Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-16


gland could be stored away in one corner OF
the Territory. The late Governor Swine
ford in one of his annual reports said Sltka
was further away from some parts of Alaska
than it was from Portland, Me. The Seal
Islands of Behring Sea are four In number.
Two, the Pribylov Islands-St. George and
st. Paul-belong to the United States, and
two, the Commander Misunderstanding and
Copper-belong to Russia. The Russian
islands are on the Siberian side, the Ameri-
can islands are on the Alaska side OF
Behring Sea. The islands that lie scattered
all over that sea are hundreds OF miles apart.
Even the islands in the Aleutian chain,
which on the map looks like row OF step
ping stones between Alaska and Siberia, are
hundreds of miles apart. st. Paul and st.
George are 1872 miles distant from the nearest
island and farther from the nearest point on
the Alaskan Coast 0onalaska is the nearest
settlement to the Seal Islands. 1t is on one
of the Aleutian Islands, about equally dis
tant from St George and the mainland. All
vessels going northward to the Seal Islands
or to any other point on the American side
of Behring Sea pass Oonalaska, The
islands lie west northwest from all points on
the Pacific Coast. The distance of st.
George from Kodiak is $50 miles, from
Sitka l, 400 from Vancouver's Island 1, 800,
from San Francisco 9, ,25O.
The most complete account of the Seal
Islands of Alaska is to be found in a mono
graph written by Henry W. Elliott of the
Smithsonian Institution, for the tenth
census, which was afterward enlarged and
reprinted at the Government Printing Office
in this city, and issued as special bulletin
under the auspices of the late Prof. Spencer
F. Baird, then United States Commissioner
of Fish and Fisheries
SEALS RUTHLESsLY SLAUGHTERED.
Mr.. Elliott put in several seasons on the
Seal Islands between the years 1872 and
1876 making observations and collections
for this monograph, and the result is still
the recognized textbook of the scientists.
Mr.. Elliott says that the reason
why the seal rookeries of the North
are confined to four islands is
that there are no other suitable grounds
in the North. The South American coasts
and the islands that there abound afford an
unlimited extent of ground suitable for seal
rookeries, and to certain extent the seals
avail themselves of it, but not nearly as
much now as formerly. The indiscriminate
slaughter of century has driven the fur
seal almost out of the Antarctic waters and
away from the South American rookeries.
Fine breeding grounds to which the seals
used to resort by the millions are all along
the coasts of Chill, Bolivia, Peru, Western
Patagonia and Terra del Fuego. The rook-
cries on the islands of st. Felix and Juan
Fernandez were very celebrated in their
time The Falkland Islands when opened
up by Captain Cook in the last century
fairly swarmed with fur seals. But instead
of the millions that once existed there re-
ports say there is but an insignificant num-
Der now. The only rookery of any conse-
ouence on the South American coast now,
and the only one which receives any foster
ing care, is cliff bound rookery which is
owned and farmed out by the Argentine Re-
public at Cape Corientes, and the take at
this rookery is restricted to about 5000
skins year. The sealskins of the world
are now obtained from the seals that an
nually resort to Behring Sea for breeding
purposes.
According to Mr.. Elliott, the indiscrimi-
nate slaughter of the seal was continued in
the South seas until the species was pretty
nearly,extingulshed, and the few millions re-
naming took flight for the North Pacific.
The slaughter alluded to is attributed mostly
to English fishermen.
THE KILLING RESTRICTED.
It was in 1856 that Gehrman Pribylov, q
ships mate in the employ of one of the
the fur business, discovered the islands now
under consideration. st. Paul, the larger
island of the two, has an area of about 80
square miles. The annual killing of the
seals is the only business done on the
islands. The work is done by colony of
Aleuts, who are employed by the company
which holds the contract with the United
States Government. Under the old con-
tract the number of seals which the Alaska
Commercial Company was allowed to kill
was Is, 600 on St. Paul and $4,000 on st.
George, making 900 altogether The
law gives the Secretary of the Treasury
power to change the limit whenever he sees
fit, and the new contractors, under the lease
which was awarded few weeks ago, will
not be permitted to kill as many. The
Aleuts get 40 cents apiece for taking the
skins, which makes their pay very good
during the working season, but the season
is a short one-from 40 to 80 days as a rule.
In the summer of 1873, for instance, II men
worked 40 days secured 5000 skins on the
island of St. Paul.
The season" on the Pribvlov Islands be-
gins in May and closes in September. The
bulls begin to arrive the first week in May.
The cows do not follow for six weeks later.
That period is spent in one continuous fight
for com Portable places. From the middle of
June till the middle of July the cows keep
arriving The average bull weighs about
500 pounds and the average COW about 80.
The bulls come to the islands at the begin
ming of the season fat and sleek and go away
at the close lean and haggard. The females
bear a single pup each, and it is invariably
born soon after the female lands. The breed
ing season is at its height the second week
in July and subsidies entirely at the begin
ming Of August. By the middle of Septem-
Der the young pups are all able to swim, the
rookeries are broken up, and the season is
over, Although individual stragglers re-
main behind till the END Of the year, the
general crowd pack up and strike out for
winter quarters before the end of September,
Just as it is customary to do at other summer
watering places.
MILLION PUPS A YEAR.
Mr.. Elliott calculates that in the year
1873 there were, all told, about 400, 900
seals on Pribylov Islands, two-thirds of them
breeders, and his opinion was that if the
same regulations were continued, and no
more than 100, 600 male seals between the
ages of years and were killed every year,
there would be no danger of exterminating
the race, or even of diminishing their num-
bers. He reckons that every year ], 600, 900
pups are born on the Pribylov Islands, one
half being males and the other half females.
Fifty per cent of the young ones, he sup
poses, are destroyed during their first year,
so that only 30 per cent of them live to re-
turn to their birthplace on the anniversary
of their birth.
The second year, however, the mortality
will not be so great, and 225, 900 of the 25O,-
600 will return to the islands Of this num-
Der of males it will be quite sufficient to set
one-fiith aside for breeding purposes, leaving
180, 600 young males that can be spared Tor
killing every year. This, of course, takes