The Report of the Special Agents of the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce Upon the Condition of the Fur-Seal Herd of Alaska and the Conduct of the Public Business on the Pribilof Islands; As Ordered by the Committee, June 20, 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 Excerpt: ... resume this survey of the breeding lines which we closed at jags A and B of 1890, we find that the surviving seals are now bunched in 6 or 7 harems at the foot of those jags; one of these harems being bunched or massed with at least 250 to 300 cows, another even larger, another of 50 or 60 cows, and two oi three ragged harems, the whole aggregate being not less than 1,000 cows, with this full disproportion of bulls in evidence. There is only one young 6-year-old bull seen in the water, and there are no polsecatchie in the rear. Between the second point and the foot of jag A is a succession of 12 or 15 harems, all of them large, with two exceptions, carrying an aggregate of perhaps 450 to 500 cows. There are no young bulls in the water, or idle bulls in the rear, with two or three exceptions. From the second point to the first point, with the exception of six or seven small surf-nwept harems, consisting of an aggregate of perhaps less than 150 cows, the herd of 1890 has completely disappeared. From the first point, where there are six or seven harems massing and approximately 250 cows, we pass to the foot of Fox Hill, over which area the entire herd of 1890 has disappeared from. Under the foot of Fox Hill are six or seven small harems with perhaps 100 cows; the herd of 1890 has also disappeared completely in that place; not a seal on the margin nor a suggestion of a half-bull in the water, or in the rear. Everywhere a thick sod and flowers growing upon the ground covered by breeding seals in 1874, growing rank and luxuriant, right down to the surf-swept margins of the standard breeding ground.1 growth of the Elymus and other grasses with beautiful flowers. A few hundred feet farther along our course brings us into full view as we look to the south of one of...