Comparison of An examination of the lease now in force will

leases.

show that it is not only more favorable to the Government, but also to the inhabitants of the islands than the former lease1 in the following respects: (1) The rental is $60,000, instead of $55,000; (2) the tax per skin is $9.62, instead of $2.62; (3) 80 tons of coal are to be furnished the natives, instead of 60 cords of wood; (4) the quantity of salmon, salt, and other provisions to be furnished to them can be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury; (5) the company is to furnish to the natives free dwellings, a church, physicians, medicines, employment, and care for the sick, aged, widows, and children; (6) instead of 100,000 seals per year, the company can take only 60,000 during the first year of the lease, and thereafter the catch is to be subject to the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury. Under this lease it is difficult to see how the United States could have a more complete control over the seal industry on the islands, even if it took the entire management of the business. Leasing under such terms gives the Government absolute power in fixing the quota according to the condition of the herd, and at the same time avoids the details of management and disposing

Lease to North American Commercial Company; Vol. I, p. 106.

leases.

of the skins, which are the especial difficulties in, Comparison of the way of the United States working the rookeries itself. The course thus adopted by the United States seems as free from criticism or improvement as any that can be suggested.'1

THE SEALS.

Having reviewed the general management of the Pribilof Islands as it pertains to the United States Government and the native islanders, the next point for consideration is the management of the seal herd, the methods employed in taking the seals, and the results of these practices upon the number and condition of the herd.

2

mestication.

The peculiar nature and fixed habits of the Control and doseal make it an animal most easy of control and management. A herd of seals is as capable of being driven, separated, and counted as a herd of cattle on the plains. In fact, they much resemble these latter in the timidity of the females and the ferocity of the males. One example of the ease with which they can be controlled is mentioned by Mr. Falconer, who speaks of a herd of three thousand bachelor seals being left in charge of a boy after they

See favorable criticism of the methods employed in "Handbook of the Fishes of New Zealand," page 235.

H. N. Clark, Vol. II, p. 159; "Handbook of the Fishes of New Zealand," page 235.

Control and do- had been driven a short distance from the hauling

mestication.

grounds. Mr. Henry N. Clark, who was for six years (1884-1889) in the employ of the Alaska Commercial Company and in charge of the "sealing gang" on St. George Island, and who is therefore especially competent to speak of the possibilities of driving and handling the seals, says: "I was reared on a farm and have been familiar from boyhood with the breeding of domestic animals, and particularly with the rearing and management of young animals, hence the comparison of the young seals with the young of our common domestic species is most natural. From my experience with both I am able to declare positively that it is easier to manage and handle young seals than calves or lambs. Large numbers of the former are customarily driven up in the fall by the natives. to kill a certain number for food, and all could be 'rounded up' as the prairie cattle are if there was any need for doing so.3 All the herd so driven are lifted up one by one and examined as to sex, and while in this position each could be branded or marked if necessary. If the seal

1 Vol. II, p. 162. See also J. C. Redpath, Vol. II, p. 152.

* See also John Fratis, Vol. II, p. 109.

3 See also Watson C. Allis, Vol. II, p. 98.

rookeries were my personal property I should Control and do

regard the task of branding all the young as no more difficult or onerous than the branding of

all

my calves if I were engaged in breeding cattle upon the prairies." The foregoing statement as to the possibility of branding the young seals is supported by others equally experienced in seal life in the islands.2 Dr. McIntyre, so long experienced in the handling of seals, says that "they are as controllable and amenable to good management upon the islands as sheep and cattle," and several other witnesses make like affirmations. Chief Anton Melovedoff, already mentioned, states that "it is usually supposed that seals are like wild animals. That is not so. They are used to the natives and will not run from them. The little pups will come to them, and even in the fall, when they are older, we can take them up in our hands and see whether they are males or females. We can drive the seals about in little or large bands just as we want them to go, and they are easy to manage."5

Vol. II, p. 159.

Charles Bryant, Vol. II, p. 5; S. M. Washburn, Vol. II, p. 156; H. V. Fletcher, Vol. II, p. 105; George H. Temple, Vol. II, p. 153. *Vol. II, p. 53.

J. M. Morton, Vol. II, p. 69; Leon Sloss, Vol. II, p. 91; H. V. Fletcher, Vol. II, p. 106; George H. Temple, Vol. II, p. 153; Gustave Niebaum, Vol. II, p. 77; John Armstrong, Vol. II, p. 2.

Vol. II, p. 145.

mesticaiton.

Control and do- Several other Pribilof islanders and white men mestication. long resident there make similar statements.1

Regulations for killing.

This peculiar susceptibility to control has also been and is recognized by such a well-known scientist as Dr. E. von Middendorff, of Russia, who, in a letter dated May 6/18, 1892, says: "This animal is of commercial importance and was created for a domestic animal, as I pointed out many years ago. (See my 'Siberian Journey,' Vol. IV, Part 1, p. 846.) It is, in fact, the most useful of all domestic animals, since it requires no care and no expense and consequently yields the largest net profit."2

This power of domestication has made it possible to discriminate most carefully between the classes of seals killed and to enforce rules and regulations for the general management of the herd. Rear-Admiral Sir M. Culver-Seymour, in a dispatch to the British Admiralty, says: "The seals killed by the Alaska Commercial Company are all clubbed on land, where the difference of sex can easily be seen."

Protection of The first regulation enforced by the Govern

females.

ment of the United States was that no female

1 John Fratis, Vol. II, p. 109; Daniel Webster, Vol. II, p. 182; J.

C. Redpath, Vol. II, p. 152; Simeon Meloved off, Vol, II, p. 147.

2 Letter of Dr. E. von Middendorff, Vol. I, p. 431.

3 British Blue Book, U. S. No. 2 (1890), C-6131, p. 4.