The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-18


 practically exhausted, and today there are only three of any importance known
 to the world. One of these belongs to 1 Uruguay. one to the Russians and one
 to the United States. The first IS the Lobos Islands, off the mouth of the RIO
 dc la Plata, which produces 10000 or 12,ooo
 skins per annum. The Russian rookery IS in the western part of Boring sea. It IS | known as the Commander Islands, ana its annual product is about 40,OO0 skins The United States rookery Is the largest and most profitable of all From 1t more than 100000 skins were taken during
 the latter part of the last century, and the conditions are now such that it will likely supply millions of skins in the fu-
 ture The name of this rockers is the Prbilofs.
 The Pribilof islands were discovered
 by the Russians just 10 years after our Declaration of Independence was signed They heard from the natives of the Aleutian islands a tradition that the fur seals came from the north. and they secuted about over Boring sea for IS wears before they found just where the breeding place was The man who made the discovery was a sea captain named Pribilof, and the islands were called aft CT him. Pribilof spent three years search ing for them, and he cruised for weeks
 near the islands without being able to 1 find them. One story relates how he heard the seals barking, and then ran in l to the Island of St. George, which was 1 covered with the animals. A few weeks later he discovered St. Paul, and half million skins were taken that year.
 The chief market for the furs was 1 China, and the Russians grew rich from l o1l At theX l many skins that the killing was stopped l for some years, the females being spared. | This was the case at the time we bought | Alaska, when the herd contained, it is
 estimated, from -,OoJ,000 to 5,000,00O ami 1 mals. After the United States took pos- session the islands were leased by the government to the Alaska Commercial company, which paid a. rental of $55,000 per annum and royalty of $2.62 on each skin taken. That company killed almost 2,OoOO00 seals during the 20 years it held 1 the islands After that they were leased 1 to the Northern Commercial company, at I $60, 600 a year, and a tax of about S1O skin. The latter company took 7OOo01 skins. It's lease continued to 1910, when i the government took over the islands, and since then they have been managed under officers appointed from Wash ington. The furs, which were formerly shipped to London for sale, are now dis l ! held at St. Louis.
 | The Pribilofs are now under the de- partment of commerce, and more direct l ly under our national bureau of fisheries. | Experts have been sent there, and the habits of the animals studied. They re- I port that the business of producing seal skins may be looked Nfon as stock l raising proposition, and that it can be carried on after much the same prlncl- pies which govern rearing of other live stock. The government experts have found that the seals can be controlled by man during the breeding season. This has been done, more or less, for about cen- tury, and they show no tendency to change their habits result of men going about among them and handling thenl. The seals can be driven up and counted They can be caught and exam ined They can be branded or killed even more easily than range cattle or horses. After being driven they will go back to their accustomed resorts, as if nothing had happened.
 These government experts have found just how many males are necessary to form the harems which will produce the largest number of young, and they now estimate that there should be one bull for every 8 COWS to keep the stock at it's best As the animals produce an equal number of males and females, it will be seen that S4 out of the s males produced each year can be reserved for their furs without reducing the size of the herd. Last year, the census showed total of about 66,O00 bachelors, enough, if only half of them lived, to establish harems for about 100000 cows, and in this case there would be one bull and 30 cows in ach harem. This shows us that the sup ply of animals can be increased almost f.-1 1xf IA @I,@ {-I-, Az, vrN<,x come even more profitable than they have been in the past
 But let me tell you something about the fur seal as described to me by Henry W. Elliott and other agents of our govern ment who have had charge of the islands. MT. Elliott was the first man to report upon the seals and seal life. He went to the Pribllofs shortly after we took pos session of Alaska, and before that was member of the expedition sent by the Western Union Telegraph company in 1865 to erect a telegraph line from North America to Europe across Boring Strait and the continent of Asia. While there the Atlantic cable became success. and the cross-country line was abandoned. MT. Elliott stayed in Alaska, and later lived for sometime on the seal islands when they contained millions of seals. f1o wrote 8 numDer or reports to the government about them, and is still one or the best authorities on seals.
 The fur seal comes to the islands only during the summer. For the rest of the year his life is spent in the sea. He arrives at the Pribilofs in the late spring. and as winter comes on, makes his way southward through the Aleutan Islands, and travels down as far as south ern California. The seals of different ages go different distances away from males winter in the Gulf of Alaska, while the younger ones will go as far south as the latitude of San Francisco The fe- males go very far south In coming back, the adult males get to the Pribilofs about May 1. The females and the older bache- lors stay away until June, the two-year- olds come along in July, and the year. lrgs in the latter part of August and in early September. @
 The fur seal Is not short-lived animal. The government agents have branded some of the pups and kept records of them from year to year. They find that both males and females live from F to 14 years. In 1916 there were cows on the islands that had been branded 15 years ago. These cows are still bearing young.
 The grown seals are of considerable size. A full grown bull often measures six or seven feet in length, six feet in width between the tips of his out stretched fore flippers He weighs from