, 1889-10-08
FINDING SEAL ISLANDS.
ROMANCE OF THE SEARCH FOR
THEIR UNKNOWN LOCATION.

discovered Only 100 Years Ago by n Sail
orman Who Got His Tip from n Nativ.
Legend and PersistentIy Followed 1t Up
with Great ResuItx-
1t is now barely 100 years since the
Seal Islands were discovered by man-a
least by civilized man. with a knowledge
Of the longing Of civilized woman for
sealskin sacques- For 100 years Russian
keels by the score had been cleaving the
waters of Behring sea and the North Pa
cific in the search for fur bearing ami
mails Kamtchatkn was discovered and
Populated. The Aleutian Islands were
overrun and punctuated with the trading
stations OF Russian companies. Alaska
was added to Russian possessions and a
government established there. The sea
otter, at first numerous, was almost
driven from its haunts- Twenty-Five or
thirty different companies, with hun
dreds of vessels employing thousands of
men. were engaged in the business that
the almost extinction of the otter and in
creasing scarcity OF other fur bearing
animals threatened to destroy.
Meantime every year, at certain sea-
sons. the Aleutian passes and channels
were seen to swarm with fur seals. pass-
ingn north in the spring and south In the
fall. No seal was ever known to stop
for so long a an hour on any part of the
known Alaskan land The natives pro-
fessed absolute ignorance as to where
the seals went ashore to breed. 1t was
some land in the north, they said. but
since the times OF the earliest traditions
among them. no Aleut had run the prov
of his skin canoe upon the beach of that
mysterious land. or set foot upon its soil
In the south, too, said the natives. there
was somewhere another land where the
seals STAYED during the winter. So north
and south. as the sea offers grew more
and more scarce, sailed every year more
and moro Russian vessels in search OF
the mysterious home OF the seal. But
for many years the vessels came back To
port rs empty as when they went away.
and no man saw the land where wealth
lay in droves. waiting to be killed and
skinned.
PRIBYLov's SEARCH.
One dav old Gerass;m pribvlov .n..a
serving at that time under one Of tho
Russian comnanies. heard from n grav
haired Aleut Mt Oonalaska. n legend ~
the natives that concerned certain ;slands
said TO exist in Behrinp sea Iika the
superstitious californian that he was. old
Pribylov took stock In the ancient native
legend, and next spring. in the little sloon
st. George. he saiied from OonaIa al, int
the foeey northern sea- seals svvnrmad
about MIN us he went ~nortbward. hut
gradually they d-isapneare and ali sum-
mer he sailed about over the cold waste
of waters with never n seal in SIGHT let
alone an island. In the fall when ha
sailed back to Oonalaska seals NV the
hundred thousand frolicked under hi,
vessels keel. keepinp him comnanv south.
ward. There was grit in the old man
and next spring he went north with the
seals again. lost sight of them ma before
sailed clear to the northern straits and
In the fall went back again with tba
frolickine seals. to be laughed Mt or SWIM
pathized with by hundreds of Others who
were lust sailing away to search for the
seal land of the south.
prihvlovs ,pck 10 b;a ;dao With n,.p,.
sian sfubhornpesa bou,ovor ond a. ,La
spring of 1856. for the third consecutivs
year, he staked his seasons work ON the
old natives legend and sailed ont ~
oonalaska 10 follow the seal 10 their mvs.
FERROUS breeding ground. Fors beset him
for weeks Mt a time and he had mad.
slow progress. when one dav in Inv
through the dense vanor be hoard ,
vague roaring and rpmbliny sound
sound for which the ears of every sailor
in those seas had been alert for many +.
year. Guided by the roaring which h.
knew for that of n seal roolrerv ba nres.
entity saw n dark ROCKY mas a[r;s;ng on,
OF theocean and found himself nIumn mn
against an island of considerable H..
along the shores of which in every Dire
ton he saw a million seals living no clos.-
ly together MS sard;nes in a ho, No ana
his ship with skins and sailed hack 10
Oonalaska. and. leaving n few men to
guard the secret of his island Of which he
had taken possession in the name Of Prs
sia. and which be had called 81 Gaorc,
after his vessel be went ON IN tho neor'
est Russian port to sell hi. cargo and Ar
out anew.
SUCCESS AT LAST.
His secret WINS too graat 10 loan how.
ever and n,han Il, 1897 r. - -