The Tribune

The Story of the Seal.

There is probably no part of the earth's surface, used for farming or stock raising, that produces so handsome a yield to the acre as the narrow beaches of the Pribilof islands in Bering's strait. These are four in number, St. Paul's with 21,120 acres, St. George, with about 17,000 acres, Otter island, a mile and a half long and less than half a mile wide, and Walrus island, a mere flat rock, rising but little above the surf, a quarter of a mile long and a hundred yards wide. The first two have together seventy-one miles of coast line, but so much of the shore is bold and rocky that only eighteen and three-quarter miles are visited by the seals. On St. George several thousand sea lions have taken possession of half a mile more of landing. The beaches on which they breed are narrow reaches of sand varying from forty to 150 feet wide, and covering a total area of 6,387,340 square feet, or not quite 147 acres. On this area about 100,000 seals are killed yearly, worth $700,000. This is a yield of $4,762 an acre. The United States government obtains from these islands a rental of $55,000 yearly and $262,500 for 100,000 sealskins. This is taxing these barren sand beaches to the amount of $2,150 per acre. Figures like these deserve consideration, for it is only by such computations that the value of fisheries to the country will ever be made apparent. In the present case it is satisfactory to know that the government tax is a blessing to the world. The total number of seals which breed annually on the islands is computed at 3,193,670, and before the restrictions placed on the hunt by government they were killed at the rate of 240,000 monthly. This would have extirpated them in less than five years. Now the number is limited to 100,000 a year, and they are said by some observers to be increasing at the rate of five per cent. annually. The above number does not include those which are killed, but the breeding community which is preserved. Of non-breeders, the number is estimated at 1,500,000, so that the total seal population is about 4,700,000. The male seals land first, in the latter part of April usually, or in May. They always choose for their resting grounds or "rookeries" such beaches as are strewn with large bowlders, where the new-born seals can have some protection against the sweep of the surf. "On landing they give themselves up entirely to sleeping, but meanwhile keep a sharp lookout to prevent young bachelors and old weak patriarchs from coming to the rookery. This system of natural selection is advantageous to the race and to their human pursuers also. It keeps the stock strong and hardy and sends the bachelors of less than six years (the age of maturity) to haul themselves up at some other point, where they collect together and can be readily herded by the hunters without alarming the breeders. The females do not land for a month after, and are then taken possession of by the male nearest to the point at which they leave the water. The selection is not made without tremendous fighting, and some of the old seals are wounded and killed, or driven off. Prof. Elliott says: "It appears to be a well understood principle among the able-bodied bulls that each one shall remain undisturbed on his ground, which is usually about ten feet square, provided that he is strong enough to hold it against all comers. Some of these bulls show wonderful strength and courage. I have marked one veteran, who was among the first to take up his position, and that one on the water line, where at least fifty or sixty desperate battles were fought victoriously by him with nearly as many different seals, who coveted his position, and when the fighting season was over (after the cows have mostly all hauled up) I saw him covered with scars and gashes, raw and bloody, an eye gouged out, but lording it bravely over his harem of fifteen or twenty cows, all huddled together on the same spot he had first chosen." The fighting is done with the mouth, and when the jaws have closed on a foe the effort of shaking them loose leaves an ugly wound; "the sharp canines tearing out deep gutters in the skin and blubber, or shredding the flappers into ribbon strips." The families average about fifteen cows each, and they take up so little room that a space two feet square suffices for a cow, while the bull, being much larger, needs about twice as much room. Within two days after landing the young are born, and in three or four days more the guardian patriarch allows the mother to retreat to the water, where she spends most of her time, returning to land whenever the young seal requires food. Seals are good mothers, and nurse their young for nearly a year, or for more than a year if they do not have another birth. While the mothers are playing in the water the old male remains on shore and takes care of the pups. It is thirty-five or forty days before the pup can be taken to the water, and four months before he is strong enough to follow the mother on her migratory journey through the ocean. As each mother has one pup, the four square feet of ground which formed her resting place carries two lives, and the computation given above of 3,193,670 breeding seals on these islands is made from a measurement of the area occupied by the "rookeries." Prof. Elliott found their distribution so uniform that he calls it a fine "instinctive law of distribution," and says the government agent can always safely report upon the condition of the seal crop by observing the area occupied by the animals between the tenth and twentieth of July. That is the week of their greatest expansion. When the purpose for which they have landed is accomplished, the systematic organization breaks up, and the seals scatter, some straying inland, and the whole herd may cover twice its normal ground. Of every 100,000 breeding seals more than 85,000 are cows and less than 15,000 bulls, and in a few weeks after the females begin to land, there are about 180,000 parents and pups on the same ground. In the autumn and early winter the seals take their departure. Where they go is not ascertained definitely, but they probably spread themselves over the North Pacific, following schools of fish or frequenting banks and shoals where they can find food. The amount of food required by them is immense. At five pounds each per day, which is not half enough for a full grown male, they, the seals of these two islands, will eat up no less than three million tons of fish in a year. This immense quantity makes it evident that human care can do nothing to assist their propagation. In the sea they have enemies, but it would be simply impossible to obtain food enough for them at the islands, even if it were the only point to be considered. To get such a supply they spread themselves over the ocean, and there come in contact with enemies as voracious as they are. Killer-whales and sharks make such havoc among them that of a million pups, which is the estimate of a year's increase, not more than one-half return the next spring. Some observers put the proportion much lower, and with great probability considering the helplessness of the sucklings. The second year, however, they are better able to care for themselves, and do not lose more than one-tenth of their numbers. After that they do not suffer much during their lives of fifteen or twenty years. From natural enemies the pups have most to fear, for they are probably the most toothsome, as well as the most helpless. In the stomach of one killer-whale no less than fourteen small harp seals were found. But man also has his share in their destruction, and he strikes what he finds without regard to age. The seal loves to sleep on the surface of the water, and are often surprised in this condition by whalers and the natives. It is quite common to find shot and even bullets imbedded in the blubber, just under the skin, of the young seals killed on the islands. Were it not for these various enemies, there is no knowing where their increase would stop. Out of a million pups born every year, 550,000 are destroyed at sea in the first two years of life, 100,000 more are killed for their skins, and probably 25,000 are killed by natives, or die soon after birth. This is a total loss of 675,000 of less than five years of age yearly, by accountable causes, and yet the increase is reported at five per cent. or 200,000 seals a year. As the artificial destruction of one-tenth the annual increase by man does not interfere in the least with their perpetuation, Prof. Elliott considers that they have arrived at their maximum expansion. One reason, however, for the slight effect of the hunt upon their numbers is that none but males are killed. Of the 450,000 which survive at the end of the second season, one-half are probably males. But their family relations are such that only one-fifteenth of the males are needed, and the remainder, or more than 200,000, can be killed in their second, third, and fourth years without disturbing their natural increase. In fact, on its present basis, the seal hunt can safely supply about 180,000 skins a year. The conditions of this business are such that there is no reason why, without unexpected accident, the seals should not continue to earn at least $300,000 a year for the United States government for centuries to come. To make this certain it is proposed to have them carefully mapped as they lie on their breeding grounds, and compared from year to year. They bear this inspection very well. Those which arrive earliest are sometimes timid, but when the males are in great numbers they take no notice of the inspector. They are fortunately not affected by village sounds, unless very near, nor the stench of the slaughter field. The habits of seals are as interesting as those of any animal known. The mere fact that, if the observers are not mistaken, only one-fifteenth of the males can set up a family, indicates that the law of selection must be in active use among them. The cows do not come to land until their young are ready for birth, and having borne them, they leave the principal care of the pups to a husband who is not the father. There is no proof, but evidence to the contrary, that the seals, male or female, seek the same rookery year after year. The strongest warriors get the first pick, and the system of unlimited roguery in which they indulge makes it impossible for a cow to return either to her old home or her old husband. The strongest bulls establish themselves on the water line, and when the first cows appear they are received with great affability, and coaxed and urged up on to the rocks. Their new found masters and protectors are violently jealous, and the new acquisition cannot be enticed unless the rival fights a successful battle. But the fortunate husband soon has his attention called to a new appearance of cows, and while he is engaged with number two his next neighbor reaches his long neck, picks up number one by the nape of the neck, and lands her within his own precinct. When number two is brought to shore the two bulls at once have a fight, during which two other rivals take possession of both cows! The gentle cow thus progresses with some rapidity to a back station where the lord is not so often beguiled by new arrivals, and there she rests. As before said, these cows bring forth almost immediately. Then they leave the pups in charge of the bull, who cares for them so faithfully that he sometimes remains four months out of the water. During this time he is deprived of food, and lives on the store of fat he has accumulated during the winter. This trial is much more severe than that of the bear's hibernation, for the seals are extremely active during their deprivation. No special organic provision for this ordeal has been found, the stomachs showing no peculiarity either in spring or fall. The long fast, however, greatly weakens them, and after two or three months the old bulls who have not been able to get a place on the breeding ground, and have consequently spent the summer in cruising around behind the rookery, find it possible to come forward and drive out their once powerful antagonists. This phase of seal life is as singular as any other, for the new comer does not think of driving away the pups born under the seignorage of his predecessors, but on the contrary takes the place of faithful guardian to them. As to the cows, they are so gregarious that even when they come in such numbers as to be able to make a choice they prefer the best filled harem. They will not lie quiet away from the great mass of their sisters. The consequence is that the stations nearest the water have from twelve to fifteen cows each, and those in the rear from five to nine. When they come up from the water they bl-a-a-t to their young, who answer in the same manner, and in this way they are quickly singled out. Some signal is necessary, for after they are two months old they collect together by tens of thousands, frolicking and sleeping. Yet it is strange that the mothers will see them killed without showing any concern. Even the fierce old guardian who protects them and their mothers seems to have no interest in them personally. It is a precinct that he guards, and if they stray beyond that, they get no care from him. The pups do not know their mothers, but being inclined by nature to bl-a-a-t incessantly, the mother can find her own. By the time she reaches it, it may have fallen asleep, and then she has nothing to do but take a nap herself, for she cannot find it in the wriggling and crawling mass of thousands of pups, and she will not let any other take its place. The females come to maternity at two years of age, the bachelors at five or six; and as there are a million and a half of these classes who are not admitted to the harems, it is obviously necessary to have some provision for them in seal sociology. They take their rest on so-called "hauling grounds," of which there are two kinds. The most favored is near the water, in some place apart from the breeding grounds. The other lies further inland, and must be reached by passing through the precincts guarded by the patriarchs. The bachelors are allowed to do this, and a path running between the harems is by common consent regarded as neutral. On this pathway a steady stream of bachelors is passing, while the neighboring patriarchs guard their seraglios with redoubled vigilance. Such are some of the peculiarities of a seal colony, and a much more complete account of them is given by Prof. Elliott in a letter from the secretary of the treasury to the House of Representatives, published by the United States government. The sound arising from these great breeding grounds, he says, "where thousands upon thousands of angry, vigilant bulls are roaring, chuckling, piping, and multitudes of seal mothers are calling in hollow, bla-a-ting tones to their young, which in turn respond incessantly, is indescribable. It is, at a slight distance, softened into a deep booming, as of a cataract, and can be heard a long distance off at sea—under favorable circumstances, as far as five or six miles—and frequently warns vessels that may be approaching the islands in thick weather of the proximity of land." The value of the seal islands to the United States government is, by a common mode of calculation, as follows: Two million seals of suitable age for killing, at $2.62½, gives $5,250,000. This amounts to twenty years' taxes, but takes no account of the annual rent, which would be $1,100,000 more in that time. Total value of seal islands alone, $6,350,000. The other furs which Alaska sends to our markets bring at least one-half the value of the sealskins.