and now proceed to notice him in the order of his arrival and that of his family, his behavior during the long period of fasting and unceasing activity and vigilance and other cares which devolve upon him, as the most eminent of all polygamists in the brute world; and to fully comprehend this exceedingly interesting animal, it will be necessary to refer to my drawings and paintings made from it and its haunts. The adult males are first to arrive in the spring on the ground deserted by all classes the preceding year. Between the 1st and 5th of May, usually, a few bulls will be found scattered over the rookeries pretty close to the water. They are at this time quite shy and sensitive, not yet being satisfied with the land, and a great many spend day after day before coming ashore idly swimming out among the breakers a little distance from the land, to which they seem somewhat re- luctant at first to repair. The first arrivals are not always the oldest bulls, but may be said to be the finest and most ambi- tious of their class; they are full-grown and able to hold their 126 ALASKA. stations on the rocks, which they immediately take up after ‘coming ashore. I am not able to say authoritatively that these animals come - back and take up the same position on the breeding-grounds occupied by them during the preceding season; from my knowledge of their action and habit, and from what I have learned of the natives, I should say that very few, if any of them, make such a selection and keep these places year after year. One old bull was pointed out to me on the Reef Gar- butch Rookery as being known to the natives as a regular Vis- itor at, close by, or on the same rock every season during the past three years, but he failed to re-appear on the fourth; but if these animals came each to a certain place and occupied it | regularly, season after season, I think the natives here would know it definitely ; as it is, they do not. I think it very likely, however, that the older bulls come back to the same rookery- ground where they spent the previous season, but take up their positions on it just as the circumstances attending their arrival will permit, such as fighting other seals which have arrived be- fore them, We. With the object of testing this matter, the Russians, during the early part of their possession, cut off the ears from a given number of young male seals driven up for that purpose from one of the rookeries, and the result was that cropped seals were found on nearly ali the different rookeries or ‘ hauling-grounds” on the islands after. The same experiment was made by agents two years ago, who had the left ears taken off from a hundred young maies which were found on Lukannon Rookery, Saint Paul’s Island; of these the natives last year found two on No- vashtosh-nah Rookery, ten miles north of Lukannon, and two or three from English Bay and Tolstoi Rookery, six miles west by water; one or two were taken on Saint George’s Island, thir- ty-six miles to the southeast, and not one from Lukannon was found among those that were driven from there; and, proba- bly, had all the young males on the two islands been driven up and examined, the rest would have been found distributed quite equally all around, although the natives say that they think the cutting off of the animal’s ear gives the water such access to its head as to cause its death; this, however, I think re- quires confirmation. These experiments would tend to prove that when the seals approach the islands in the spring, they have nothing but a general instinctive appreciation of the fit- ALASKA. 12% ness of the land as a whole, and no especial fondness for any particular spot. The landing of the seals upon the respective rookeries is in- fluenced greatly by the direction of the wind at the time of approach to the islands. The prevailing winds, coming from the northeast, north, and northwest, carry far out to sea the odor or scent of the pioneer bulls, which have located them- selves on different breeding-grounds three or four weeks usually in advance of the masses; and hence it will be seen that the rookeries on the south and southeastern shores of Saint Paul’s Island receive nearly all the seal-life, although there are miles of eligible ground on the north shore. To settle this question, however, is an exceedingly difficult matter ; for the identification of individuals, from one season to another, among the hundreds of thousands, and even millions, that come under the eye on a single one of these great rook- eries, is really impossible. From the time of the first arrivals in May up to the Ist of June, or as late as the middle of this month, if the weather be clear, is an interval in which everything seems quiet ; very few seals are added to the pioneers. By the lst of June, however, or thereabouts, the foggy, humid weather of summer sets in, and with it the bull-seals come up by hundreds and thousands, and locate themselves in advantageous positions for the recep- tion of the females, which are generally three weeks or a month later, as a rule. The labor of locating and maintaining a position in the rook- ery is really a serious business for those bulls which come in _ last, and for those that occupy the water-line, frequently result- ing in death from severe wounds in combat sustained. it appears to be a well-understood principle among the able- bodied bulls that each one shall remain undisturbed on his | ground, which is usually about ten feet square, provided he is strong enough to hold it against all comers; for the crowding in of fresh bulls often causes the removal of many of those who, though equally able-bodied at first, have exhausted them- selves by fighting earlier, and are driven by the fresher animals back farther and higher up on the rookery. Some of these bulls show wonderful strength and courage. J have marked one veteran, who was among the first to take up his position, and that one on the water-line, where at least fifty or sixty desperate battles were fought victoriously by him 128 ALASKA. with nearly as many different seals, who coveted his position, and when the fighting-season was over, (after the cows have mostly all hauled up,) I saw him, covered with scars and gashes raw and bloody, an eye gouged out, but lording it bravely over his harem of fifteen or twenty cows, all huddled together on the same spot he had first chosen. The fighting is mostly or entirely done with the mouth, the opponents seizing each other with the teeth and clenching the jaws; nothing but sheer strength can shake them loose, and that effort almost always leaves an ugly wound, the sharp canines tearing out deep gutters in the skin and blubber or shredding the flippers into ribbon-strips. They usually approach each other with averted heads and a great many false passes before either one or the other takes the initiative by griping; the heads are darted out and back as quick as flash, their hoarse roaring and shrill, piping whistle never ceases, while their fat bodies writhe and swell with exertion and rage, fur flying in air and blood streaming down—all combined make a picture fierce and savage enough, and, from its great novelty, exceedingly strange at first sight. In these battles the parties are always distinct, the affenkive and the defensive; if the latter proves the eae he with- draws from the position occupied, and is never followed by his conqueror, who complacently throws up oneof his hind flippers, fans himself as it were, to cool himself from the heat of the conflict, utters a peculiar chuckle of satisfaction or contempt, with a sharp eye open for the next covetous buil or * see- catch.”* The period occupied by the males in taking and holding their positions on the rookery offers a favorable opportunity in which to study them in the thousand and one different attitudes and postures assumed between the two extremes of desperate conflict and deep sleep—sleep so sound that one can, by keep- ing to the leeward, approach close enough, stepping softly, to pull the whiskers of any one taking a nap on a clear place ; but after the first touch to these whiskers the trifler must Jump back with great celerity, if he has any regard for the sharp teeth and tremendous shaking which will surely overtake him if he does not. The neck, chest, and shoulders of a fur-seal bull comprise * « See-catch,” native name for the bulls on the rookeries, especially those which are able to maintain their position. ALASKA. 129 more than two-thirds of his whole weight, and in this long thick neck and fore limbs is embodied the larger portion of his strength ; when on land, with the fore feet he does all climbing over rocks, over the grassy hummocks back of the rookery, the hind flippers being gathered up after every second step forward, as described in the manner of walking; these fore feet are the propelling power when in water, almost exclusively, the hinder ones being used as rudders chiefly. The covering to the body is composed of two coats, one being of short, crisp, glistening over-hair, and the other a close, soft, elastic pelage, or fur, which gives distinctive value to the peit. Aft this season of first ‘“ hauling up” in the spring, the pre- vailing color of the bulls, after they dry off. and have been ex- posed to the weather, is a dark, dull brown, with a sprinkling of lighter brown-black, and a number of hoary or frosted-gray coats ; on the shoulders the over-hair is either a gray or rufous- ocher, called the *“* wig;” these colors are most intense upon the back of the head, neck, and spine, being lighter underneath. The skin of the muzzle and flippers, a dark bluish black, fading to a reddish and purplish tint in some. The ears and tail are also similar in tint to the body, being in the case of the former a trifle lighter; the ears on a bull fur-seal are from an inch to an inch and a half in length; the pavilions tightly rolled up on themselves so that they are similar in shape and size to the lit- tle finger on the human hand, cut off at the second (phalangeal) joint, a shade more cone-shaped, for they are greater in diame- ter at the base than at the tip. I think it probable that the animal has and exerts the power of compressing or dilating this scroll-like pavilion to its ear, accordingly as it dives deep or rises in the water; and also, I am quite sure that the hair-seal has this control over the meatus externus, from what I have seen of it; but I have not been able to verify it in either case by observation ; but such opportunity as I have had, gives me undoubted proof of the greatest keen- bess in hearing; for it is impossible to approach one, even when sound asleep; if you make any noise, frequently no matter how Slight, the alarm will be given instantly by the insignificant- looking auditors, and the animal, rising up with a single motion erect, gives you a stare of astonishment, and at this season of defiance, together with incessent surly roaring, growling, and *““ spitting.” This spitting, as I call it, is by no means a fair or full expres- 9 AL 130 ALASKA. sion of the most characteristic sound and action, peculiar, so far as I have observed, to the fur-seals, the bulls in particular. It is the usual prelude to their combats, and follows somewhat in this way: when the two disputants are nearly within reaching or striking distance, they make a number of feints or false passes at one another, with the.mouth wide open and lifting the lips or snarling, so as to exhibit the glistening teeth, and with each pass they expel the air so violently through the larynx as to make a rapid choo-choo-choo sound, like the steam- puffs in the smoke-stack of a locomotive when it starts a heavy train, and especially when the driving-wheels slip on the rail. Ali the bulls now have the power and frequent inclination to utter four entirely distinct calls or notes—a hoarse, resonant roar, loud and long; alow gurgling growl; a chuckling, sibi- lant, piping whistle, of which it is impossible to convey an ad- equate idea, for it must be heard to be understood; and this Spitting, just described. The cows* have but one note—a hol- low, prolonged, bla-a-ting call, addressed only to their pups; on all other occasions they are usually silent. It is something like the cry of a calf or sheep. They also make a spitting sound, and snort, when suddenly disturbed. The pups ‘ bdla-at” also, with little or no variation, the sound being somewhat weaker and hoarser than that of their mothers for the first two or three weeks after birth; they, too, spit and cough when aroused suddenly from a nap or driven into a corner. .A num- ber of pups crying at a short distance off bring to mind very strongly the idea of a flock of sheep “ baa-aa-ing.” Indeed, so similar is the sound that a number of sheep brought up from San Francisco to Saint George’s Island during the summer of 1873 were constantly attracted to the rookeries, *Without explanation 1 may be considered as making use of misapplied terms in describing these animals, for the inconsistency of coupling ‘ pups” with ‘‘cows” and “ bulls,” and “ rookeries” with the breeding-grounds of the same, cannot fail to be noticed ; but this nomenclature has been given and used by the English and American whalemen and sealing-parties for many years, and the characteristic features of the seals suit the odd naming ex- actly, so much so that I have felt satisfied to retain the style throughout as rendering my description more intelligible, especially so to those who are en- gaged in the business or may be hereafter. The Russians are more consist- ent, but not so “pat.” The bull is called “ see-catch,” a term implying strength, vigor, &c.; the cow, “ matkah,” or mother; the pups, “ kotickie,” or little seals; the non-breeding males, under six and seven years, ‘ hollus- chickie,” or bachelors. The name applied collectively to the fur-seal by them is “ morskie-kot,” or sea-cat. > ALASKA. bier! running in among the seals, and had to be driven away to a good feeding-ground by a small boy detailed for the purpose. The sound arising from these great breeding-grounds of the fur-seal, where thousands upon thousands of angry, vigilant bulls are roaring, chuckling, piping, and multitudes of seal- mothers are calling in hollow, bla-ating tones to their young, which in turn respond incessantly, is simply indescribable. It is, at a slight distance, softened into a deep booming, as of a cataract, and can be heard a long distance off at sea, under fayorable circumstances as far as five or six miles, and fre- quently warns vessels that may be approaching the islands in thick, foggy weather, of the positive, though unseen, proximity of land. Night and day, throughout the season, the din of the rookeries is steady and constant. The seals seem to suffer great inconvenience from a compar- atively low degree of heat; for, with a temperature of 46° and 48° on Jand, during the summer, they show signs of distress from heat whenever they make any exertion, pant, raise their hind flippers, and use them incessantly as fans. With the thermom- eter at 00°-60°, they seem to suffer even when at rest, and at such times the eye is struck by the kaleidoscopic appearance of a rookery, on which a million seals are spread out in every imaginable position their bodies can assume, all industriously fanning themselves, using sometimes the fore flippers as ven- tilators, as it were, by holding them aloft motionless, at the _ Same moment fanning briskly with the hind flipper, or flippers, _ according as they sitor lie. This wavy motion of flapping and fanning gives a peculiar shade of hazy indistinctness to the whole scene, which is difficult to express in language; but one of the most prominent characteristics of the fur-seal is this fan- ning manner in which they use their flippers, when seen on the breeding-grounds in season. They also, when idling, as it were, off shore at sea, lie on their sides, with only a partial ex- posure of the body, the head submerged, and hoist up a fore or hind flipper clear of the water, while scratching themselves or enjoying a nap; but in this position there is no fanning. I say “scratching,” because the seal, in common with all animals, is preyed upon by vermin, a species of louse and a tick, peculiar to itself. All the bulls, from the very first, that have been able to hold their positions, have not left them for an instant, night or day, nor do they do so until the end of the rutting-season, which them stay four months before going into the water for the first and which gradually diminishes while they remain on it. But 132 ALASKA. subsides entirely between the Ist and 10th of August, begin- ning shortly after the coming of the cows in June. Of necessity, therefore, this causes them to fast, to abstain entirely from food of any kind, or water, for three months, at least, and a few of time after hauling up in May. This alone is remarkable enough, but it is simply wonderful when we come to associate the condition with the unceasing activity, restlessness, and duty devolved upon the bulls as heads and fathers of large families. They do not stagnate, like bears in caves; it is evidently accomplished or due tothe ab- — sorption of their own fat, with which they are so liberally sup- plied when they take their positions on the breeding-ground, \ . ; b 5 still some most remarkable provision must be made for the en- tire torpidity of the stomach and bowels, consequent upon their being empty and unsupplied during this long period, which, however, in spite of the violation of a supposed physiological — law, does not seem to affect them, for they come back just as | sleek, fat, and ambitious as ever in the following season. I have examined the stomachs of a number which were driven up and killed immediately after their arrival in the spring,and ~~ natives here have seen hundreds, even thousands, of them during the killing-season in June and July, but in no ease has anything been found other than the bile and ordinary secre- tions of healthy organs of this class, with the exception only of finding in every one a snarl or cluster of worms,* from the size of a walnut to that of one’s fist, the fast apparently having no effect on them, for when three or four hundred old bulls were slaugh- tered late in the fall, to supply the natives with “ bidarkee” or canoe skins, I found these worms in a lively condition in every paunch cut open, and their presence, I think, gives some reason for the habit which these old bulls have of swallowing small bowlders, the stones in some of the stomachs weighing half a pound or so, and in one paunch I found about five pounds in the aggregate of larger pebbles, which in grinding against one another must destroy, in a great measure, these intestinal pests. The sea-lion is also troubled in the same way by a similar species of worm, and I have preserved a stomach of one of these animals in which are more than ten pounds of bowlders, some of — them alone quite large. The greater size of this animal enables *Nematoda. ALASKA. 133 it to swallow stones which weigh two and three pounds. Ican ‘ascribe no other cause for this habit among these animals than that given, as they are of the highest type of the carnivora, eating fish as a regular means of subsistence; varying the mo- notony of this diet with occasional juicy fronds of sea-weed, or _ kelp, and perhaps a crab, or such, once in a while, Stowell it is small and tender, or soft shelled: Between the 12th and 14th of June the first of the cow-seals come up from the sea, and the bulls signalize it by a universal, spasmodic, desperate fighting among themselves. The strong contrast between the males and females in size and shape is heightened by the air of exceeding peace and amiability which the latter class exhibit. The cows are from 4 to 44 feet in length from head to tail, and much more shapely in their proportions than the bulls, the neck and shoulders being not near so fat and heavy in propor- tion to the posteriors. When they come up, wet and duganing: they are of a dull, dirty-gray color, darker on the back and upper parts, but in a few hours the transformation made by drying is wonderful ; you would hardly believe they could be the same animals, for they now fairly glisten with a rich steel and maltese-gray luster on the back of the head, neck, and spine, which blends into an almost pure white on the chest andabdomen. But this beauti- ful coloring in turn is altered by exposure to the weather, for in two or three days it will gradually change to a dull, rufous ocher below, and a cinereous-brown and gray-mixed above; this color they retain throughout the breeding-season up tothe time ~ of shedding the coat in August. The head and eye of the female are really attractive; the ex- pression is exceedingly gentle and intelligent; the large, lus- trous eyes, in the small, well-formed head, apparently gleam with benignity and satisfaction when she is perched up on some convenient rock and has an opportunity to quietly fan herself. The cows appear to be driven on to the rookeries by an accu- rate instinctive appreciation of the time in which their period of gestation ends; for in all cases marked by myself, the pups are born soon after landing, some in a few hours after, but most usually a day or two elapses before delivery. They are noticed and received by the bulls on the water-line stations with much attention; they are alternately coaxed and urged up on to the rocks, and are immediately under the most 134 ALASKA. jealous supervision; but owing to the covetous and ambitious nature of the bulls, which occupy the stations reaching way back from the water-line, the little cows have a rough-and-tum- ble time of it when they begin to arrive in small numbers at first; for no sooner is the pretty animal fairly established on — the station of bull number one, who has installed her there, he perhaps sees another one of her style down in the water from which she has just come, and in obedience to his polygamous feeling, he devotes himself anew to coaxing the later arrival in the same winning manner so successful im her case, when bull number two, seeing bull number one off his guard, reaches out with his Jong strong neck and picks the unhappy but passive creature up by the scruff of hers, just as a cat does a kitten, and deposits her on his seraglio-ground; then buils number three, four, and so on, in the vicinity, seeing this high-handed operation, all assail one another, and especially bull number two, and have a tremendous fight, perhaps for half a minute or so, and during this commotion the cow generally is moved or moves farther back from the water, two or three stations more, where, when all gets quiet, she usually remains in peace. Her last lord and master, not having the exposure to such diverting temptation as had her first, he gives her such care that she not only is unable to leave did she wish, but no other bull can seize upon her. This is only one instance of the many different trials and tribulations which both parties on the rookery subject themselves to before the harems are filled. Far back, fifteen or twenty stations deep from the water-line sometimes, but gen- erally not more on an average than ten or fifteen, the cows crowd in at the close of the season for arriving, July 10 to 14, and then they are able to go about pretty much as they please, for the bulls have become greatly enfeebled by this constant fighting and excitement during the past two months, and are quite content with even only one or two, partners. The cows seem to haul in compact bodies from the water up to the rear of the rookeries, never scattering about over the ground ; and they will not lie quiet in any position outside of the great mass of their kind. This is due to their intensely - gregarious nature, and for the sake of protection. They also select land with special reference to the drainage, having a great dislike to water-puddled ground. This is well shown on Saint Paul. IT have found it difficult to ascertain the average number of ALASKA. 135 cows to one bull on the rookery, but I think it will be nearly correct to assign to each male from twelve to fifteen females, occupying the stations nearest the water, and those back in the rear from five tonine. Ihave counted forty-five cows all under the charge of one bull, which had them penned up on a flat table- rock, near Keetavie Point; the bull was enabled to do this quite easily, as there was but one way to go to or come from this seraglio, and on this path the old Turk took his stand and guarded it well. At the rear of all these rookeries there is always a large num- ber of able-bodied bulls, who wait patiently, but in vain, for families, most of them having had to fight as desperately for tne privilege of being there as any of their more fortunately- Jocated neighbors, who are nearer the water than themselves ; but the cows do not like to be in any outside position, where they are not in close company, lying most quiet and content in the largest harems, and these large families pack the surface of the ground so thickly, that there is hardly moving or turning room until the females cease to come up from the sea; but the inaction on the part of the bulls in the rear during the rutting- season only serves to qualify them to move into the places vacated by those males who are obliged to leave from exhaus- tion, and to take the positions of jealous and fearless protectors for the young pups in the fall. The courage with which the fur-seal holds his position, as the head and guardian of a family, is of the very highest order, compared with that of other animals. I have repeatedly tried to drive them when they have fairly established themselves, and have almost always failed, using every stone at my com- mand, making all the noise I could, and, finally, to put their courage to the full test, | walked up to within 20 feet of a bull at the rear and extreme end of Tolstoi Rookery, who had four cows in charge, and commenced with my double-barreled breech-loading shot-gun to pepper him all over with mustard- seed or dust shot. His bearing, in spite of the noise, smell of powder, and pain, did not change in the least from the usual attitude of determined defense which nearly all the bulls as- sume when attacked with showers of stones and noise; he would dart out right and left and catch the cows, which tim- idly attempted to run after each report, and fling and drag them back to their places; then, stretching up to his fali height, look me directly and defiantly in the face, roaring and spitting 136 ALASKA. most vehemently. The cows, however, soon got away from | him; but he still stood his ground, making little charges on me of 10 or 15 feet in a succession of gallops or lunges, spitting furiously, and then retreating to the old position, back of which he would not go, fully resolved to pais his own or die in the attempt. This courage is ail the more noteworthy from the fact that, in regard to man, it is invariably of a defensive character. The seal, if it makes you turn when you attack it, never fol- lows you much farther than the boundary of its station, and no aggravation will compel it to become offensive, as far as I have been able to observe. The cows, during the whole season, do great credit to their amiable expression by their manner and behavior on the rook- ery ; never fight or quarrel one with another, and never or sel- dom utter a cry of pain or rage when they are roughly handled by the bulls, who frequently get a cow between them and tear the skin from her back, cutting deep gashes into it, as they snatch her from mouth to mouth. These wounds, however, heal rapidly, and exhibit no traces the next year. The cows, like the bulls, vary much in weight. Two were taken from the rookery nearest Saint Paul’s Village, after they had been delivered of their young, and the respective weights were 56 and 101 pounds, the former being about three or four years old, and the latter over six. They both were fat and in excellent condition. It is quite out of the question to give a fair idea of the posi- tions in which the seals rest when on land. They may be said to assume every possible attitude which a flexible body can be put into. One favorite position, especially with the cows, is to perch upon a point or top of some rock and throw their heads back upon their shoulders, with the nose held aloft, then, closing their eyes, take short naps without changing, now and then gently fanning with one or the other of the long, slender hind flippers; another, and the most common, is to curl them- selves up, just as a dog does on a hearth-rug, bringing the tail and the nose close together. They also stretch out, laying the head, straight with the body, and sleep for an hour or two with- out moving, holding one of the hinder flippers up all the time, now and then gently waving it, the eyes being tightly closed. The sleep of the fur-seal, from the old bull to the young pup, is always accompanied by a nervous, muscular twitching and ALASKA. 137 slight shifting of the flippers; quivering and uneasy rolling of the body, accompanied by a quick folding anew of the fore flippers, which are signs, as it were, of their having night- mares, or sporting, perhaps, in a visionary way, far off in some dream-land sea; or disturbed, perhaps more probably, by their intestinal parasites. I have studied hundreds of all classes, stealing softly up so closely that I could lay my hand on them, and have always found the sleep to be of this nervous descrip- tion. The respiration is short and rapid, but with no breath- ing (unless your ear is brought very close) or snoring sound ; the heaving of the flanks only indicates the action. I have frequently thought that I had succeeded in finding a snoring seal, especially among the pups, but a close examination always gaye some abnormal reason for it, generally a slight distemper, by which the nostrils were stopped up to a greater or less degree. 3 ‘ty As Ihave said before, the cows, soon after landing, are de- livered of their young. Immediately after the birth of the pup, (twins are rare, if ever,) it finds its voice, a weak, husky dblaat, and begins to pad- dle about, with eyes wide open, in a confused sort et way for a few minutes until the mother is ready to give it altention, and, still later, suckle it; and for this purpose she is provided with four small, brown nipples, placed about eight inches apart, lengthwise with the body, on the abdomen, between the fore and hinder flippers, with some four inches of space between them transversely. The nipples are not usually visible; only seen through the hair and fur. The milk is abundant, rich, and creamy. The pups nurse very heartily, gorging them- Selves. The pup at birth, and for the next three months, is of a jet- black color, hair, eyes, and flippers, save a tiny white patch just back of each fore foot, and weighs from 3 to 4 pounds, and 12 to 14 inches long; it does not seem to nurse more than once every two or three days, but in this I am most likely mistaken, for they may have received attention from the mother in the night or other times in the day when I was unable to watch them. The apathy with which the young are treated by the old on the breeding-grounds is somewhat strange. I have never seen @ cow caress or fondle her offspring, and should it stray but a short distance from the harem, it can be picked up azd killed 138 ALASKA. before the mother’s eyes without causing her to show the slightest concern. The same indifference is exhibited by the bull to all that takes place outside of the boundary of his se- raglio. While the pups are, however, within the limits of his — harem-ground, he is a jealous and fearless protector ; but if the little animals pass beyond this boundary, then they may be carried off without the slightest attention in their behalf from their guardian. It is surprising to me how few of the pups get crushed to death while the ponderous bulls are floundering over them when engaged in fighting. I have seen two bulls dash at each other with all the energy of furious rage, meeting right in the midst of a small “ pod” of forty or fifty pups, trampling over them with their crushing weights, and bowling them out right © and left in every direction, without injuring a single one. I do not think more than 1 per cent. of the pups born each season are lost in this manner on the rookeries. To test the vitality of these little animals, I kept one in the house to ascertain how long it could live without nursing, having taken it immediately after birth and before it could get any taste of its mother’s milk; it lived nine days, and in the whole time half of every day was spent in floundering about over the floor, accompanying the movement with a persistent hoarse blaating. This experiment certainly shows wonderful vitality, and is worthy of an animal that can live four months without food or water and preserve enough of its latent strength and vigor at the end of that time to go far off to sea, and return as fat and hearty as ever during the next season. In the pup, the head is the only disproportionate feature when it is compared with the proportion of the adult form, the neck being also relatively shorter and thicker. I shall have to speak again of it, as it grows and changes. when I finish with the breeding-season now under consideration. The cows appear to go to and come from the water quite fre- quently, and usually return to the spot, or its neighborhood, where they leave their pups, crying out for them, and recogniz- . ing the individual replies, though ten thousand around, all to- gether, should blaat at once. They quickly single out their own and attend them. It would be a very unfortunate matter if the mothers could not identify their young by sound, since their pups get together like a great swarm of bees, spread out upon the ground in “pods” or groups, while they are young, ALASKA. 139 and not very large, but by the middle and end of September, until they leave in November, they cluster together, sleeping and frolicking by tens of thousands. A mother comes up from the water, where she has been to wash, and perhaps to feed, for the last day or two, to about where she thinks her pup should be, but misses it, and finds instead a swarm of pups in which it has been incorporated, owing to its great fondness for society. The mother, without at first entering into the crowd of thousands, calls out, just as a sheep does for her lamb, lis- tens, and out of all the din she—if not at first, at the end of a few trials—recognizes the voice of her offspring, and then ad- vances, striking out right and left, and over the crowd. toward the position from which it replies; but if the pup at this time happens to be asleep she hears nothing from it, even though it were close by, and in this case the cow, after calling for a time without being answered, curls herself up and takes a nap, or lazily basks, and is most likely more successful when she calls again. The pups themselves do not know their mothers, but they are so constituted that they incessantly ery out at short inter- vais during the whole time they are awake, and in this way a mother can pick, out of the monotonous blaating of thousands of pups, her own, and she will not permit any other to suckle. Between the end of July and the 5th or Sth of August the rookeries are completely changed in appearance; the systematic and regular disposition of the families, or harems, over the whole extent of ground has disappeared; all order heretofore existing seems tobe brokenup. The rutting-season over, those bulls which held positions now leave, most of them very thin in flesh and weak, and I think a large proportion of them do not come out again on the land during the season; and such as do come, appear, not fat, but in good flesh, and in a new coat of rich dark and gray-brown hair and fur, with gray and gray- ish-ocher “wigs” or over-hair on the shoulders, forming a strong contrast to the dull, rusty-brown and umber dress in which they appeared during the summer, and which they had begun to shed about the 15th of August, in commen with the cows and bachelor seals. After these bulls leave, at the close of their season’s work, those of them that do return to the land do not come back until the end of September, and do not haul up on the rookery-grounds as arule, preferring to herd together, as do the young males, on the sand-beaches and other rocky 140 : ALASKA. points close to the water. The cows, pups, and those bulls which have been in retirement, now take possession, in a very disorderly manner, of the rookeries; also, come a large number of young, three, four, and five year old males, who have not been permitted to land among the cows, during the rutting- season, by the older, stronger bulls, who have savagely fought them off whenever they made (as they constantly do) an attempt to land. . Three-fourths, at least, of the cows are now off in the water, only coming ashore to nurse and look after their pups a short time. They lie idly out in the rollers, ever and anon turning over and over, scratching their backs and sides with their fore and hind flippers. Nothing is more suggestive of immense comfort and enjoyment than is this action of these animals. They appear to get very lousy on the breeding-ground, and the frequent winds and showers drive and spatter sand into their fur and eyes, making the latter quite sore in many cases. They also pack the soil under foot so hard and solid that it holds. water in the surface depressions, just like so many rock basins, on the rookery; out and into these puddles they flounder and patter incessantly, until evaporation slowly abates the nuisance. The pups sometimes get so thoroughly plastered in these muddy, slimy puddles, that their hair falls off in patches, giving them the appearance of being troubled with scrofula or some other plague, at first sight, but they are not, from my observa- tion, permarently injured. Early in August (8th) the pups that are nearest the water on the rookeries essay swimming, but make slow and clumsy prog- ress, floundering about, when over head in depth, in the most awkward manner, thrashing the water with their fore flippers, not using the hinder ones. In a few seconds, or a minute at the most, the youngster is so weary that he crawls out upon the rocks or beach, and immediately takes a recuperative nap, repeating the lesson as quick as he awakes and is rested. They soon get familiar with the water, and delight in it, swimming in endless evolutions, twisting, turning, diving, and when ex- hausted, they draw up on the beach again, shake themselves as young dogs do, either going to sleep on the spot, or having a lazy frolic among themselves. In this matter of learning to swim, I, have not seen any “driving” of the young pups into the water by the old in order Sig ‘a 74" ALASKA. 141 to teach them this process, as has been affirmed by writers on the subject of seal-life. | The pups are constantly shifting, at the close of the rutting- season, back and forth over the rookery in large squads, some- times numbering thousands. In the course of these changes of position they all come sooner or later in contact with the sea ; the pup blunders into the water for the first time in a most awkward manner, aud gets out again as quick as it can, but so far from showing any fear or dislike of this, its most natural element, aS soon as it rests from its exertion, is immediately ready for a new trial, and keeps at it, if the sea is not too stormy or rough af the time, until it becomes quite familiar with the water, and during ail this period of self-tuition it seems to thoroughly enjoy the exercise. By the 15th of September all the pups have become familiar with the water, have nearly all deserted the background of the rookeries and are down by the water’s edge, and skirt the rocks and beaches for long distances on ground previously un- occupied by seals of any class. They are now about five or six times their original weight, and are beginning to shed their black hair and take on their second coat, which does not vary at this age between the sexes. They do this very slowly, and cannot be called out of molting or shedding until the middle of October, as a rule. The pup’s second coat, or sea-going jacket, is a uniform, dense, light pelage, or under-fur, grayish in some, light-brown in others, the fine, close, soft, and elastic hairs which compose it being about one-half of an inch in length, and over-hair, two- thirds of an inch long, quite coarse, giving the color by which you recognize the condition. This over-hair, on the back, neck, - and head, is a dark chinchilla-gray, blending into a white, just tinged with a grayish tone on the abdomen and chest. The upper lip, where the whiskers or mustache takes root, is of a lighter-gray tone than that which surrounds. This mustache consists of fifteen or twenty longer or shorter whitish-gray bristles (one-balf to three inches) on each side and back of the nostrils, which are, as I have before said, similar to that of a dog. The most attractive feature about the fur-seal pup, and up- ward as it grows, is the eye, which is exceedingly large, dark, and liquid, with which, for beauty and amiability, together with 142 ALASKA. intelligence of expression, those of no other animal can be com- pared. The lids are well supplied with eyelashes. I donot think that their range of vision on land, or out of the water, is very great. I have had them (the adults) catch sight of my person, so as to distinguish it as a foreign character, three and four hundred paces off, with the wind blowing strongly from them toward myself, but generally they will allow you to approach very close indeed, before recognizing your strangeness, and the pups will scarcely notice the form of a human being until it is fairly on them, whereupon they make a lively noise, a medley of coughing, spitting, snorting, blaating, and get away from its immediate vicinity, but instantly resume, how- ever, their previous occupation of either sleeping or playing, as though nothing had happened. But the power of scent is (together with their hearing, before mentioned) exceedingly keen, for I have found that I would most invariably awake them from soundest sleep if I got to the windward, even when standing a considerable distance off. To recapitulate and sum up the system of reproduction on the rookeries as the seals seem to have arranged it, I would say, that— First. The earliest bulls appear to land in a negligent, indo- lent way, shortly after the rocks at the water’s edge are free from ice, frozen snow, &c. This is generally about the 1st to the 5th of May. They land first and last in perfect confidence and without fear, very fat, and of an average weight of five hundred pounds; some staying at the water’s edge, some going away back, in fact all over the rookery. Second. That by the 10th or 12th of June, all the ean on the rookeries have been mapped out, fought for, and keld in waiting for the cows by the strongest and most enduring bulls, who are, as a rule, never under six years of age, and sometimes three, and even occasionally four times as old. Third. That the cows make their first appearance, as a class, by the 12th or 15th of June, in rather small numbers, but by the 23d and 25th of this month they begin to flock up so as to fill the harems very perceptibly, and by the 8th or 10th of July they have most all come, stragglers excepted; average weight eighty pounds. Fourth. That the rutting-season is at its height from the 10th to the 15th of July, and that it subsides entirely at the end of ALASKA. 143 this month and early in August, and that it is confined en- tirely to the land. Fifth. That the cows bear their first young when three years of age. Sixth. That the cows are limited to a single pup each, as a rule, in bearing, and this is born soon after landing; no excep- tion has thus far been witnessed. Seventh. That the buils who have held the harems leave for the water in a straggling manner at the close of the rutting- season, greatly emaciated, not returning, if at all, until six or seven weeks have elapsed, and that the regular systematic dis- tribution of families over the rookeries is at an end for the season, a general medley of young bulls now free to come up from the water, old males who have not been on seraglio duty, cows, and an lmmense majority of pups, since only about 25 per cent. of their mothers are out of the water at a time. The rookeries lose their compactness and definite boundaries by the 25th to 28th July, when the pups begin to haul back and to the right and left in small squads at first, but as the season goes on, by the 18th August, they swarm over three and four times the area occupied by them when born on the rookeries. _ The system of family arrangement and definite compactness of the breeding-classes begins at this date to break up. Highth. That by the 8th or 10th of August the pups born nearest the water begin to learn to swim, and by the 15th or 20th of September they are all familtar more or less with it. Ninth. That by the middle of September the rookeries are entirely broken up, oniy confused, straggling bands of cows, young bachelors, pups, and small squads of old bulls, crossing and recrossing the ground in an aimless, listless manner; the Season is over, but many of these seals do not leave these grounds until driven off by snow and ice, as late as the end of December and 12th of January. This recapitulation is the sum and substance of my observa- tions on the rookeries, and I will now turn to the consideration of the HAULING-GROUNDS, upon which the yearlings and almost all the males under six years come out from the sea in squads from a hundred toa thousand, and, later in the season, by hundreds of thousands, 144 ALASKA. to sleep and frolic, going from a quarter to half a mile back from the sea, as at English Bay. This class of seals are termed “ holluschukie” (or “ bachelor seals”) by the natives. It is with the seals of this division that these people are most familiar, since they are, together with a — few thousand pups and some old bulls, the only ones driven up to the killing-grounds for their skins, for reasons which are ex- cellent, and which shall be given further on. 3 Since the “holluschukie” are not permitted by their own kind to land on the rookeries and rest there, they have the choice of two methods of landing and locating. One of these opportunities, and least used, is to pass up from and down to the water, through a rookery on a pathway left by common consent between the harems. On these lines of pas- sage they are unmolested by the cld and jealous bulls, who guard the seraglios on either side as they go and come; gener- ally there is a continual file of them on the way, traveling up or down. As the two and three year old holluschukie come up in small squads with the first bulls in the spring, or a few days later, - these common highways between the rear of the rookery-ground and the sea get well defined and traveled over before the arrival of the cows; for just as the bulls crowd up for their stations, so do the bachelors, young and old, increasce. These roadways may be termed the lines of least resistance in a big rookery ; they are not constant; they are splendidly shown on the large rookeries of Saint Paul’s, cone of them (Tolstoi) exhibiting this feature finely, for the hauling-ground lies up back of the rook- ery, on a flat and rolling summit, 100 to 120 feet above the sea- level. The young males and yearlings of both sexes come through the rookery on these narrow pathways, and, before reaching the resting-ground above, are obliged to climb up an almost abrupt bluff, by following and struggling in the little water-runs and washes which are worn in its face. As this is a large hauling-ground, on which fifteen or twenty thousand commonly lie every day during the season, the sight always, at all times, to be seen, in the way of seal climbing and crawling, was exceedingly novel and interesting. They climb over and up to places here where a clumsy man might at first sight say he would be unable to ascend. The other method by which the “ holluschukie” enjoy them- selves on land is the one most followed and favored. They, in ALASKA. 145 this case, repair to the beaches unoccupied between the rook- eries, and there extend themselves out all the way back from the water as far, in some cases, as a quarter of a mile, and even farther. I have had under my eye, in one straightforward sweep, from Zapad-nie to Tolstoi, (three miles,) a million and a half of seals, at least, (about the middle of July.) Of these I estimated fully one-half were pups, yearlings, and “ holluschu- kie.” The great majority of the two latter classes were hauled out and packed thickly over the two miles of sand-beach and flat which lay between the rookeries; many large herds were back as far from the water as a quarter of a mile. A small flock of the younger ones, from one to three years old, will frequently stray away back from the hauling-ground lines, out and up onto the fresh moss and grass, and there sport and play, one with another, just as puppy-dogs do; and when weary of this gamboling, a general disposition to sleep is suddenly manifested, and they stretch themselves out and curl up in all the positions and all the postures that their flexible spines and ball-and-socket joints will permit. One will lie upon his back, holding up his hind flippers, lazily waving them in the air, while he scratches or rather rubs his ribs with the fore hands alternately, the eyes being tightly closed; and the breath, indicated by the heaving of his flanks, drawn quickly but regularly, as though in heavy sleep; another will be flat upon his stomach, his hind flippers drawn under and concealed, while he tightly folds his fore feet back against his sides, just as a fish will sometimes hold its pectoral fins; and so on, with- out end of variety, according to the ground and disposition of _ the animals. , While the young seals undoubtedly have the power of going ' without food, they certainly do not sustain any long fasting periods on land, for their coming and going is frequent and irregular; for instance, three or four thick, foggy days will sometimes call them out by hundreds of thousands, a million or two, on the different hauling-grounds, where, in some cases, they lie so closely together that scarcely a foot of ground, over acres in extent, is bare; then a clearer and warmer day will ensue, and the ground, before so thickly packed with animal- life, will be almost deserted, comparatively, to be filled again immediately on the recurrence of favorable weather. They are in just as good condition of flesh at the end of the season as at the first of it. 10 AL 146 ALASKA. These bachelor-seais are, | am sure, without exception, the most restless animals in the whole brute creation; they frolic and lope about over the grounds for hours, without a moment’s cessation, and their sleep after this is short, and is accompanied with nervous .twitchings and uneasy movements; they seem to be fairly brimful and overrunning with warm life. I have never observed anything like ill-humor grow out of their play- ing together; invariably well pleased one with another in all their frolicsome struggles. The pups and yearlings have an especial fondness for sport- ing on the rocks which are just at the water’s level, so as to be alternately covered and uncovered by the sea-rollers. On the bare summit of these water-worn spots they struggle and clamber, a dozen or two at a time, occasionally, for a single rock; the strongest or luckiest one pushing the others all off, which, however, simply redouble their efforts and try to dis- lodge him, who thus has, for a few moments only, the advan- tage; for with the next roller and the other pressure, he gen- erally is ousted, and the game is repeated. Sometimes, as well as I could see, the same squad of ‘“holluschukie” played around a rock thus situated, off ‘Nah Speel” rookery, during the whole of one day; but, of course, they cannot be told apart. The ‘“holluschukie,” too, are the champion swimmers; at least they do about all the fancy tumbling and turning that is" done by the fur-seals when in the water around the islands. The grave old bulls and their matronly companions seldom — indulge in any extravagant display, such as jumping out of the water like so many dolphins, describing, as these youngsters do, beautiful elliptic curves, rising three and even four feet from the sea, with the back slightly arched, the fore flippers folded back against the sides, and the binder ones extended and pressed together straight out behind, plumping in head first, re-appearing in the same manner after an interval of a few seconds. All classes will invariably make these doiphin-jjumps when they are suddenly surprised or are driven into the water, turn- ing their heads, while sailing in the air, between the “rises” and “ plumps,” to take a look at the cause of their disturbance. They all swim with great rapidity, and may be fairly said to dart with the velocity of a bird on the wing along under the water; and in all. their swimming I have not been able yet to satisfy myself how they use their long, flexible, hind feet, other ALASKA. : 147 than as steering mediums. The propelling motion, if they have any, is so rapid, that my eye is not quick enough to catch it 5 the fore feet, however, can be very distinctly seen to work, feathering forward and sweeping back flatly, opposed to the water, with great rapidity and energy, aud are evidently the sole propulsive power. } | All their movements in the water, when in traveling or sport, are quick and joyous, and nothing is more suggestive of intense satisfaction and great comfort than is the spectacle of a few thousand old bulls and cows, off and from a rookery in August, idly rolling over, side by side. rubbing and scratching with the fore and hind flippers, which are here and there stuck up out of the water like lateen-sails, or ‘‘cat-o’-nine tails,” in either case, as it may be. When the “ holluschukie” are up on land they can be readily separated into two classes by the color of their coats and size, viz, the yearlings, and the two, three, four, and five year old bulls. ; The first class is dressed just as they were after they shed their pup-coats and took on the second the previous year, in September and October, and now, as they come out in the spring and summer, the males and females cannot be distin- guished apart, either by color or size; both yearling sexes having the same gray backs and white bellies, and are the same in behavior, action, weight, and shape. About the 15th and 20th of August they begin to grow “stagey,” or shed, in common with all the other classes, the pups excepted. The over-hair requires about six weeks from the commencement of the dropping or falling out of the old to its full renewal. The pelage, or fur, which is concealed externally by the hair, is also shed, and renewed slowly in the same manner; but, being so much finer than the hair, it is not so apparent. It was to me a great surprise to ‘‘ learn,” from aman who has been heading a seal-killing party on these islands during the past three years, and the Government agent in charge of these in- terests, that the seal never shed its fur; that the over-hair only was cast off and replaced. ‘To prove that it does, however, isa very simple matter, and does not require the aid of a micro- scope. For example, take up a prime spring or fall skin, after every single over-hair on it has been plucked out, and you will have difficulty. either to so blow upon the thick, fine fur, or 148 ALASKA, to part it with the fingers, as to show the hide from which it has grown; then take a “stagey” skin, by the end of August — and early in September, when all the over-hair is present, about one-third to one-half grown, and the first puff you expend upon it easily shows the hide below, sometimes quite a broad welt. This under-fur, or pelage, is so fine and delicate, and so much concealed and shaded by the course over-hair, that a careless eye may be pardoned for any such blunder, but only a very casual observer could make it. : The yearling cows retain the colors of the old coat in the new, and from this time on shed, year after year, just so, for the young and the old cows look alike, as far as color goes, when they haul up on the rookeries in the summer. The yearling males, however, make a radical change, coming out from their “ staginess” in a uniform dark-gray and gray- black mixed and lighter, and dark ocher, on the under and up- per parts, respectively. This coat, next year, when they come up on the hauling-grounds, is very dark, and is so for the third, fourth, and fifth years, when, after this, they begia to grow more gray and brown, year by year, with rufous-ocher and whitish-gray tipped over-hair on the shoulders. Some of the very old bulls become changed to uniform. dull grayish-ocher all over. The female does not get ber full growth and weight until the end of her fourth year, so far as I have observed, but does the most of her growing in the first two. The male does not get his full growth and weight until the close of his seventh year, but realizes most of it by the end of the fifth, osteologically, and from this it may be, perhaps, truly inferred that the bulls live to an average age of eighteen or twenty years, if undisturbed in a normal condition, and that the cows attain ten or twelve under the same circumstances. Their respective weights, when fully mature and fat in the spring, will, I think, strike an average of four to five hundred pounds for the male and from seventy to eighty for the female. From the fact that all the young seals do not change much in weight, from the time of their first coming out in the spring till that of their leaving in the fall and early winter, I feel safe in saying, since they, too, are constantly changing from land to water and from water to land, that they feed at irregular but not long intervals during the time they are here under observa- tion. Ido not think the young males fast longer than a week or ten days at a time, as a class. ALASKA. 149 The leave evidences of their being on these great repro- ductive fields, chiefly on the rookeries, such as hundreds of the dead carcasses of those of them that have been infirm, sick, killed, or which have crawled off to die from death-wounds re- ceived in some struggle for a harem; and over these decaying, putrid bodies, the living, old and young, clamber and patter, and by this constant stirring up of putrescent matter give rise to an exceedingly disagreeable and far-reaching “ funk,” which -has been, by all the writers who have spoken on the subject, re- ferred to as the smeil which these animals have in rutting. If these creatures have any such odor peculiar to them when in this condition, I will frankly confess that Iam unable to dis- tinguish it from the fumes which are constantly being stirred up and rising out from these decaying carcasses of old seals and the many pups which have been killed accidentally by the old bulls while fighting with and charging back and forth against one another. ; They, however, have a peculiar smell when they are driven and get heated; their steaming breath-exhalations possess a disagreeable, faint, sickly tone, but it can by no means be con- founded with what is universally understood to be the rutting- odor among animals. The finger rubbed on a little fur-seal blubber will smell very much like that which is appreciated in their breath coming from them when driven, only stronger. Both the young and old fur-seais have this same breath-smell ~ at all seasons. By the end of October and the 10th of November the great mass of the “holluschukie” have taken their departure; the few that remain from now until as late as the snow and ice will ° permit them to do, in and after December, are all down by the water's edge, and hauled up almost entirely on the rocky . beaches only, deserting the sand. The first snow falling makes them uneasy, as also does rain-fall. I have seen a large haul- ing-ground entirely deserted after a rainy day and night by its hundreds of thousands of occupants. The falling drops spat- ter and beat the sand into their eyes, fur, &c., I presume, and in this way make it uncomfortable for them. The weather in which the fur-seal delights is cool, moist, foggy, and thick enough to keep the sun always obscured so as ‘to cast no shadows. Such weather, continued for a few weeks in June and July, brings them up from the sea by millions ; but, as I have before said, a little sunlight and the temperature as high as 50° to 55°, will send them back from the hauling- 150 ALASKA. grounds almost as quickly as they came. These sunny, warm days are, however, on Saint Paul’s Island, very rare indeed, and so the seals can have but little ground of complaint, if we may presume that they have any at all. I saw but three albino pups among the hundreds of thousands on Saint Paul’s and none on Saint George. They did not differ in any respect from the otber (normal) pups in size and shape. Their hair, in the first coat, was, all over, a dull ocher; the flip- pers and muzzle were a api -tone, and the iris of ohe eye sky- blue. The second coat gives them a dirty yellowish-white © color, but it makes them exceedingly conspicuous when in among: the black pups, gray yearlings, and * holluschukie.” I have also never seen any malformations or ‘‘monsters” among the pups and other classes of the fur-seal; nor have the natives recorded anything of the kind, so far as 1 could ascer- tain from them. Another curious fact may be recorded, that, with the excep- tion of those animals which have received wounds in combat, no sick or dying seals are seen upon the islands. Out of the great numbers, thousands upon thousands of seals that must die every year from old age alone, not one have I ever seen here. They evidently give up their lives at sea. Fable showing the weight, size, and growth of the fur-seal, (Callorhinus ursinus, ) from the pup to the adult, male and female. [The weights and measurements were taken by Mr. Samuel Falconer and the writer on the killing-grounds at Saint George’s Island, in 1873.] Gross : Age. Length. | Girth. | weight of | Weight Remarks. > e body of skin. : Inches. | Inches. Pounds. | Pounds. One week........ 12 to 14 | 10 to 103 6to 7 1i | A male and female, being the ouly one of this class handled. Six months ...... 24 25 39 3 | A mean of ten examples, males and females alike in size. Oneiyear..----.-. f 38 25 * 39 44 | A mean of six examples, males and females alike in size. MwONyears- 1. .. 45 | 30 58 54 | A mean of thirty examples, | all males, July 24, 1873. Dhreewyears.... =. 52 | 36 87 7 | A mean of ‘thirty- two exam- ples, all males, July 24, 1873. Four years.....-- 58 | 42 135 12 | A mean of ton examples, all males, July 24, 1873. Five years.....-- 65 52 200 16 | A mean of five examples, all males, July 24, 1873. Six Vears!.<22-2% - 72 64 280 25 | A mean of three examples, all males, July 24, 1873. Eight to twenty | 75 to s0.| 79t075 | 40¢to500 | 45t050 | An estimate only, calculat- years. ing on their weight when fat, and early in the sea- son. a ALASKA. 151 The females, adults, will correspond with the three-year-old ' males in the above table, the younger cows weighing frequently only 75 pounds, and many of the older ones going as high as 120, but an average of 80 to 85 pounds is the rule. The five and six year old males, when they first make their appearance in May and June, are very much heavier than at the time I weighed them in July; they are then, perhaps, when fat and fresh, fully one-third heavier than the exhibit on the table, but the cows and other classes do not sustain protracted fasts, and do not vary much through the season. 152 ALASKA. THE SEA-LION, (EUMETOPIAS STELLERI,) “‘SEE-VITCHIE” OF THE RUSSIANS. This animal, although much below the fur-seal with reference to intelligence and physical organization, ranks next in natural order, and can, as well as its more sagacious and valuable rela- tive, be seen to better advantage on these islands than else- where, perhaps, in the world. By looking at the plate, a glance will show at once the marked difference between this animal and the Callorhinus. It has a really leonine appearance and bearing, greatly enhanced by the rich, golden-rufous of its coat, ferocity of expression, and bull-dog-like muzzle and cast of eye, not round and full, but showing the white, or sclerotic coat, with a light, bright- brown iris. Although provided with flippers to all external view as the fur-seal, he cannot, however, make use of them in the same freemanner. While the fur-seal can be driven five or six miles in twenty-four hours, the sea-lion can barely go two, the con- ditions of weather and roadway being the same. The sea-lions balance and swing their long, heavy necks to and fro, with every hitch up behind of their posteriors, which they seldom raise from the ground, drawing them up after the fore feet with a slide over the grass or sand, rocks, &c., as the case may be, and pausing frequently to take a sullen and ferocious survey of the field and the drivers. The sea-lion bull of Bering Sea, when full-grown and in good condition, will measure off in length 11 to 12.5 feet from nose to tip of tail, (which is seldom over 3 or 4 inches long,) and girth 10. Unfortunately, I was not able to weigh one of these big bulls, and can, therefore, only estimate this weight - ata thousand pounds, while, perhaps, some of the largest and finest old fellows will touch twelve to thirteen hundred; bat I doubt it. The sea-lion is polygamous, but does not maintain any such regular system and method in preparing for and attention to its harem like that so finely illustrated on the breeding-grounds of the fur-seal. It is not numerous, comparatively speaking, and does not “haul” more than a few rods back from the sea. It cannot be visited and inspected by man, being so shy and ALASKA. 1535 wary that on the slightest approach a stampede into the water is the certain result. The males come out and locate on the narrow belts of rookery-ground, preferred and selected by them; the cows make their appearance three or four weeks after them, (ist to 6th June,) and are not subjected to that in- tense jealous supervision so characteristic of the fur-seal harem. The bulls fight savagely among themselves, and turn off from the breeding-ground all the younger and weak males. The cow sea-lion is not quite half the size of the male, and will measure from 8 to 9 feet in length, with a weight of four and five hundred pounds. She has the same general cast of countenance and build of the bull, but as she does not sustain any fasting period of over a week or ten days, she never comes out so grossly fat as the male or ‘*see-catch.” The sea-lion rookery will be found to consist of about ten to fifteen cows to the bull. The cow seems at all times to have the utmost freedom in moving from place to place, and to start with its young, picked up sometimes by the nape, into the water, and play together for spells in the surf-wash, a move- ment on tke part of the mother never made by the fur-seal, and showing, in this respect, much more attention to its off- spring. 5 They are divided up into classes, which sustain, in a general manner, but very imperfectly, nearly the same relation one to the other as do those of the fur-seal, of which I have already spoken at length and in detail; but they cannot be approached, inspected, and managed like the other, by reason of their wild and timid nature. They visit the islands in numbers compara- tively small, (I can only estimate,) not over twenty or twenty- five thousand on Saint Paul’s and contiguous islets, and not more than seven or eight thousand at Saint George. On Saint Paul’s Island they occupy a small portion of the breeding-ground at Northeast Point, in common with the Callorhinus, always close to the water, and taking to it at the slightest disturbance or alarm. | The sea-lion rockery on Saint George’s Island is the best place upon the Seal Islands for close observation of these ani- mals, and the following note was made aos the occasion of one of my visits, (June 15, 1873 :) ‘At the base of cliffs, over 400 feet in height, on the east Shore of the island, on a beach 50 or 60 feet in width at low water, and not over 39 or 40 at flood-tide, lies the only sea-lion 154 | ALASKA: rookery on Saint George’s Island—some three or four thousand cows and bulls. The entire circuit of this rookery-belt was passed over by us, the big, timorous bulls rushing off into the water as quickly as the cows, all leaving their young. Many of the females, perhaps half of them, had only just given birth to their young. These pups will weigh at least twenty to twen- ty-five pounds on an average when born, are of a dark, choca- late-brown, with the eye as large as the adult, only being a suf- fused, watery, gray-blue, where the sclerotic coat is well and sharply defined in its maturity. They are about 2 feet in length, some longer and some smaller. As all the pups seen to-day were very young, some at this instant only born, they were dull and apathetic, not seeming to notice us much. There are, I should say, about one-sixth of the sea-lions in number on this island, when compared with Saint Paul’s. As these animals lie here under the cliffs, they cannot be approached and driven; but should they haul a few hundred rods up to the south, then they can be easily captured. They have hauled in this manner always until disturbed in 1868, and will undoubtedly do so again if not molested. ‘¢ These sea-lions, when they took to the water, swam out to a distance of fifty yards or so, and huddled all up together in two or three packs or squads of about five hundred each, hold- ing their heads and necks up high out of water, all roaring in concert and incessantly, making such a deafening noise that we could scarcely hear ourselves in conversation at a distance from them of over a hundred yards. This roaring of sea-lions, thus disturbed, can only be compared to the hoarse sound of a tempest as it howls through the rigging of a ship, or the play- ing of a living gale upon the bare branches, limbs, and trunks of a forest-grove.” They commenced to return as soon aS we left the ground. The voice of the sea-lion is a deep, grand roar, and does not have the flexibility of the Callorhinus, being confined to a low, muttering growl or this bass roar. The pups are very playful, but are almost always silent. When they do utter sound, it is a Sharp, short, querulous growling. THE DRIVE OF THE SEA-LIONS ON SAINT PAUL’S ISLAND. The natives have a very high appreciation of the sea-lion, or see-vitchie, as they call it, and base this regard upon the supe- rior quality of the flesh, fat, and hide, (for making covers for ALASKA. 155 their skin boats, bidarkies and bidarrahs,) sinews, intestines &e. As I have before said, the sea-lion seldom hauls back far from the water, generally very close to the surf-margin, and in this position it becomes quite a difficult task for the natives to approach and get in between it and the sea unobserved, for, unless this silent approach is made, the beast will at once take the alarm and bolt into the water. By reference to my map of Saint Paul’s, a small point, near the head of the northeast neck of the island, will be seen, upon which quite a large number of sea-lions are always to be found, as it is never disturbed except on the occasion of this an- nual driving. The natives step down on to the beach, in the little bight just above it, and begin to crawl on all fours flat on the sand down to the end of the neck and in between the dozing sea- lion herd and the water, always selecting a semi-bright moonlight night. Ifthe wind is favorable, and none of the men meet with an accident, the natives will almost always succeed in reach- ing the point unobserved, when, at a given signal, they all jump up on their feet at once, yell, brandish their arms, and give a sudden start, or alarm, to the herd above them, for, just as the sea-lions move, upon the first impulse of surprise, so they keep on. For instance, if the animals on starting up are sleeping with their heads pointed in the direction of the water, they keep straight on toward it; but if they jump up looking over the land, they follow that course just as desperately, and noth- ing turns them, at first, either one way or the other. Those that go for the water are, of course, lost, but fhe natives follow the land-leaders and keep urging them on, and soon have them in their control, driving them back into a small pen, which they extemporize by means of little stakes, with flags, set around a circuit of a few hundred square feet, and where they keep them until three or four hundred, at least, are captured, before they commence their drive of ten miles overland down south to the village. The natives, latterly, in getting this annual herd of sea-lions, have postponed it until late in the fall, and when the animals are scant in pumber and the old bulls poor. This they were obliged to do, on account of the pressure of their sealing-busi- ' ness in the spring, and the warmth of the season in August and September, which makes the driving very tedious. In this way I have not been permitted to behold the best-conditioned drives, 7. e., those in which a majority of the herd is made up 154 | ALASKA: rookery on Saint George’s Island—some three or four thousand cows and bulls. The entire circuit of this rookery-belt was passed over by us, the big, timorous bulls rushing off into the water as quickly as the cows, all leaving their young. Many of the females, perhaps half of them, had only just given birth to their young. These pups will weigh at least twenty to twen- ty-five pounds on an average when born, are of a dark, choca- late-brown, with the eye as large as the adult, only being a suf- fused, watery, gray-blue, where the sclerotic coat.is well and sharply defined in its maturity. They are about 2 feet in length, some longer and some smaller. As all the pups seen to-day were very young, some at this instant only born, they were dull and apathetic, not seeming to notice us much. There are, I should say, about one-sixth of the sea-lions in number on this island, when compared with Saint Paul’s. z obec he ta a |e ee = N Oo n |e =e RS) Higa | | Saint George’s Island ...:| July 22| 64249] 676) @Q j; 5.10 | 2.50 | 1.12] 0.80; 1.08 Re cr wa July 22 | 64250}] 67 Q |} 5.20 | 2.60 | 1.28 | 1.00] 1.10 Dw ake! Sees July 4] 64251} 590} Q | 5.10 | 2.30 | 1.10 | 0.94} 1.16 ke eee eels TF) G4852)) 597 | 9 ..|-5. 00-0250?) 15202] -0. 95 8 1G ict wal pee eee duly 7] 64253] 600 | OF | d.10 | 2,80 | £45100 |-, has [or oS June19 | 64254] 462}; 92 | 5.15 |.2.75 | 1.40] 0.987] 1.68 1028 5e noe July 7| 64255| 602/ Q | 5.10 | 2.40] 1.30] 0.97] 1.12 Ope ee Ses hi July 7]| 64256} 601} 9 | 5.18 | 2.70 | 1.41 | 0.95 | .1.13 Tas Se ie Aa eae duly 7%] 61957) 596| 9 | 480} 2.50] 1.25 | 0.90] 1.12 “oa Ret |e July 4] 64258] 585]. 2 | 5.00} 2.50} 1.30] 0.96 | 1.15 eon July 4 | 64259] 587| @ | 5.05 | 2.40 | 1.25] 0.97) 1.07 io oe July 7 | 64260} 675 | o |°5.25 | 2.80 | 1.42] 0.95] 1.20 IDs Sakae culy Ll 64265). 5741. =. | 5.35 | 2.75 | 1.4011.00| 1.10 oo Le get e July 4| 64266} 588 | 92 -| 5.30] 2.70 | 1.45 | 0.98-| 1.20 iG. 250 ees July 7| 64267] 598| Q | 4.90 | 2.50-| 1.20 | 0.96) 1.14 iti £5 es July (7 | 64268 | 599 |...--- | 4.80 | 2.30 | 1,30 | 0.91 | -1.10 t ' | “This is the only wader that breeds upon the Prybilov Islands, with the marked exception of a stray couple now and then of Phalaropus hyperboreus. It makes its appearance early in May, and repairs to the dry uplands and mossy hummocks, where it breeds. The nest is formed by the bird’s selection of a particular mossy bunch, and there setting. It lays four darkly-blotched pyriform eggs, and hatches within twenty days. The young come from the shell in a thick yellowish down, with dark-brown markings cn the head and back, getting the plum- age of their parents and taking to wing as early as the 10th of August; and at this season old and young flock together for the first time, and confine themselves to the sand-beaches and surf-margins about the islands for a few weeks, when they take species belongs to the same type as the Knot, (7. canutus,) but is much more robust in size, the bill is longer, the tarsi are longer, and the toes more ro- bust,’ (this is a mistake;) ‘finally, it differs in the very different coloration of the plumage, notably in the breeding-season.’” * * * “It seems to me that the bird is in every respect a large dunlin, (7. cinclus,) which it re- sembles much more nearly than it does canutus, not only in regard to the structure of the bill and feet, but in the character of the breeding-piumage,” &c. Now, our T. ptilocnemis bears a wonderful superficial resemblance to an overgrown dunlin, but its affinities, as shown by the feathered tibiae, and tarsus shorter than the middle toe, are entirely with T. maritimus, as already said, and some plumages very closely resemble the extensively-whitened winter-dress of the latter. 186 ALASKA. flight by the 1st or 5th of September, and disappear until the opening of the new season. ‘‘It is a most devoted and fearless parent, and will flutter in feigned distress around by the hour, uttering a low piping note should one approach its nest. It also makes a sound exactly like our tree-frogs, and until I had traced the matter to this source, I searched several weeks unavailingly for the presence of these reptiles, misled by the call of this bird.” A set of four eggs of this species, the full complement, taken by Mr. Elliott,* June 19, 1873, on Saint George’s, are perhaps the first specimens which have reached naturalists; certainly the first we have had in this country. They appear to have been nearly or quite fresh at the date mentioned. The egg is rather a peculiar one; of all the sandpiper’s eggs before us, it most resembles that of Zringa maritima. The shape is regu- larly pyriform, as usual in this family. Measurements of the four examples are: 1.55 x 1.08; 1.52 x 1.05; 1.50 x 1.08; 1.48 x 1.05. The ground is nearly clay-color, but with an appreciable olivaceous shade; the markings are large, bold, and numerous, of rich, burnt-umber brown, of varying depth, according to the quantity of the pigment. These surface-markings occur all over the shell. except the extreme point, and are solidly massed by confluence on the larger half of the egg; all the markings are strong, as if laid on freely with a heavily-charged brush. With these surface-spots occur numerous shell-markings of the same character, but, of course, obscure, presenting a stone-gray or purplish gray shade; some of them look as if the color of the surface-spots had “run” and scaked into the olivaceous drab of . the general surface. * The eggs were first discovered by Mr. George lt. Adams, agent of the Alaska Commercial Company, Saint George’s Island. He, in order that they should be identified, notified Mr. Elliott of their position, who immediately shot the parent and secured the eggs. Mr. Elliott has had frequent occasion to ac- knowledge the courtesy and facilities for natural-history work furnished by the agents of the Alaska Commercial Company on both islands, Dr. H. H. McIntyre and Mr. Adams, above mentioned. To the last-named gentleman he is especially indebted for many desiderata. Mr. Samuel Falconer, assist- ant agent, and Drs. Otto Cramer and Meany, physicians on the two islands, are also among the few to whom Mr. Elliott’s grateful obligations are due. From Dr. Cramer we have reason to anticipate a very valuable and interest- ing paper upon the stomach and intestinal parasites of the fur-seal, which he was engaged upon when Mr. Elliott took his departure from the islands, August 10, 1873. ALASKA. 187 436. Limesa uropygialis, GouLp.—White-rumped Godwit. Limosa uropygialis, GoULD.—Bp. Trans. Chicago Acad., i, 320, pl. 32, (1869.)—DaLt and Bann. Ibid., 293.—Couss. . Key N. A., Birds 258, (1872.) This well-known Old World species, lately added to our fauna, as above, is readily distinguished by the black and white barring of the upper tail-coverts. In winter the upper parts are pale gray, with dusky shaft-lines, and the under parts are nearly white—a condition never shown by our other species. In full plumage, the white of the rump and upper tail-coverts is more or less tinged with rusty, and the upper parts are brown- ish black, everywhere variegated with rusty. Bills of different specimens before us range in length from 33 to 44 inches; those of the adults are mostly dark, but in the young fully the basal half is light-colored—dull whitish in the dried state. Mr. Elliott did not take the eggs of this species, but two examples were secured by Mr. Dall, June 18, 1868, at Kuthk, Alaska. These differ as much from each other as eggs of this species do from those of other species. The ground of one is quite greenish oiive; of the other, pale olive-gray. In the former, the markings are all subdued neutral tints, apparently insthe shell; in the latter, the markings are nearly all on the surface, and quite bright chccolate-brown. In both cases the markings are numerous and of indeterminate shape, mostly small, and generally distributed, though tending to aggregate at the butt, where alone they lose their distinctness in coalesc- ing to form a splashed area. Size, 2.20 x 1.45; 2.25 x 1.50. ‘‘ Migratory only, never breeding here. Comes in a strag- gling manner early in May, passing northward with little de- lay, and re-appears toward the end of August in flocks of a dozen to fifty.” 440. Heteroscelus imcanus, (GM.) CouEs.—Wandering Tattler. Scolopax incana, GMEL. Syst. Nat., 1, 658, (1788.)—LatuH. Ind. Orn., ii, 724, (1790.) Totanus incanus, VIEL. Dict. Deterv., vi, 400, (1816.) Heteroscelus incanus, COUES. Key N. A. Birds, 261, (1872.) Tringa glareola, PALL. Zoog. Rosso-As., ii, 194, pl. 60, (1811.) Totanus brevipes, VIEILL. Dict. Deterv., vi, 400, (1816.)—Cass. Pr. A. N.S., viii, 40,. (1856. ) Heteroscelus brevipes, BAirD. B. N. A., 734, pl. 88, (1858.)—DALL. Tr. Chic. Acad., i, 293, (1869. ) Totanus fuliginosus, GOULD. Voy. Beagle; Birds, 130, (1841.)— Gexy, G. of B., in, pls 154. Scolopax undulata, Forsr. Deser. Anim., ed. Licht., 173, (1844.) 18s ALASKA. Totanus pulverulentus, MULL. Verhand., 153, (1844.)—ScHLEGEL, Fauna Japan, pl. 65. Totanus oceanicus, LESS. Comp. Buff., 244, (1847.) Totanus polynesie, PEALE. Voy. Vine. and Peac.; Birds, 237, (1848.) | Totanus griseopygius, GOULD. B. Aust., vi, pl. 38. Gambetia brevipes, fuliginosa, pulverulenta, oceanica, griseopygia, BONAPARTE. ; Two specimens are contained in Mr. Elliott’s collections. Migratory regularly, but does not breed here. It comes every year early in June, and subsequently re-appears toward the end of July, when it may be obtained on the rocky beaches. It never visits the uplands, and is a very shy and quiet bird. 443. Numenius borealis, (Forst.) LatH.—Esquimaux Curlew. This curlew only visits the Prybilov Islands in the same man- ner as the Limosa. It breeds, apparently in great numbers, in the Anderson River region, to judge from the numerous sets of eggs in the Smithsonian forwarded by Mr. R. Macfarlane. The usual nest-complement is four, made up usually the third week in June. The nest is placed on a barren plain, and made of decayed leaves placed under the eggs in a depression of the ground. The eggs vary to the great extent usual among waders. The ground is olive-drab, either tending more .to green, to gray, or to brown in different instances. The mark- ings are always numerous and bold, of the dark chocolate, bister, and sepia browns of different depths, together with the usual stone-gray shell-markings. These always tend to agere- gation at the larger end, or, at least, are more numerous on the major half of the egg, though the distribution is sometimes nearly uniform, and in no instance is the small end entirely free from spots. In oneset the large end is almost completely occu- pied by a denseconfluenceof very dark markings. The smallest, and at the same time shortest, egg measures only 1.90 x 1.40; the longest and narrowest, 2.12 x 1.33; an average egg is 2.00 x 1.45. We may refer, in this connection, to a species of curlew lately ascertained to inhabit Alaska, as one which may be expected to occur also on the Prybilov Islands. This interesting addi- tion to our fauna is the Vumenius femoralis of Peale—a species about as large as N. hudsonicus, and somewhat resembling it, but readily distinguished by the curious long bristly filaments which tip the abdominal feathers, and ofher characters. ° A ALASKA, 189 male specimen was taken by F. Bischoff at Fort Kenai, Alaska, May 18, 1869, and is now in the Smithsonian. (See Vigors,,. Zool. Journ., iv, 356; and Zool. Voy. Blossom, 28.) A single specimen only of the Esquimaux curlew was taken by Mr. Elliott on Saint Paul’s Island, June, 1872. None other than this one was seen by him. 482, Philacte canagica, (SEvasT.) BANN.—Emperor Goose. Painted Goose. Anas canagica, SEVAST. Nov. Act. Acad. St. Peters., xiii, 346, pl.. 10, (1800.) Anser canagicus, BRANDT. Bull. Sc. St. Peters., i, 37, (1836.) BraNnpt. Descr. et Ic. An. Rosso-As., 7, pl. 1, (1836.) Chloephaga canagica, BoNaPp. Comptes Rendus, (1856.)—BarrD.. . B. N. A., 768, (1858.)—DaLt and BANN. Trans. Chic. Acad., i, 296, (1869.)—Datt. Proe. Cala. Acad., (Feb., 1873.) Philacte canagica, BANN. Proc. Phila. Acad., 131, (1870.)— CouEs. Key, 283, (1872.) A set of five eggs, taken by Mr. Dall in Ktselvak Slough, June 20, 1868 are much elongated and nearly equal at either end. The color is white, but with fine pale-brown dotting, giv- ing a general light dirty-brown aspect. Specimens measure 3.00 X 3.10; 3.40 x 2.90, &e. i “ Visits the islands only as a straggler, sometimes landing so exhausted that the natives capture a whole flock in open chase over the grass, the birds being unable to use their wings. for flight. Ifound the flesh of this bird, contrary to report, free from any unpleasant flavor, and, in fact, very good. The objec- tionable quality is only skin-deep, and may be got rid of by due. care in the preparation of the bird for the table.” Mr. Dall’s interesting note may be appended, in further illus+ tration of the history of this species: “This magnificent bird abounds in profusion in the Kiselvak Slough, or mouth of the Yukon, to the exclusion of all other species. My endeavors to reach that point being unavailing, I was obliged to do my best to obtain specimenselsewhere. It. is quite scarce around the Kwichpak Slough and on the sea- coast. By offering a large reward, I obtained four fine speci- mens from the marshes around Kutlik. It is the largest of the geese of the country, and the delicate colors of the body, with the head and nape snow-white, tipped with rich amber-yellow,, are a beautiful sight. The eye is dark-brown; feet, flesh-color. The eggs are larger and longer than those of A. gambeli, and rather brown fulvous, the color being in minute dots. It lays 190 | ALASKA. on the ground, like the other geese.- The Eskimo name is NachowtWluk. The raw flesh and skin have an intolerable odor of garlic, which renders it a very disagreeable task to skin them, but when cooked this entirely passes away, and the flesh is tender and good eating. ‘This goose arrives about June 1, or earlier, according to the season. As soon as the eggs are hatched the birds begin to molt. I saw half-molted specimens at Pastolik, July 29, 1867. It remains longer than any other goose, lingering until the whole sea-coast is fringed with ice, feeding on Mytilus edu- _ lis and other shell-fish, and has been seen as late as November 1 by the Russians. It usually goes in pairs, or four or five together, rather than in large flocks. Its note is shriller and clearer than that of A. gambeli or B. hutchinsi, and it is shyer than the other geese, except the black brant.” f According to Mr. Dall, the emperor-goose does not ¢ occur in the Aleutian Islands from Ounalashka eastward. 485a. Branta canadensis, var. leucopareia, (BrRpT.) CouEsS.— ‘White-collared goose. ‘‘ Chornie Goose.” Anser canadensis, PALLAS, nec auct. Zoog. Rosso-As., ii, 230, (1811.) Anser leucopareius, BRANDT. Bull. Ac. Acad. St. Petersb., i, 37, (1836.) BranpT. Descr. et Ic. Anim. Rosso-As., 13, pl. 2, (1836. ) Bernicla leucopareia, CASSIN. J11.'272, pl. 45, (1855.)—Bp. B.N. A., 764, (1858.)—DaLy. Trans. Chic. Acad., i, 295, (1869.) # Branta leucopareia, GRAY. Hand-list, iii, 76, No. 10580, (1871.) Branta canadensis var. leucopareia, COUES. Key 284, Fig. 185 b, (1872.) There isno reasonable question that this is anything more than arace of the common B. canadensis. The supposed specific char- acters, not very tangible at best, are not entirely constant. According to Mr. Dall, this goose is abundant on the coast about the mouth of the Yukon, where it breeds, but it is rare at Nulato or farther inland. The eggs were obtained at Pasto- lik. : ‘¢ Occasionally straggles to the islands in small squads of ten to thirty, evidently driven by high winds from their customary line of migration along the mainland. Though not breeding here, it spends, occasionally, weeks at atime on the lakelets and uplands, before taking flight either north or Soin as the season may be.” 488. Anas boschas, (L.)—WMallard. ‘A pair bred during the season of 1872, on Polavina Lakelet, Saint Panl’s ‘Island, and several were observed later in the ALASKA. Bis vi | fall. The mallard was also noted on Saint George’s Island, but it is certainly not a regular visitor of either island.” 492. Mareca penelope, (L.) Br.—Widgeon. It is an interesting fact that the widgeon which visits the Prybilov Islands is not M. americana, which would have been anticipated, but the true Jf. penelope, as Mr. Elliott’s specimens attest. | “It is seldom seen, never in pairs, does not breed on the islands, and apparently the few individuals noted during two years’ observation were wind-bound or astray. 508. Harelda giacialis, (L.) Leacn.—Long-tailed Duck. “ Saafka.” ‘¢Common and resident. It breeds on the lakelets and sloughs of Saint Paul’s, in limited numbers. ‘This isa very noisy bird, particularly in the spring, when, with the breaking up of the ice, it comes into the open reaches of water with its peculiar, sonorous, and reiterated cry of ah- naah-nadh-yah, which rings cheerfully upon the ear after the silence and desolation of an ice-bound arctic winter.” The eggs of this species, according to the sets before me, are Six or seven in number, of the usual shape and smooth texture of shell; one set is more decidedly pale greenish than the other, which is lighter, and rather gray, slightly inclining to creami- ness. They measure 2.20x1.50, down to 1.90x1.40. One set was taken June 22, the other July 5. 510. Histrionicus torquatus (L.) Bep.— Harlequin Duck. ‘“Common on and around the island shores, idly floating amid the surfin flocks of fifty or sixty, or basking and preen- ing on the beaches and outlying rocks. It may be seen all the year round, excepting only when forced away by the ice-floes. Its neat, however, eluded my search; and, although Iam quite confident that it breeds on either the rocky beaches or the high ridges inland, the natives themselves were equally ignorant of its eggs. ** My experience of this bird, it will be observed, differs from Mr. Dall’s, who states that it ‘is an essentially solitary species, found, alone or in pairs, only in the most retired spots, on the small rivers flowing into the Yukon, where it breeds’ (Trans. Chicago, Acad., i, 298.) I did not find it particularly wild or shy, and numbers are killed by the natives every fall or spring. It is aremarkably silent bird; I heard from it no ery what- 192 ; ALASKA. | ‘2 ever during the whole year. It is amost gregarious duck; sol- itary pairs never stray away from the flock. The females seem to outnumber the males, two to one.” 511. Somateria stelleri, (PALL.) NEwr.—Steller’s Hider. Anas stelleri, PALL. Spic. Zool., vi. 35, pl. 5, (1769.) Clangula stelleri, BorE. Isis, 564, (1822.) Fuligula stelleri, Be. Syn. B. U.S. 394, (1828.) Macropus stelleri, NuTT. Man., ii, 451, (1834.) Polysticta stelleri, EYTON. Hist. Brit. B., 79, (1836.)—Bp. B.N. A., 801, (1858. ) Eniconetta stelleri, GRAY. List Gen. of B., 95, (1840.) Harelda stelleri, Keys, et Blas. Wirb. Europ., 230, (1840.) Heniconetta stelleri, AGAss. Ind. Univ., 178, (1846.) Somateria stellerit, NEWT. P. Z.S., 400, (1861.)—Covss. Key, 291,, (1872.) Anas dispar, SPARRM. Mus. Carls., pl. vii, viii, (1786.) Fuligula dispar, STEPH. Shaw’s Gen. Zool., xii, 206, (1824.) Stelleria dispar, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. A., 57, (1838.) sinas occidua, BONN. et VIEILL. Ency. Met., i, 130, (1823.) “A few ot these ducks were observed, but not secured, on Saint Paul’s, in the spring of 1872. Two were shot at the East Point, Saint George’s, the same year. Itis only a straggler.” As several experienced ornithologists have stated, Steller’s. duck is a true eider in all essential respects. Various views of _its systematic position which have been entertained are indi- cated by the foregoing synonymy. An egg of Steller’s duck, in the Smithsonian, from the Peters- burg Museum, through H. E. Dresser, esq., collected in Kamtschatka, measures 2.20 x 1.60, and is like that of the com- mon eider in shape, color, and texture of shell. 534. Graculus bicristatus, (PALu.) Gray. Jed-faced Cormorant. “*“Oreel.” ? Red-faced Cormorant or Shag, PENNANT & LATHAM. (Arct. Zool., 11, 584; Gen. Syn. vi, 601. Kamtschatka.) ? Pelecanus urile, GM. Syst. Nat., 1, 575, (1788.)—LatTuH. Ind. Orn. ii, 888, (1790.) Phalacrocorax bicristatus, PALL. Zoog. Rosso-As., i1, 301, pl. 75, f..2; (48th) Graculus bicristatus, GRAY. Gen. of Birds. Hand-list, iii, 128, No. 11129.—Bp. Tr. Chic. Acad., 1,321, pl. 33, (1869.)—DALL.. & Bann. Ibid., 302.—Couers. Key, 304, (1872.) Urile bicristatus, Be., partim. Comp. Av., 11, 175, (1851.) ** Phalacrocorax pelagicus, Pat.” Zoog. Resso-As., ii, 303, pl. 76, (1811.) The cormorant, which swarms on the Prybilov Islands, ap- pears to be unquestionably the bird of Pallas, which is most ALASKA. | 193 probably the red-faced cormorant, P. urile, of earlier authors. In adult plumage it is readily recognized by the naked red skin which entirely surrounds the base of the bill, somewhat earunculate, and the blue base of the under mandible, as well as by the other points noticed in the later treatises above quoted. In the great confusion Sues aie among authors re- specting the North Pacific cormorants, we do not venture to cite several names more or less probably synonymous. Several eggs of this cormorant, brought in by Mr. Elliott, are covered with the white, chalky incrustation, in a maximum amount of depth and irregularity, the shell being very pale bluish beneath. They measure about 24 inches Jong by 13 wide, being thus narrowly elongate, though little more pointed at one end than at the other. They are all much soiled with the filth of the nest. | “This cormorant, the only one of its tribe visiting the Seal Islands, is a common bird, and is found the whole year round. The terrible storms in February and March are unable to drive the “shag” away from the sheltered cliffs of the island, while all other species, even the big northern gull, depart for the open water south. ‘‘Tt comes on to the cliffs to make its nest and’ lay, the earliest of the birds in this sea. Two eggs were taken from a nest on the reef, Saint Paul’s Island, June 1, 1872, which is dver three weeks in advance of the other water-fowl, almost without ex- ception. The nestis large, carefully rounded up, and built upon some jutting point or narrow shelf along the face of a cliff or bluff; in its construction sea-ferns, (Sertularide,) grass, &e., are used, together with a cement made largely of their excre- ment. ‘* The eggs are usually three in number, sometimes four, and, compared with the size of the bird, are very small. They are oval, of a dirty, whitish gray, green, and blue color, but soon become soiled; for although the bird’s plumage is sleek and bright, yet it is exceedingly slovenly and filthy about the nest. The young come from the shell at the expiration of three weeks’ incubation, without feathers, and almost bare even of down. They grow rapidly, being fed bythe old birds, who eject the contents of their stomachs, such as small fish, crabs, and shrimps all over and around the nest. In about six weeks the young cormorant can take to its wings, being then fully as Jarge and heavy asthe parents; but itis not until the beginning of its second year that it has the bright plumage and metallie 13 AL 194 ALASKA. gloss of the adult, wearing, during the first year, a dull drab- brown coat, with the brilliant colors of the base of the bill and gular sae subdued. ‘* This shag isa bold and very inquisitive bird, and utters no sound whatever except when flying over and around a boat or ship, which apparently bas a magnetic power of attraction for them. When they are hovering and circling around in this way, I have heard alow, droning croak come from them. ** The cormorant cannot be called a bird of graceful action at any place, either on the wing or cn shore. Its flight is a quick beating of the wings, (which are usually more or less ragged,) with the neck and head stretched out horizontally to the full length. It is exceedingly inquisitive, flying around again and again to satisfy its curiosity, but never alighting on a boat or ship, though coming close enough sometimes to be almost touched by hand. It is very dirty on the rocks, and does not keep its nest in tidy trim like the gulls; but in regard to its plumage, it- cannot be surpassed, or even equaled, by any bird of Bering Sea for brilliant gloss and glittering sheen. It fairly shimmers, when in the sunlight, with deep bronze and purple reflections, as though clothed in steel armor. ‘‘ Tn their stomachs I have found almost invariably the re- mains of small fish and a coil of worms, (Nematoda.) “As this bird is found during the whole winter, in spite of severe weather, perched on the sheltered bluffs, the natives re- gard it with a species of affection, for it furnishes the only 'sup- ply that they can draw upon for fresh meat, soups, and stews, ° always wanted by the sick; and were the shags sought after throughout the year, as they are during the short spell of intensely-bitter weather that occurs in severe winters, driving the other water-fowl away, they would certainly be speedily ex- terminated. They are seldom shot, however, when anything else can be obtained.” Diomedea brachyura, Temmu.—Short-tailed Albatross. ‘Twenty or thirty years ago, when whaling-vessels were reaping their rich harvests in Bering and the Arctic Seas, the albatross was often seen about the islands, feeding upon the whale-carrion which might drift onshore. But with the decrease of the whale-fishery the birds have almost disappeared. Only a single individual was noted during my two years’ residence. This was taken by Dr. Meany, on the north shore of Saint George’s. LASKA. 195 “Tt is common around Ounalashka Island, where I saw a large number, on my way to San Francisco, in August, 1873.” 582a. Fulmarus glacialis var. rodgersi, (CAss.) CouEs.—Lodgers’s Fulmar. “ Lupus.” Fulmarus rodgersii, CAss. Proc. Phila. Acad., 290, (1862.)—CovugEs. op. cit., 29, (1866.)—Bairp. Tr. Chicago Acad., i, 323, pl. 34, fig. 1, (18 69.)—Dati et BANN. JbDid., 303. Fulmarus glacialis var. rodgersi, CouES.—Key N. A. Birds, 327, (1872.) Distinguished from the ordinary fulmar by the restriction of the darker slate- gray mantle, most of the wing-coverts and some of the secondaries being white. An egg of this fulmar, procured by Mr. Elliott, is much more elongate than the only specimen of EF. glacialis before me, and the shell is even rougher than in the latter, with innumerable raised points and minute fosse. It measures 2.90 in length by 1.99 in breadth, and is scarcely more pointed at one end than at the other. The color is white, much soiled, in this instance, with adventitious yellow discoloration. The description applies to the whole of a large series examined. ‘‘This is the only representative of the Procellarine I have seen on or about the Prybilov Islands. It repairs to the cliffs, especially on the south and east shores of Saint George’s, comes very early in the season, and selecting some rocky shelf, secure from all enemies save man, where, making no nest whatever, it lays a single large, white, oblong-oval egg, and immediately commences the duty of incubating. It is one of the most devoted of all water-fowl to its charge, for it will not. be seared from the egg by any demonstration that may be made in the way of throwing rocks or yelling, and will even die as it sets rather than take to flight, as I have frequently witnessed. “The fulmar lays by 1st to 5th of June. The egg is very palatable, fully equal to that of our domestic duck—even better. The natives lower themselves over the cliffs, and gather a large number of eggs every season on Saint George’s Island.* * But it is hazardous work, and these people on St. George seldom gather more than they want at the time of taking. The sensation experienced by the writer, who has dangled over these precipices on a slight thong of raw-hide, with the surf boiling three or four hundred feet below, and loose rocks rattling down from above, any one of which was liable to destroy life, is one not to be expressed by language, and which, I think, quite sufficient excuse for the natives to be content with just as few eggs as possible.—H. W.E. 196 ALASKA. “The Lupus never flies in flocks; it pairs early, and is then exceedingly quiet. I have never heard it utter a sound save a low, droning croak, when disgorging food for its young. “The chick comes out a perfect puff-ball of white down, gaining its first plumage in about six weeks. It is a dull gray, black at first, but by the end of the season it becomes like the parents in coloration, only much darker on the back and scap- ularies. | i ‘‘ They are the least edible of all the birds about the islands. Like others of the family, they vomit up the putrid contents of their stomachs upon the slightest provocation.” | 540. Stercorarius pomatorhinus, VIEILL.—Pomarine Jdger. ‘“ Raz- boi-nik.” Larus parasiticus, Mey. et Wor. Tasch. Deutsch., 11, 490,(1810.), ' Larus crepidatus,GM. L.N., 1,602, (1788.) (Qu. tes Stere. striatus Briss.) Lestris striatus, EYTON. Br. Birds, 53. Stercorarius pomarinus, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. Nat., xxxii, 158, (1819.)—CovuEs. Proc. Phil. Acad., 129, (1863.) Stercorarius pomatorhinus, COUES. Key, 309, (1872.) Cataractes pomarinus, STEPH. Gen. Zool., xiii, 216, pl. 24, (1825.) Coprotheres pomarinus, REICH, Syst. Av., 52, (1580.) Cataractes parasita var. cantschatica, PALLAS. Zoog. Rosso-As., | ii, 312, (1811.) ‘A rare visitor. The specimen secured was the only one seen on the islands. It was found on the high, mossy uplands, perched in a listless attitude on a tussock of grass.” 541. Stercorarius parasiticus, (BRUNN.) Gray.—Parasitic Jager. Catharacta parasitica, BRUNN. Orn. Bor., 37, (1764.) Larus parasiticus, LINN. Syst. Nat., i, 226, (1765.) Cataractes parasita, PALL. Zoog. R.A., ii, 310, (1811.) Lestris parasita, ILLIGER. Prod., 273, (1811.) Lestris parasitica, Keys et BLas. Wirb. Eur., 1, 240, (1840.) Stercorarius parasiticus, GRAY. Gen. of B., 10, 652, (1849.)—Lawr. B. N. A., 839, (1858.)—Couzs. Pr. Phila. Acad., 133, (1863.)— Datu et Bann. . Tr. Chicago Acad., i, 303, (1869.) Lestris richardsoni, Sw. F. B.A., 11, 433, pl. 73, (1831.) Stercorarius richardsoni, COUES. Proc. Phila. Acad., 135, (1863.) Cataractes richardsoni, MACGILLIVRAY. Man. Orn., ii, 257, (1842.) Catharacta coprotheres, BRUNN, Orn. Bor., 38, (1764.) Lestris coprotheres, DEsMutrs. Traité Ool., 551, (1860.) Stercorarius crepidatus, ViEILL. Nouv. Dict., xxxii, 155, (1819.) (Not of Gmelin.) Lestris crepidata, DeEGLAND. Mem. Soc. Roy. Lille, 108, (1838. ) Stercorarius cepphus, Sw. F. B.A., ii, 482, (1831.) Lestris hardyi et spinicauda, Be. Consp. Av., ii, 210, (1856.) ALASKA. 19% “JT have seen but four or five examples of this species, which aay be rated as an infrequent visitor. It may be found upon the grassy uplands, where it will alight and stand dozing in an indolent attitude for hours. No one of the three species of Stercorarius was observed to breed here.” Numerous eggs of this species from the barren grounds of the Anderson River region, and the arctic coast to the east- ward, offer the following characters: The ground color is as various, and of the same shades, as that already mentioned under head of Numenius borealis, and in fact the whole aspect of the egg, markings included, is quite similar. But although pointed, they have not the peculiar pyriform shape usual among Iimicole. I find no specimens heavily marked at the butt, though the tendency is to a wreath by confluence around the larger end. In some specimens the markings are all small and scratchy, and distributed with “uniform irregularity” over the whole surface. A certain proportion of stone-gray shell- markings always appears to accompany the various chocolate and other browns of the surface. Specimens range from 2.40 x 1.70 to 2.00 x 1.50, averaging nearer the former dimension. The eggs of the next species cannot be distinguished from those of the present with certainty, since, though they average less in size, the larger specimens overlap the measurements of even average parasiticus. A fair specimen is 2.10 x 1.50; the smallest examined measured only 1.90 x 1.40. 542. Stercorarius buffoni, (Borz.) Covurs.—Long-tailed Jiger. ? Catharacta cepphus, BRUNN. Orn. Bor., 36, (1764.) Lestris cepphus, Keys et Bias. Wirb. Eur., i, 240, (1840.) Stercorarius cepphus, GRAY. Gen. of B., iii, 652, (1849.)—Lawr. B: N, A., 840, (1858.)—CovEs. Proc. Phila. Acad., 243, (1861.) ? Harus parasiticus, LATH. Ind. Orn., ii, 819, (1790.) Lestris parasiticus, TEMM. Man. Orn., iv, 501, (1840.)—Sw. & Ricu. F. B. A., ii, 430, (1831.) Stercorarius longicandatus, BRISSON.—VIEILL. Nouv. Dict., xxxii, 157, (1819.) Lestris longicaudatus, THomp. Nat. Hist. Ireland, iii, 399, (1851.) Cataractis longicaudatus, MACGILL. Man. Orn., li, 258, (1842.) Lestris buffoni, Bore. Isis, 562-576, (1822.) Stercorarius buffoni, CouEs. Proc. Phila. Acad., 136, (1863.)— DatLet BANN. Trans. Chic. Acad., 1, 304, (1869.)—Cougs. Key N. A. Birds, 310, 1872. Lestris lessoni, DEGLAND. Mem. Soc. Roy. Lille, (1838.) Lestris crepidata, BREHM. Naturg. Eur. Vog., 747, (1823.) “Seldom seen. The specimen in my collection is one of 198 ALASKA, the only two I ever observed on the islands. WhenI came upon them, July 29, 1872, they were apparently feeding upon insects, and upon a small black berry which ripens on the highlands,” (the fruit of the Empetrum nigrum.) 543. Larus glaucus, Brtunn.—Glaucous Gull. Burgomaster. “Chilkie.” ‘‘ This large, handsome bird is restricted by reason to Walrus Island alone, although it comes sailing over and around all the islands, in easy, graceful flight, every hour of the day, and fre- quently, late in the fall, will settle down by hundreds upon’ the carcasses on the killing-grounds. But upon Walrus Island this bird is at home, and there lays its eggs in neat nests, built of sea-ferns and dry grass, placed among the grassy tussocks on the center of the island :—there are no foxes here. ‘‘Tfremains by the islands during the whole season. Though it is sometimes driven by the ice to the open water fifty to a hundred miles south, it returns immediately after the floe dis- appears. ‘The ‘chikie’ lays as early as the 1st to 4th of June, depos- iting three eggs usually within a week or ten days. These eggs are large, spherically oval, having a dark grayish-brown ground, with irregular patches of darker brown-black. They vary somewhat in size, but the shape and pattern of coloring is quite constant. ‘The young burgomaster comes from the shell at the expira- tion of three weeks’ incubation, in a pure-white, thick coat of down, which is speedily supplanted by a brownish-black and gray plumage, with which the bird takes flight, having nearly the size of the parent. This dark coat changes within the next three months to one nearly white, with the lavender-gray back of the adult; the legs change from a pale-grayish tone to the rich yeliow of the mature condition, and the bill also passes from a dull-brown color to a bright yellow with a red spot on the lower mandible. . “Tt has a loud, shrill ery, becoming soon very monotonous by its constant repetition, and also utters a low, chattering croak while coasting. “Ttis avery neat bird about its nest, and keeps its plum- age in acondition of snowy purity. Itis not very numerogs ; I do not think that there were more than five or six hundred nests on Walrus Island at the time of my visit, in 1872.” oe eee ALASKA. 199 502. Larus tridactylus var. kotzebui, (Br.) Cours.—Pacific Iitti- wake. ‘Chornie-naushkie goverooskie.” | Kissa kotzebui, Bp. Consp. Av., 11, 226, (1856.)—Cowuns. Pr. Phila. Acad., 305, (1862.)—Cours. Pr. Phila. Acad., 207, (1869.) Larus tridactylus, DALL & Bann. Tr. Chic. Acad., 1, 305, (1869.) Larus tridactylus var. kotzebui, Cours, Key, 314, (1872.) We have called attention, in our publications above quoted, to the fact that the North Pacific kittiwake has the hind toe better formed than that of the Atlantic bird; and this is the sole basis of the supposed species. Although thus so similar to the true Larus tridactylus that it cannot be specifically distinguished, and also totally distinct from the next species, there has been a strange confusion regard- ing it. I do not venture now to add to the foregoing synon- ymy several names more or less doubtfully here applicable. Bo- naparte quotes as synonymous, Lissa nivea of Bruch, J.f. O., 1855, 285; and also queries Rf. brachyrhyncha of Bruch, ibid, 1853, 103. Noone of the four species of Rissa described by Mr. Lawrence, in 1858, in Baird’s work. pp. 854, 855, belongs here. — 3 “This kittiwake breeds here by tens of thousands, in com- pany with R&R. brevirostris, coming at the same time, but laying a week or ten days earlier; in all other respects it corresponds in habit, and is in just about the same number. It is a remark- ably constant bird in coloration, when adult, for I have failed to observe the slightest variation in plumage among the great numbers here under my notice. “In building its nest it uses more grass and less mud-cement than the brevirostris does. The eggs are more pointed at the small end and lighter in the ground-color, with numerous spots and blotches of dark brown. The chick is difficult to distin- guish with certainty from the brevirostris, and it is not until two or three weeks have passed that any difference can be noted in the length of bill and color of feet. “Like Rissa brevirostris, the male treads the female on the nest, and nowhere else, making a loud, shrill, screaming sound during the ceremony.” 553. Larus brevirostris, (BRANDT.)—Short-billed or Red-legged Kitti- wake. ‘*Goverooskie.” _ Rissa brevirostris, BRANDT.—Lawr. B.N.A., 855, (1858.)—DaLu © & Bann. Tr. Chicago Acad., i, 305, (1869.) Larus brevirostris, Cours. Key N. A. Birds, 315, (1872.) ee 200 ALASKA, Larus brachyrhynchus, GOULD. P.Z.S., (July 25, 1843.)—Gourp. Voy. Sulphur, 50, pl. 34, (——.) Not of Ricuakrson. Rissa brachyrhyncha, Bre. Consp. Av., ii, 226, (1826.)—CovEs. Proc. Phila. Acad., 306, (1862.) Rissa nivea, LAWRK. B.N.A., 855, (1858.) (Exel. Syn. Not Larus niveus; PALL.) This excellent species will instantly be distinguished from the preceding by its short bill, and especially by its rich coral, ver- milion, or lake-red legs, (drying straw-yellow.) There is no possibility of confounding the two, although their synonymy has become involved to such an extent that the task of disen- - tangling it isalmost hopeless. The names above quoted are of unquestionable pertinence here; several others that might be quoted are preferably left untouched. ‘‘This beautiful gull, one of the most elegant of birds 0 on the wing, seems to favor these islands with its presence to the ex- clusion of other land, coming here by tens of thousands to breed. It is especially abundant on Saint George’s Island. It is cer- tainly by far the most attractive of all the gulls; its short, sym- metrical bill, large hazel eye, with crimson lids, and bright-red feet, contrasting richly with the snowy-white plumage of the head, neck, and under parts. “Like Larus glaucus, this bird remains about the islands during the whole season, coming on the cliffs for the purpose of nest-building, breeding by the 9th of May, and deserting the bluffs when the young are fully fledged and ready for flight, early in October. ‘‘It is much more cautious and prudent than the ‘arrié,’ for its nests are placed on almost inaccessible shelves and points, so that seldom can a nest be reached unless a person is lowered down to it by a rope passed over the cliff. ‘* Nest-building is commenced by this bird early in May, and completed, usually, not much before the first of July. It uses dry grass and moss, cemented with mud, which it gathers at the margin of the small fresh-water sloughs and ponds scattered over the islands. The nest is solidly and neatly put up, the parent birds working in the most diligent and amiable manner. ‘‘ Two eggs are the usual number, although occasionally three will be found in the nest. If these eggs are removed, the female will renew them, like the ‘arrie,’ in the course of another week or ten days. They are of the size and shape of the common hen’s egg, but colored with a dark-gray ground, spotted and blotched with sepia-brown patclies and dots. Once in a while 3 a ALASKA. 201 an egg will have on its smaller end a large number of suffused blood-red spots. ‘‘ Both parents assist in the labor of incubation, which lasts from twenty-four to twenty-six days. The chick comes out with a pure-white downy coat, and pale whitish-gray bill and feet, resting helplessly in the nest while its feathers grow. During this period it is a comical-looking object. The natives capture them now and pet them, having a number every year scattered through the village, where they become very tame, and it is not until fall, when cold weather sets in and makes them restless, that they leave their captors and fly away to sea. “This bird is very constant in its specific characters. Among thousands of them I have never observed any variation in the coloration of the bills, feet, or plumage of the mature birds, with one exception. There is a variety, seldom seen, in which the feet are nearly yellow, or rather yellow than red, and the edge of the eyelid is black instead of scarlet; there is also a dark patch back of each eye. The color of the feet is probably an accidental individual peculiarity; the dark eye-patch and absence of bright color from the eyelids may depend upon season.” 606. Colymbus arcticus, (L.)—Black-throated Diver. It is interesting to observe that this bird is the true C. arcticus, and not var. pacificus, which might have been expected to occur. This is sufficiently attested by the measurements of a fine adult specimen, No. 498 of Mr. Elliott’s collection. Length, about 31 inches; wing, 12; bill, along culmen, 22; along gape, 4; its depth at base, .80; tarsus, 5; middle toe and claw, 4. The bill is quite stout, with the culmen convex throughout, showing nothing of the slender, straight, or almost recurved shape char- acteristic of var. pacificus. We find nothing respecting this species in Mr. Elliotts MSS. It was the only one seen by him. It was found dead, cast upon the sand-beach at Zapadnie, Saint George’s Island, and brought to Mr. E. by the natives, who Ciffered among themselves as to whether they had ever noticed it before about the islands. At all events, it is seldom seen there. 610. Podiceps griseigena, (Bopp.)—Med-necked Grebe. As in the case of the last species, the present is of the typical form rather than of the North American variety. The difference, as stated in our synopsis, (Pr. Phila. Acad., 1862, 232,) lies in 202 ALASKA. the size and coloration of the bill. In true griseigena the bill is little, if any, over 1.50 inches along the culmen, or 2.00 along the gape, and the yellow is either entirely restricted to the base, or only extends thence a little on the edge of the under man- dible. In var. holbolli the above-mentioned measurements of the bill are respectively 1.90 and 2.40, and much or most of the under mandible, with the cutting-edges of the upper, are yellow. In the present specimen, the culmen measures 1.60; the gape, 2.15, and there is little yellow, excepting at the base of the bill. Eggs of the American red-necked grebe, from the Yukon and other interior arctic localities, are rough, white, either inclining to pale-greenish or with buffy discoloration, and of the usual narrowly-elongate shape common in the family. They measure from 2.10 to 2.35 in length by 1.25 to 1.45 in breadth, the longer eggs not always being proportionally wide. ‘Tt is the only specimen seen during my residence upon the islands. It has been observed before by the natives, who, how- ever, affirm that it is uncommon.” 617. Fratercula cormiculata, (NauM.) Branpt.—Horned Puffin. “Epatka.” (?) Alca arctica, var. B., Latu. Ind. Orn., ii, 792, (1790.) Lunda arctica, PALL. partim., Zoog. R. A., 11, 365, (1811.) Mormon corniculatum, Naum. Isis, 782, pl. 7, f. 3, 4, (1821.)— KitTL. Kupf. Naturg. Vog. pl. i, fig. 1—DatL & Bann. Trans. Chic. Acad., i, 308, (1869.) Mormon (Fratercula) corniculata, Bp. Comptes Rendus, 774, (1856.)—Cass., in Ba. B. N. A., 902, (1858. ) Fratercula (Ceratoblepharum) corniculata, BRANDT. Bull. Se. Acad. St. Petersb., ii, 348, (1837.) Fratercula corniculata, GRAY. Gen. B., iii, 637, pl. 174, (1849.)— Cougs. Pr. Phila. Acad., 1868.—Covurs. Key, 340, (1872.) Lunda corniculata, SCHLEGEL. M. P. B., ix, Nerin., 28, (1867.) Lunda (Ceratoblepharum) corniculata, BRANDT. Bull. Sc. Acad., St. Petersb,, vii, 242, (1869.) | Mormon glacialis, GouLD, nec. LuacH. B. Eur, v, pl. 404, (1837.).—Aup. Orn. Biog., iii, 549, pl. 293, (1835.)—Ip. B. Amer., vii, 236, pl. 463. An egg before me is noticeably more elongate than that of F. arctica or of F. cirrhata, though not more pointed. The shell is rather rough, and dead-white. We may anticipate that in some instances a few obscure obsolete spots may appear, as they occasionally do in the eggs of F. arctica, and, doubtless, also show the usual discolorations in many cases. The pres- ent specimen measures 2.75 by 1.75. ST oper yy, ALASKA. 203 ‘* The eye never fails to be arrested by this odd-looking bird, with its great shovel-like, lemon-yellow and red bill, as it sits squatted in glum silence on the rocky clifi-perches, regarding approach with an air of stolid wonder. It seems to have been fashioned with especial regard to the fantastic and comical. “ This mormon, in common with one other species, J/. cirrhata, comes up from the sea, from the south, to the cliffs of the islands about the 10th of May, always in pairs, never coming or going in flocks. It makes a nest of dried sea-ferns, grass, moss, &c., far back or down in some deep, rocky crevice, where the egg when laid is generally inaccessible—nothing but blast- ing-powder would reacl it. ‘It lays but a single egg, large, oblong-oval, pure white, and, contrary to the custom of the gulls, arries, choochkies, &c., when the egg is removed the sea-parrot does not renew it, but deserts the nest, perhaps locating elsewhere. The young chick I have not been able to get—not until it comes out fledged and ready for flight in August, when it does not differ materially from its parent. The species leaves the islands about the 10th September. . “This bird is very quiet and unobtrusive; it does not come in large numbers to the islands, for it breeds everywhere else in Bering Sea. Its flight is performed with quick and rapid wing-beats, in a straight and steady course. There is no differ- ence between the sexes as to size, shape, or plumage.” 619. Fratercula cirrhata, (PAL.) STEPH.— Tufted Puffin. “ Tawpaw- kie.” Alca cirrhata, PALL. Spic. Zool., 7, pl. 1, ii, fig. 1, 2, 3, (1769.) Iunda cirrhata, Patt. Zoog. R. A., ii. 363, p. 82, (1811.)— ScHLeG. Mus. Pays-Bas, Urin. 27, (1867.)—Cours. Pr. Phila. Acad., (1868.) LIunda(Gymnoblepharum) cirrhata, BRANDT. Bull. Sc. St. Petersb., vii., 244, (1867.) Fratercula cirrhata, Stepit. Shaw’s Gen. Zool., xiii, 40, (1825.) Fratercula (Gymnoblepharum) cirrhata, BRANDT. Bull. Se. St. Petersb., ii, 349, (1837.) Mormon cirrhata, NacM. Isis, 781, pl. 7, f. 1, (1821.)—Cass. B. N. A., 902, (1858.)—Daitt & Bann. Trans. Chicago Acad., i, 308, (1869.) Fratercula carinata, Vicors. Zool. Journ., iv, 358. Sagmatorhina lathami, Be. P. Z.S8., 202, pl. 44, (1851.)—CovEs. Pr. Phila. Acad., (1868.) Sagmatorhina labradoria, Cass. B. N. A., 904, (1858.)—DaLi & BaNN. Trans. Chic. Acad., i, 309, (1869.) 204 ALASKA. As Professor Brandt showed, shortly after the publication of our Monograph, the Sagmatorhina lathami of Bonaparte (= 8. labradoria, Cass.) is merely the young of this species, at an age before the bill has attained its final shape and coloring. Of this fact we became ourselves aware about the same time, from examination of various specimens in the Smithsonian. The genus, of course, falls,as well as the species. In our Monograph we were so far wrong as to assign to it a second supposed species, the Cerorhina suchleyt of Cassin, which is the young of Ceratorhina monoceratda. , “Comes to the islands at the same time as F’. corniculata, and resembles the Hpatkie in its habits generally. It lays a single large white egg, of a rounded-oval shape. I was never able to see a newly-hatched chick, owing to the retired and. in- accessible nature of the breeding-places. Could Walrus Island be visited frequent!y during the season, interesting observations might be made there, for the nests are more easy of access. The young tawpawkie, six weeks old, resembles the parents exactly, only the bill is lighter colored, and the plumes on the head are incipient. This is the only place where the birds can. be daily seen and watched with satisfactory results. I took eggs from over thirty nests in July. The natives say it is very quarrelsome when mating, its cries sounding like the growling of a bear as they issue from far down under the rocks that cover its nest.” The egg is much thicker and more capacious than that of FF. corniculata, though no longer. The shell is rough, dead- white, and, besides the frequent discolorations, shows in several specimens very pale, obsolete shell-markings of purplish gray. Several specimens measure as follows: 2.85 x 1.95; 2.80 x 1.92; 2.75 x 2.00; 2.65. x 1.55. 621. Phaleris psittacula, (Escu.) TemmM.—Parroquet Auk. “ Baillie Brushkie.” Alca psittacula, PALL. Spic. Zool., fase. v, 13, pl. 2, pl. 5, f. 4, 5, 6, (1760. ) Lunda psittacula, Pati. Zoog. Rosso-As., ii, 366, pl. 84, (1811.) Phaleris psittacula, TemMM. Man. Orn., i, 112, (1820.)—Covuxrs. Key N. A. Birds, 342, fig. 222, (1872.) Ombria psittacula, Escuscu. Zool. Atlas, iv, 3, pl. 17, (1831.)— BRANDT. Bull. Sc. Acad. St. Petersb., ii, 348, (1837.)—Ib. Tbid., vii, 237, (1869.)—Cass. B.N.A., 410, (1858.)—EELtior. B.N.A., pt. i, pl. 70. Simorhynchus psittaculus, SCHLEG. Mus. Pays-Bas, ix, 24, (1867.)— CoveEs. Proc. Phila. Acad., (1868.) ALASKA. 205: Not only on account of the form of the bill, which, though singular among Alcide, is not more different from that of some others than these are among themselves, but also in conse- quence of a different mode of. life, to which the shape of the bill fits it, as attested by various observers, we now place the bird. in aseparate genus from Simorhynchus, under which we formerly included it. The species is said to live chiefly upon bivalve mollusks, such as Mytilus, &c., for opening which its bill is. adapted; and Professor Brandt notes the curious analogy afforded, in this respect, with Hematopus, as compared with. allied Charadrine genera. Mr. Gray adduces a reference to the unexpected occurrence. of this species in Sweden. ‘This quaintly-beaked bird is quite common on the Prybilov Group, and can be obtained at Saint George’s in considerable numbers. It comes here early in May, and locates in a deep. chink or crevice of some inaccessible cliff, where it lays a single egg and rears its young. Itis very quiet and undemonstrative. during the pairing-season, its only note being a low, sonorous, vibrating whistle. Like Simorhynchus cristatellus, it will breed in company with the ‘ choochkie,’ but will not follow that lively relative back upon the uplands, the * baillie brushkie’ being always found on the shore-line, and there only. “ The egg, which is laid upon the bare earth or rock, is pure white, oblong-ovate, measuring 24 by 15 inches. It is exceed- ingly difficult to obtain, owing to the birds’ great caution in. hiding, and care in selecting some deep and winding crevice in the face of the cliff. At the entrance to this nesting-cavern the parents will sometimes squat down and sit silently for hours at a time, if undisturbed. ‘Tt does not fly about the islands in flocks, and seems to lead a quiet, independent life by itself, caring nothing for the society of its kind. The young, when first hatched, I have not seen, but by the 10th to the 15th of August they may be observed coming out for the first time from their secure retreats, and taking to wing as fully fledged and as large as their parents. “They take their departure from the 20th of August to the 1st of September, and go out upon the North Pacific for the winter, where they find their food, which consists of amphipoda and fish-fry. I have never seen one among the thousands that were around me when on the islands ‘ opening’ the bivalve- shells, such as mussels, &c., as stated by Professor Brandt. It 206 ALASKA. feeds at sea, flying out every morning, returning in the after- noon to its nest and mate.” The egg of Phaleris psittacula is about as large as a small hen’s “ which it resembles, although averaging more elon- gate. The shape, however, is extremely variable; thus, one measures 2.25 by 1.50, and another 2.35 by only 1.45, the latter being remarkably narrow, elongate, and pointed. The shell is minutely granular, and rough to the touch. It is white, un- marked, but often found variously soiled and discolored, some- times by mechanical effect, and sometimes by fluids of the oviduct or cloaca. Mr. Elliott says, .“‘So effectually do these birds secrete their eggs in the deep recesses of cliff crevices and chinks that I was unable to obtain more than four perfect speci- mens, although several hundred ‘ baillie brashkies’ were breed- ing on the cliffs, each pair marked by myself, (in daily observa- tion,) close by the village, at Saint George’s Island, during the summer of 1873. Nothing, save blasting-powder, or similar agency, can open the basaltic crevices in which the bird hides, and, of course, resort to this action would also destroy the egg.” 622. Simorhynchus cristatellus, (Patu.) Merr.—Crested Auk. * Canooskie.” Alca cristatella, PALL. Spic. Zool. fasc., v, 20, pl. 3, pl. 5, figs. 7, 8,9, (1769.) Uria cristatella, Patt. Zoog. Rosso.-As., ii, 370, (1811.) (Excl. syn. .> - [Eee ee es 9 00 10 00 | From $40 to $100 each. Ue) goo SOs i 0 20} 1 CO} 1.00} O 50 | 40 cents each. Siiver xtra .=----...- 1 00} 3 00} 3 00} 3 90) From $3 to $10 each. ned, extra ..~<<- Raa oe 0 75} 1 50} 2 00} 3 O00 From $1 to $1.50 each. MViGlueSWexiie <2. -3.0f0-... 1 00| 1 00] 2 00; 4 00] From $2 to $5 each. Wolverines, extra............ 0 20; 2 00); 2 00}. 4 00 Do. Where this company had competition, however, the prices ranged quite high, to wit: At Sitka, for sea-otter, 140 to 150 silver rubles; beaver, from 2 to 18 rubles; land-otters, 2 to 18; mainland-foxes, black, 2 to 36 rubles; silver foxes, 3 to 18; red, 2 rubles to 50 kopecks; martens, 50 kopecks to 3 rubles; lynx, from 3 to 9 rubles; bears, 1 to 18 rubles; wolver- ines, 24 to 18 rubles; (these quotations are all in silver rubles.) The value of staple furs of Alaska in the Chinese market during 1799 was— Sea-otter, prime, $75 to $100 each. Fur-seal, prime, $3.50 to $3.75 each. This is interesting, as the value of a dollar has not changed since that time in that country, and sea otter sells to-day at about the same rate as given. Tew fur-seals are sold in this market now, but the great bulk of the sea-otter catch of the Kuriles goes into China. They do not possess the art of dressing the former well, and were in the habit of wearing them simply tanned. The Chinese for all un- 260 ALASKA. dressed furs, like marten, beaver, &c., offer one of the best cash markets in the world; indeed, all the early trade of Alaska went into China, both from Russian, French, and English traders. The following table shows the number of sea-otters aot fur- seals secured off the coasts of California and Oregon by the Russians during the period of their occupation of eee, or Bodega, in California, from 1824 to 1834 inclusive :. . | 1825. | 1826. | 1827. | 1828. | 1829. | 1830. | 1831. | 1832..| 1833. | 1834. Sea-Obbers ..<.. 0-2-5 475 | 500} 287 9 1 18 12). 112 1| 187 220; Sea-otters, young..|..---.|:-.--- 13 Sal eee ae 5 4 eateya Fatal einer 34 30 Fur-sealls. -.-.- 04s 1,050 | 455 | 290 |.....- B10.) “S87. see 205 | 118 ae sir sc During the last forty years there have been no sea-otters to: speak of taken on the Californian coast; and in 1835 the last fur-seals, fifty-four in number, were taken on the Farallones, two small rocky islets off the mouth of San Francisco Harbor. Hunters along the coast of Oregon still continue, however, to shoot a few annually, but at restricted localities, as on the small reach of coast at Gray’s Harbor, where nearly all that are now obtained from the whole district are found. ALASKA, 261 THE FUR-SEAL ROOKERIES OF THE SOUTH AT- LANTIC. While the Callorhinus is found in such great numbers in the North Pacific, there is nothing of its genus found in the waters of the North Atlantic, and none to speak of in the South Pacific, and to-day the whole number found elsewhere than Alaska is quite small, though in early days, some hundred years ago, when the fur-seal was first discovered on the South Shetland Islands, they were so abundant and so ntanerous that hundreds of thousands were annually taken—taken without the slightest regard to sex or condition, although the skins were not of great value then. So numerous were these animals that for over fifty years an immense number, several hundred thousand skins, were yearly secured in this reckless, ruinous fashion, and it was not until the beginning of the last decade that the supply grew so small that scarcely a vessel of the former fleets remained on the ground; and last season, the winter of 1873—74, less than 15,000 were gathered from the ground upon which many mil- lions of fur-seals were found forty years ago resting and breeding. The government of Buenos Ayres has from the first protected. and cared for a small rookery of fur-seals under the bluffs at Cabo Corrientes, on its coast, where some 5,000 to 8,000 are an- nually taken, but the seals here have no hauling-grounds like those on Saint Paul; they are taken with much labor under the high cliffs of this portion of the coast. This is the only govern- ment aid and care that the seals have ever received outside of Bering Sea. The following extract shows the way in which the fur-seals of the south came into notice : ‘Soon after Captain Cook’s voyage in the Resolution, per- formed in 1771, he presented an official report concerning New Georgia, in which he gave an account of the great number of elephant-seals and fur-seals which he had found on the shores of that island. This induced several enterprising merchants to fit out vessels to take them ; the former for their oil, the latter for their skins. Captain Weddell states that he had been cred- ibly informed that during a period of about fifty years not less than 20,000 tons of oil were procured annually from this spot alone for the London market, which, at a moderate price, would yield about £1,000,000 a year. . 262 ALASKA. - “ Seal-skius are very much nsed in their raw state as articles of apparel by the natives of the polar zones; when tanned, they are used extensively in making shoes; and the Eskimo have a process by which they make them water-proof, (?) so that, according to Scoresby, the jackets and trousers made of them by these people are in great request among the whale- fishers for preserving them from oil and wet. But the-skins are not only used in this raw and tanned state as leather; on account of their silky and downy covering, they constitute still more important articles connected with the fur-trade. Thus considered, seal-skins are of two kinds, which may be distin- guished as hair-skins and fur-skins; the former are used as clothing and ornament by the Russians, Chinese, and other nations, and the latter yield a fur which we believe exceeds in value all others which have been brought into the market. Many seals supply nothing but hair, while others in different proportions produce both the hair, and underneath it soft and downy fur. The majority, we believe, are to be considered merely as hair-skins, similar to the bear or sable, and of these - some are excellent of their kind and much prized.”—Hamilton’s Amphibious Mammalia, Edinburgh, 1839. With regard to the manner in which the business was carried on down here we find in the Encyclopedia Britannica the fol- lowing facts: ‘‘ From about the year 1806 till 1823 an extensive trade was carried on in the South Seas in procuring seal-skins; these were obtained in vast abundance by the first traders and yielded a very large profit. The time was when cargoes of those skins yielded five or six dollars apiece in China, and the present price in the English market averages from 30 to 50 shillings per skin. The number of skins brought off from Georgia cannot be estimated at fewer than 1,200,000; the island of Desolation has been equally productive, and, in addi- tion to the vast sums of money which these ereatures have yielded, it is caleulated that several thousand tons of shipping have annually been employed in the traffic.” An English writer in 1839 calls attention to the deplorable and ruinous management of affairs on the great rookeries of the South Pacific in the following strong terms: ‘‘Tt may be considered superfluous to read a lecture to the trader upon a matter so nearly touching his own interest; and yet there is one point, at the same time, which forms so essen- tial a part of my subject, that we cannot withhold a word or ALASKA. 263 two. These valuable creatures (fur-seals) have often been found frequenting some sterile islands in innumerable multi- tudes. By way of illustration, I shall refer only to the fur-seal as occurring in South Shetland. On this barren spot their numbers were such that it has been estimated that it could _ have continued permanently to furnish a return of 100,000 furs a year; which, to-say nothing of the public benefit, would have * yielded annually avery handsome sum to the adventurers. But what do these men do? In two short years, 1821 and 1822, so great is the rush that they destroy 320,000. They killed all, and spared none. The moment an animal landed, though big with young, it was destroyed. Those on shore were likewise imme- diately dispatched, though the cubs were but a day old. These, of course, all died, their number, at the lowest calculation, ex- ceeding 100,000. No wonder, then, at the end of the second year the animals in this locality were nearly extinct. Soisitin other localities, and so with other seals, and so with the oil-seals, and so with the whale itself, every addition only making bad worse. All this might easily be prevented hy a little less bar- barous and revolting cruelty, and by a little more enlightened selfishness. ‘‘ With regard to this seal-fishery of the south, the English and Americans have exclusively divided it between them, and with very great profits. It has lately been stated (1839) that they together employ not fewer than sixty vessels in the trade, of from 250 to 300 tons burden. Thesevessels are strongly built, and have each six boats, like those of the whalers, together with a small vessel of 40 tons, which is put in requisition when they reach the scene of their operations. The crew consists of about twenty-four hands; their object being to select a fixed locality from which to make their various batteaus. Thus it is very common for the ship to be moored in some secure bay and be partially unrigged, while at the same time the furnaces, try-pots, &c., required for making the oil are placed on shore. The little cutter is then rigged and manned with about half the crew, who sail about the neighboring islands and send a few men here and there on shore where they may see seals or wish to watch for them., The campaign frequently lasts for three years, and in the midst of unheard-of privations and dan- gers. Some of the crew are sometimes left on distant barren spots, the others being driven off by storms. They are left to 264 ALASKA. perish or drag out for years a most precarious and wretched existence.”* This gives a very fair idea of the manner in which the busi- ness was conducted in the South Pacific. How long would our sealing interests in Bering Sea withstand the attacks of sucha fleet of sixty vessels, carrying from twenty to thirty men each? Not over two years. The fact that these great southern rook- eries withstood and paid for attacks of this extensive character during a period of over twenty years speaks eloquently of the millions upon millions that must have existed in the waters now almost deserted by them. * Robert Hamilton, Amphibious Mammalia, Edinburgh, 1839. ALASKA. 265 THOUGHTS UPON POSSIBLE MOVEMENTS OF THE FURSEALS IN THE FUTURE. As these animals live and breed upon the Prybilov Islands, certain natural conditions of landing-ground and climate ap- pear from my study of them to be necessary to their existence and perpetuation. From my surveys made upon the islands to the north, Saint Matthew’s and Saint Lawrence, and the authen- tic corroborating testimony of those who have visited all of the mainland-coast on our side as well as the islands adjacent, in- cluding the Peninsula and the Aleutian Archipelago, I have no hesitation in stating that the fur-seal cannot breed on any other land than that now resorted to within our boundary-lines; the natural obstacles are insuperable. Therefore, so far as our possessions extend, we have in the Prybilov group the only eli- gible Jand on which the fur-seal can repair for breeding, and on Saint Paul alone there is still room enough vacant for the accommodation of ten times as many as we find there now. But we know that to the westward, and within the jurisdic- tion of Russia, are two islands—one very large—on which the fur-seal regularly breeds also, and though, from the meager testimony in our possession, we are told that it is in small num- bers only, still, if the land be as suitable for the reception of the rookeries as is that of Saint Paul, then what guarantee have we that at some future time the seal-life on Copper and Be- ring Islands may not be greatly augmented by a correspond- ing diminution of our own with no other than natural causes operating? Certainly, if the ground on either Copper or Be- ring Island is as well suited for the wants of the breeding fur- seal as is that on Saint Paul, then I say that we may at any time note a diminution here and find a corresponding augmen- tation there, for I have clearly shown, in my chapter on the hab- its of these animals, that they are not particularly attached to the respective places of their birth, but that they land with an instinctive appreciation of its fitness as a whole. The want of definite knowledge in regard to the character of the Rus- Sian islands is a serious drawback to any correct generalization as to the limit of migration, and they ought to be examined in- telligently with this view, for if these Russian islands do not present any considerable area of eligible breeding-ground as on Saint Paul, then we know that they will never be resorted to OGG at oy ALASKA. by any great numbers of the fur-seal, not at least while so much good rookery-ground on the American side is vacant as is the case now. If we, however, possess virtually all the best-situated ground, then we can count upon retaining the cseal-life as we now have it, and in no other way; for it is not unlikely that some season may occur when an immense number of the fur-seals which have lived during the last four or five years on the Prybilov Islands should be deflected from their usual feeding-range by the shifting of schools of fish, &c., so as to bring them around quite close to the Asiatic seal-grounds in the spring, and the scent from those rookeries would act as a powerful stimulant for them to land there, where conditions for their breeding may be as favorable as desired by them. Such being the case, this diminution which we would notice on the Prybilov group would be the great increase observed here, and not due to any mis- management on the part of the men in charge of these inter- ests. Thus it appears to me necessary that definite knowledge concerning the Commander Islands and the Kuriles should be possessed; without it, I should not hesitate to say that any report made by an agent of the Department as to a visible dim- inution of the seal-life on the Prybilovs, due, in his opinion, to the effect of killing, as it is conducted, was without good foundation; that this diminution would have been noticed just the same in all likelihood had there been no taking of seals at all on the islands, and that the missing seals are more than probably on the Russian grounds. If we find, however, that the character of this Russian seal- land is od to narrow beach-margins under bluffs, as at Saint George, then we know that a great body of seals will never attempt to land there when they could not do so without suffer- ing, and therefore, with this correct understanding to start on, we can then feel alarmed with good reason should we observe a diminution to any noteworthy degree on Saint Paul. I do not think, however, that we will be called upon to look into this question for an indefinite time to come, though it may come soon; but the seals undoubtedly feed in systematic rou- tine of travel from the time they leave the Prybilov Islands un- til their return, and therefore, in all probability, unless the fish upon which they feed suddenly become scarce in our waters on soundings, they (the seals) will not change their base as mat- ALASKA. 267 ters now progress, but it cannot be considered superfluous to call up this question for discussion and future thought. In the mean time the movements of the seals upon the sev- eral breeding-grounds of Saint Paul and Saint George should be faithfully noted and recorded every year, and the question of their increase or diminution will be soon settled beyond all theory or cavil. This action on the part of the Government agent up there is of the first importance. The counting of the skins is done alike twice over, by the company in the presence of the natives, and then again in San Francisco by the custom- house officials there, and heavy bonds and self-interest would prevent any attempt at transgression of law, even if an ap- parent chance was offered; but the company is not bound to submit a report every year to the Treasury Department upon the condition of the seal-life there, and although it does take in- telligent cognizance of this matter, still no weight could be at- tached to any statement that it might make, for the simple rea- son of the cry that would be raised of interested machination if so done, AN ACT to prevent the extermination of fur-bearing animals in Alaska. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States ef America in Congress assembled, That it shall be unlawful to kill any fur-seal upon the islands of Saint Paul’s and Saint George’s, or in the waters adjacent thereto, except during the months of June, July, September, and October, in each year; and it shall be unlawful to kill such seals at any time by the use of fire-arms, or use other means tending to drive the seals away from said islands: Provided, That the natives of said islands shall have the privilege of killing such young seals as may be necessary for their own food and cloth- ing during other months, and aiso such old seals as may be required for their own clothing and for the manufacture of boats for their own use, which killing shall be limited and controlled by such regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be unlawful to kill any female seal, or any seal less than one year old, at any season of the year, except as above provided ; and it shall also be unlawful to kill any seal in the waters adjacent to said islands, or on the beaches, cliffs, or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain; and any person who shall violate 268 | ALASKA. either of the provisious of this or the first section of this act, shall be punished on conviction thereof, for each offense, by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court having jurisdiction and taking cognizance of the offense ; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, and furniture, whose erew shall be found engaged in the violation of any of the pro- visions of this act, shall be forfeited to the United States. Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That for the period of twenty years from and after the passage of this act the number of fur-seals which may be killed for their skins upon the island of Saint Paul’s is hereby limited and restricted to seventy-five thousand per annum; and the number of fur-seals which may be killed for their skins upon the island of Saint George’s is hereby limited and restricted to twenty-five thousand per an- num: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury may restrict and limit the right of killing, if it shall become necessary for the preservation of such seals, with such proportionate reduction of the rents reserved to the Government as shall be right and proper ; and if any person shall knowingly violate either of the provisions of this section, he shall, upon due conviction thereof, be punished in the same way as is provided herein for a viola- tion of the provisions of the first and second sections of this act. Src. 4. And be it further enacted, That immediately after the passage of this act the Secretary of the Treasury shall lease, for the rental mentioned in section 6 of this act, to proper and responsible parties, to the best advantage of the United States, having due regard to the interests of the Government, the native inhabitants, the parties heretofore engaged in the trade, and the protection of the seal-fisheries, for a term of twenty years from the 1st day of May, 1870, the right to engage in the business of taking fur-seals on the islands of Saint Paul’s and Saint George’s, and to send a vessel or vessels to said islands for the skins of such seals, giving to the lessee or lessees of said islands a lease duly executed, in duplicate, not transferable, and taking from the lessee or lessees of said islands a bond, with sufficient sureties, in a sum not less than $500,000, condi- tional for the faithful observance of all the laws and requirements of Congress and of the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury touching the subject-matter of taking fur-seals and disposing of the same, aud for the payment of all taxes and 4 E ia ALASKA. 269 dues accruing to the United States connected therewith. And in making said lease the Secretary of the Treasury shall have due regard to the preservation of the seal-fur trade of said islands, and the comfort, maintenance, and education of the natives thereof. The said lessees shall furnish to the several masters of vessels employed by them certified copies of the lease held by them, respectively, which shall be presented to the Government revenue-officer for the time being who may be in charge at the said islands, as the authority of the party for landing and taking skins. Src. 5. And be it further enacted, That at the expiration of said term of twenty years, or on surrender or forfeiture of any lease, other leases may be made in manner as aforesaid for other terms of twenty years ; but no persons other than Ameri- can citizens shall be permitted, by lease or otherwise, to occupy said islands, or either of them, for the purpose of taking the skins of fur-seals therefrom, nor shall any foreign vessel be en- gaged in taking such skins; and the Secretary of the Treasury shall vacate and declare any lease forfeited if the same be held or operated for the use, benefit, or advantage, directly or indi- rectly, of any person or persons other than American citizens. Every lease shall contain a covenant on the part of the lessee that he will not keep, sell, furnish, give, or dispose of any dis- tilled spirits or spirituous liquors on either of said islands to any of the natives thereof, such person not being a physician and furnishing the same for use as medicine; and any person who shall kill any fur-seal on either of said islands, or in the waters adjacent thereto, (excepting natives as provided by this act,) without authority of the lessees thereof, and any person who shall molest, disturb, or interfere with said lessees, or either of them, or their agents or employés in the lawful prose- cution of their business, under the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall for each offense, on conviction thereof, be punished in the same way and by like penalties as prescribed in the second section of this act ; and all vessels, their tackle, apparel, appurtenances, and cargo, whose crews Shall be found engaged in any violation of either of the provisions of this section, shall be forfeited to the United States; and if any person or company, under any lease herein authorized, shall knowingly kill, or permit to be killed, any number of seals exceeding the number for each island in this act prescribed, such person or company shall, in addition to the penalties and forfeitures aforesaid, also forfeit the whole 270 ALASKA. number of the skins of seals killed in that year, or, in case the same have been disposed of, then said person or company shall forfeit the value of the same. And it shall be the duty of any revenue-officer, officially acting as such on either of said islands, to seize and destroy any distilled spirits or spiritu- ous liquors found thereon: Provided, That such officer shall make detailed report of his doings to the collector of the port. Src. 6. And be it further enacted, That the annual rental to be reserved by said lease shall be not less than $50,000 per annum, to be secured by deposit of United States bonds to that amount, and in addition hereto a revenue tax or duty of two dollars is hereby laid upon each fur-seal skin taken and shipped from said islands during the continuance of such lease, to be paid into the Treasury of the United States ; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby empowered and aukhoseedl to make all needful rules and regulations for the collection and payment of the same, for the comfort, maintenance, education, and pro- tection of the natives of said islands, and also for carrying into full effect all the provisions of this act: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Treasury may terminate any lease given to any person, company, or corporation, on full and satisfactory proof of the violation of any of the provisions of this act or the rules and regulations established by him: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to deliver to the owners the fur-seal skins now stored on the islands, on the payment of one dollar for each of said skins taken and shipped away hy said owners. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of the seventh and eighth sections of an act entitled ‘“‘An act to ex- tend the laws of the United States relating to customs, com- merce, and navigation over the territory ceded to the United States by Russia, to establish a collection-district therein, and for other purposes,” approved July 27, 1868, shall be deemed to apply to this act; and all prosecutions for offenses com- mitted against the provisions of this act, and all other pro- ceedings had because of the violations of the provisions of this act, and which are authorized by said act above men- tioned, shall be in accordance with the provisions thereof; and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. SEc. 8 And be it further enacted, That the Congress may at any time hereafter alter, amend, or repeal this — Approved, July 1, 1870. Manica: 271 BY-LAWS OF THE ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPAN x; SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. I. The corporate name of this company is the Alaska Com- mercial Company, and its affairs are under the control of five trustees, who shall hereafter be chosen by the stockhoiders of the company on the second Wednesday of June in each year, and who shall hold office until their successors are elected. _ The annual meetings of the stockholders shall be held at the office of the company. At all elections of trustees by the stock- holders each stockholder shall be entitled to one vote for every share of stock held by him on the books of the company. Stockholders may vote by proxy. All proxies shall be signed by the party owning the steck represented. Il. The principal place of business of the company is San Francisco, California. Ill. The regular meetings of the board ne trustees will be heid at the office of the company on the first Wednesday in each month, at 12 o’clock m., and no notice of such meeting to any of the trustees shall be requisite. Other meetings of the board of trustees may be held upon the call of the president, by notice, signed by him, of the time and place of meeting, personally served on each trustee residing within this State, or published in a newspaper of general circulation in San Fran- cisco for ten days successively next preceding the day of such meeting. Special meetings may be held upon notice, signed by three trustees, stating the time and place of meeting, and the purpose for which the meeting is called, having been duly served on each trustee, or published in a newspaper of general circulation in San Francisco for ten days successively next pre- ceding the day of meeting, and no business other than that specified in the notice shall be transacted.at such special meet- ing. At all meetings of the board any three of the trustees being present shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the company. Adjourned meetings may be held in pursuance of a resolution of the board adopted at any regular or general meeting of the board. Any three trustees elected at any annual meeting of the stockholders of the com- pany, and being present at the close of such stockholders’ meet- ing, may, on the same day, without notice to any of the trustees, meet and organize the board by the election of officers, and Mie, ALASKA. may transact such other business as may come before the board at such meeting. IV. The officers of the company shall consist of a president, a vice-president, and a secretary, who shall be chosen by the board of trustees at their first meeting after the annual elec- tion of trustees ; such officers to hold office one year, or until their successors are elected. V. The president, or in his absence the vice-president, shall preside at the meetings of the board. In case neither are pres- ent, the board may appoint a president pro tempore. VI. All vacancies in the board may be filled by the board at the next meeting after the existence of such vacancy, and it shall require the affirmative vote of three trustees to elect. In case of any vacancy occurring among the officers or agents of the company, the same may be filled at any meeting of the board. VIL All certificates of the capital stock of the company shall be signed by the president and secretary, attested by the corporate seal of the company, and can be issued to the parties entitled thereto or their authorized agent. All trans- ters of stock shall be made on the books of the company by the secretary, upon surrender of the original certificate or cer- tificates, properly indorsed by the party in whose favor the same was issued. No stock shall be transferred to any person not a stockholder of the company at the time of such transfer, unless the same shall have been offered for sale to the com- pany, or stockholders of the company, and the purchase at the fair cash or market value refused, except by authority of a resolution of the board of trustees permitting such transfer. VIII. The corporate seal of the company consists of a die of the following words: “Alaska Commercial Company, San Francisco, California.” IX. The corporate seal, and all property, securities, inter- ests, and business of the company, shall be under the control and general management of the president, subject to the di- rection of the board of trustees. The funds of the company shall be deposited (from time to time, as they are received) to the credit of the company, with a bank doing business in San Francisco, to be designated by the president, and the said funds can be drawn from such bank only by proper checks or drafts, signed by the president or vice-president of the company. The books of the company shall be kept by the secretary, who shall ALASKA. | 273 aiso keep a correct record of all the proceedings of the board of trustees had at their meetings, and perform such other duties as the board of trustees may require. X. The pay and salaries of all officers of the company shall be determined, from time to,time, by the board of trustees. XI. The president of the company shall have power to ap- point and employ such general business agents, factors, attor- neys, clerks, and other employés as he may deem proper and requisite for conducting the business and affairs of the com- pany; and he shall fix the pay, commissions, or salaries of all such agents, factors, attorneys, clerks, and other employés, from time to time, as circumstances shall require. XII. All transfers of the capital stock of this company made to persons not citizens of the United States, or made for the use or benefit of any citizen or citizens of any foreign govern- ment, are absoluteiy void. XIII. Dividends from the net profits of the company may be declared and paid by order of the board of trustees, in ac- cordance with law. . XIV. These by-laws may be altered or amended by the board of trustees in the manner prescribed by law. 18 AL DIA ALASKA. REGULATIONS. OFFICE ALASKA COMMERCIAL COMPANY, San Francisco, January, 1872 The following regulations are prescribed for the Sueanee of all concerned : 1. The general management of the company’s affairs on the islands of Saint Paul’s and Saint George’s is intrusted to one general agent, whose lawful orders and directions must be im- plicitly obeyed by all subordinate agents and employés. 2. Seals can only be taken on the islands during the months of June, July, September, and October in each year, except those killed by the native inhabitants, for food and clothing, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Female seals and seals less than one year old will not be killed at any time, and the killing of seals in the waters sur- rounding the islands, or on or about the rookeries, beaches, cliffs, or rocks, where they haul up from the sea to remain, or by the use of fire-arms, or any other means tending to drive the seals away from the islands, is expressly forbidden. 3. The use of fire-arms on the islands, during the period from the first arrival of seals in the spring-season until they dis- appear from the islands in autumn, is prohibited. 4. No dogs will be vermitted on the islands. 5. No person will be permitted to kill seals for their skins on the islands, except under the supervision and authority of the agents of the company. 6. No vessels other than those employed by the company, or vessels of the United States, will be permitted to touch at the islands, or to land any persons or merchandise thereon, except in cases of shipwreck or vessels in distress. 7. The number of seals which may be annually killed for their skins on Saint Paul’s Island is limited to seventy-five thousand, and the number which may be so killed on Saint George’s Island is limited to twenty-five thousand. 8. No persons other than American citizens, or the Aleutian inhabitants of said islands, will be employed by the company on the islands in any capacity. ee eee ee a ALASKA, 275 9. The Aleutian people living on the islands will be em- ployed by the company in taking seals for their skins, and they will be paid for the labor of taking each skin and deliver- ing the same at the salt-house forty cents, coin, until otherwise ordered by the Secretary of the Treasury. For eae labor per- formed for the company, proper and remunerative wages will be paid, the amount to be agreed upon between the agents of the company and the persons employed. The working-parties will be under the immediate control of their own chiefs, and no compulsory means will ever be used to induce the people to labor. All shall be free to labor or not, as they may choose. The agents of the company will make selection of the seals to be killed, and are authorized to use all proper means to pre- vent the cutting of skins. 10. All provisions and merchandise required by the inhabit- ants for legitimate use will be furnished them from the com- pany’s stores, at prices not higher than ordinary retail prices at San Francisco, and in no case at prices above 25 per cent. advance on wholesale or invoice prices in San Francisco. 11. The necessary supplies of fuel, oil, and salmon will be furnished the people gratis. 12. All widows and orphan children on the islands will be supported by the company. 13. The landing or manufacture on the islands of spirituous or intoxicating liquors or wines will under no circumstances be permitted by the company, and the preparation and use of fer- mented liquors by the innabitants must be discouraged in every legitimate manner. 14. Free transportation and subsistence on the company’s vessels will be furnished all people, who at any time desire to remove from the islands to any aes in the Aleutian group of islands. 15. Free schools will be cegitaniia by the company eight months in each year, four hours per day, Sundays and holidays excepted, and agents and teachers will endeavor to secure the attendance of all. The company will furnish the necessary books, stationery, and other appliances for the use of the schools without cost to the people. 16. The physicians of the company are required to faithfully attend upon the sick, and both medical attendance and medi- cines shall be free to all persons on the islands; and the ac- 276 gore ALASKA. ceptance of gratuities from the people for such services is for- bidden. 17. The dwelling-houses now being erected by the company, will be occupied by the Aleutian Tamilies, free of rent or other charges. 18. No interference on the part of agents or employés of the company, in the local government of the people on the islands, or in their social or domestic relations, or in their religious rites or ceremonies, will be countenanced or tolerated. 19. It is strictly enjoined upon all agents and employés of the company to at all times treat the inhabitants of the islands with the utmost kindness, and endeavor to preserve amicable relations with them. TF orce is never to be used against them, except in defense of life, or to prevent the wanton destruction of valuable property. The agents and employés of the com- pany are expected te instruct the native people in household economy, and, by precept and example, illustrate to them the principles and benefits of a higher civilization. 20. Faithful and strict compliance with all the provisions and ~ obligations contained in the act of Congress entitled “‘An act to prevent the extermination of fur-bearing animals in Alaska,” approved July 1, 1870, and the obligations contained in the lease to the compary executed in pursuance of said act, and the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, prescribed under authority of said act, is especially enjoined upon all agents and employés of the company. The authority of the special agents of the Treasury appointed to reside upon the islands must be respected, whenever lawfully exercised. The interest of the company in the management of the seal-fisher- ies being identical in character with that of the United States, there can be no conflict between the agents of the company | and the agents of the Government, if all concerned faithfully perform their several duties and comply with the laws and reg- ulations. 21. The general agent of the company ‘will cause to be kept books of record on each island, in which shall be recorded the names and ages of all the inhabitants of the islands, and, from time to time, ail births, marriages, and deaths which may occur on the islands, stating, in cases of death, the causes of the same. A full transcript of these records will be annually for- warded to the home office at San Francisco. 22. Copies of these regulations will be kept constantly posted ALASKA. 21% in conspicuous places on both islands, and any willful violation of the same by the agents or employés of the company will be followed by the summary removal of the offending party. JOHN F. MILLER, President Alaska Commercial Company. NotTre.—Sections 2 and 7 of the above 1egulations were based upon the law of July 1, 1870; but since then Congress has given the Secretary of the Treasury the power to fix the ratio for each island upon a more intelligent understanding of the subject—and also to extend the time for taking from the ist of June up to the 15th of August.—H. W. E. e) A, Baie i a ‘ te bey , pile Ae) Raha ‘ , droge Mieke | Ue rated ated ae yt} whet 4G pee ok! tae rey Mates] ah bl pt uhirge HONE UEHY A Upsiey Te ee TU ae sid he lib Bhd ode dy er) » wounoekae 6 dh Ore, cen Lae Te ee Wet e ye dheen iPiiew VPALHH e leh Asha baat ea “) AP po ae, pene +i Rist pes OF 6 i ay Pipegeyer WAN aa see ' ‘ ’ be HP be are UF pe truer rl Oe neee ib | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0017 373 31010% 1 wh j vei bade epe ieee aah. 7