Iditarod pioneer., 1914-11-07
TRAGEDIES OF PRlBILOFS
 A FASCINATING STORY

The following is from a report of lecture by Professor Trevor Kincald of the Uni versity of Washington, written by Jack Bechdolt in the Seattle Post -Intell!gencer:
 The fur seal, 1t seems is not a true seal. He is kin to the bear family.
 The true seal has no ears, but the fur seal and his big cousin the sea lion, have ears like a bear or dog He is the Eneal de scendant of bear which has learned to swim.
 The fur seal spends his winters in aristo- cratic ease around Honolulu, enjoying the warm waters of the southern oceans. In the spring the call of the North gets into his blood and law, mysterious as that which make, the tides to flow and the salmon to turn their noses toward the rivers of their birth, starts the fur seal northward to the Pribilof and Commander islands, which lie, fcg enzhrouded, in the Boring sea
 First cone the bulls, kings of the herd These battle scared leaders pick out home amongst the rocks, and having estab- lshed themselves in cozy apartments by right of conquest settle down to await the coming of their consorts. The females arrive next. The year that Professor klncaid spent on the Pribilofs as assistant commissioner of the fur seal commission headed by Dr. David Starr Jordan, there were 10000 bulls and 130,000 | females
 The seal is polygamous brute, and he gathers from ten to forty wives about him. according to his strength in battle and | the chances of fortune.
 On the outskirts of this community gather the bachelors, young bucks who have not yet essayed to break into seal society, and the females too young to undertake family cares.
 The first duty of each mature female on reaching land Is to bring into the world pup.
 This seal pup, barring human babies, is just about the prettiest, ilveliest, fatteSt, most playful little brat of all the animals ! Gcd put upon the earth. He weighs about ten pounds at birth. ! His coat is q rich soft black, like the finest black velvet. His great brown eyes are human in their beauty.
 The pups gather in groups huddlng to- gether like dog pups and playing like kit tens, yapping and leaping and shaking their | fat little sides with seal laughter.
 When the pup is hungry he seeks his own mother, never another mother, and takes his reireshment as God designed babies to do.
 The pup never feeds at any breast than his own mothers.
 Keep that fact in mind. | A great many years ago women began to crave seaIskin coats. Women's vanity drove the Russian explorers to hunt new sealing grounds, and in this way the Pribilofs were discovered behind the mist curtains which hung over Bering sea. A Russian company first exploited the 1 seal islands. Two American companies sue ceeded, and now the islands are closed to | sealing.
 While the killing of seals was confined to the land Professor kincaid believes, the harm done the herds was slight But the 1 commercial conditions, the lease of the privilege to one company, led to the deep sea, or pelagic, sealing,
 Once a week the mother seal swims out | to sea for food.
 Of shore, some fine morning. lies a schooner surrounded by small boats, and in each small boat are several skilled gun nerS or harpooners.
 The glossy head of the mother seal ap- pears a moment above the surface. There IS a crack, crack of rifles and swish of harpoons.
 A stain of red spreads over the water and the mother sinks. Perhaps the boats reach her in time to gain a pelt; perhaps they don't
 But back on the beach there frolics a roly-poly little pup, yapplng for its break ! fast.
 In course of time the inevitable happens The pup yaps its last.
 One of Professor klncaid's lantern slides showed group of seal pups at play.
 The other was a grewsome scene-a beach 1 black with dark little bodies, each the price | of pelt that went to make a ladys coat.
 Since Japan has joined the international | sealing treaty pelagic sealing IS becoming a thing of the past The government still takes few pelts on the Pribilofs killing the males from to , years old
 The slaughter makes little difference in the herd For, by the scheme of things, a certain number of superfiuous males are fated to lay down their lives in battle.
 The announcement of this news was the most cheerful part of Professor Kincaid's lecture.
 wonder if the yapping little ghosts of the orphans whose lives have been sacri- feed to make up many a sealskin coat ever pursue the proud wearer.
 When you come in from the creeks don't forget to stop at the Crosby and try the Electric Vibration for lame backs and kid i ney trouble,
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