The Alaska daily empire., 1922-10-23

Islands and on northeastwa:d with
out seeing 4 one OF them. Tire first
miles away. Cape St Elias, Oh KAYAK
Island. near Katalla, and ,hls was
! the discovery of Alaska. FeAc..:rahy
The only Russian fur seals "a. found
on the Commander Islands, but
| whereas the American herds on Tie
/ Pribilofs number over 60G.00a, there
! are now probably less tlan % 100
seals in the few remaining 70 'serie3
on the Russian islands.
| Japanese Seal Islands
7 Fur seals have practically. disap-
peared also from the Kuriles, the
string 81 japanese islands extending
from Kamtchatkl down to Japan
proper, a distance OF about 500 miles
Most OF the Japanese seal skins now
come from Robben Island. a small
rocky iSlaHd a short distance south
EAST of SaGhalien Our share last
year OF the Robben Island skins
amounted to exactly So, indicating
that the herds have dwindled almost
to nothing.
Fur Seal Treaty
The fur seal question will come to
the front again in few years when
the question OF renewing the treaty
comes under discussion To investi-
gate this question was one OF Sec
rotary Illusions important missions.
DR.. l.. Steineger OF the National Mu-
scum is the foremost authority on
fur seals in the world He has been
sent to the American. Russian and
Japanese fur seal islands at inter-
rals since 1882. Upon this trip he
had with him Captain Lndquist, for
merly master of the supply ship of
the Russian Fur Company operat-
ing from Kamtchatka. whom DIR.
Stejneger had met on Boring Island
in 1889. Captain Lindquist speaks
Russian fluently During this sum
mer. DR.. Stcjnegcr and Captain Lind
quist were dropped off at Kayak
while the rest Of the party went to
Fairbanks and back, After visiting
the Priblofs they were taken to the
Commander Islands by the Algonquin
Nome and Siberia. We picked them |
up again at Nikolski Anchorage. Ber-
ing Island. (and incidentally the AL |
eonquin failed to wait for mel ard |
they then continued Nth the Moiave
to Robben Island and the Kuriles.
The Prbiofs
st. Paul Island is inhabited by ,
about 90 whites ard 800 natives |
(Aleuts) There is a radio station, |
operated by the navy, and the seal |
handling plant OF the Bureau of !
Fisheries. There is also a small es-
Establishment on ST. George Island. 40 |
miles away but usually no communi- |
cation between the Islands. II took !
MS two days to find ST. Paul Island, |
and sometimes Il revenue cutter
hunts st. George for a week without
finding e. To make the trip in a !
small boat is too dangerous on ac-
count OF the uninterrupted bad /
weather We were lucky in finding
St George as we were wallowing |
around in the fog only about seven
miles away during the exact five min
utes that the sun shown during last |
July and caught a fleeing glimpse OF
corner OF the island long enough to |
get bearing through hole in the !
clouds.
At ST. Paul Island we were unable /
to enter English HarbOr. an examin- |
alton of which was authorized in |
this years River and Harbor Act, on |
account Of the heavy seas, so an
chored Off the other side of the I
island and surf boat came ont !
for us II was just about the end OF
the killing season and the last
drives were on. New methods of
stripping and treating the skins
have been introduced during the past