Enormous Slaughter of Seals.—Manner of Killing.—Battles between the
Bulls.—A Mythical Island.—The Seal as Food.—The Sea-Otter.—A Rare and
Valuable Fur.—The Baby Sea-Otter.—Great Breeding-Place of Birds.—Banks
of the Yukon River.—Fur-Bearing Land Animals.—Aggregate Value of the
Trade.—Character of the Native Race.
Surgeon J. B. Parker tells us in a published article upon the fur-seals
of Alaska, that just previous to the transfer of the country to this
government five hundred thousand sealskins were being taken from these
islands annually, though it was pretended by the Russians that they
restricted the number to one quarter of this total. The strange instinct
of the animals which causes them to return yearly in such marvelous
numbers to be slaughtered is a mystery difficult to solve. Persistent
cruelty exercised towards them for a century has not disturbed their
affection for this chosen breeding-place of their ancestors in Behring
Sea.
The seals are universally killed by a sharp blow upon the head from a
club, which fractures the skull and produces instant death. The natives
are so skillful in dealing this blow that a second one is not necessary,
and the seal cannot reasonably be supposed to suffer any pain, so that
the operation is robbed of all cruel features. The frequent battles
fought between the old bulls to maintain possession of their chosen
ground and their harems are represented to be of the fiercest character,
sometimes ending in the death of one of the combatants, though they are
so very hardy and tenacious of life that this is by no means common. The
breeding season is at its height in the middle of July. Early in
September, the pups having learned to swim, the “rookeries” are
gradually broken up for the season, old and young departing together for
the deep-sea feeding grounds, nothing being seen of them again as a body
until the following May or June. It is quite a mystery as to where they
go, but that they promptly disperse in various directions seems most
probable, as no seals are met with in large numbers by navigators of the
Pacific or the South Seas, and they only land for breeding purposes. The
author has seen a few in the month of March off the Samoan group of
islands, also in the month of December near the coast of Cochin China.
And again, in crossing the Indian Ocean from Bombay to the mouth of the
Red Sea, in February, an occasional head of the fur-seal would appear
above the surface of the ocean, showing how widely dispersed these
animals are. There is a theory which has long existed, to the effect
that when the seals depart from Behring Sea they seek a lonely island
group in the central Pacific Ocean, somewhere between 53° and 55° north
latitude, and longitude 160° to 170° west, where they pass their winter
months in peace and plenty. Expeditions have been fitted out at San
Francisco for the purpose of discovering these possible islands, but no
one has ever seen them. Those most conversant with seal-life do not
entertain this supposition, and for good reasons. If any such land
existed in the region designated it would surely have been discovered,
as it is too near the direct track of commerce not to have been sighted
long ago.
The flesh of the fur-seal is eaten by the natives, and the blubber also
serves for fuel, as well as furnishing a much-used oil. The stench of
the burning fat is extremely disgusting to one not accustomed to it.
There is but little lean meat on the animal; nearly the whole body is
composed of blubber. The whites eat the flesh of the young seal, which
is not unpalatable when properly prepared, and is called Alaska pork.
When the females arrive at the “rookeries,” like the old males, they are
in remarkably good flesh, so much so, indeed, as to render locomotion
difficult; but though they do not fast like the bulls, they nevertheless
become quite thin by the end of the season.
St. George and St. Paul islands contain about three hundred and fifty
Aleuts, whose sole business is killing and skinning the seals, and
afterwards salting and packing the pelts for shipment. They are all in
the regular employment of the Commercial Company, which leases the
islands. By the terms of the lease from our government, only natives of
the Aleutian group of islands can be employed to kill the seals; no
whites except the overseers are permitted to remain on the two islands.
An agent of the United States occasionally visits them to see that the
spirit of the lease is faithfully adhered to; otherwise they are quite
isolated from the outer world. Under the protective system, which is
presumedly adhered to, the number of seals is said to be on the
increase, and the space on the shores which they occupy is enlarged
yearly. It has been officially estimated, after actual inspection, that
over one million seals are born on these islands every year. It is
asserted that double the number of pelts now authorized could safely be
taken from the Pribyloff group annually, and it would certainly seem so,
when this extraordinary fecundity is realized. But it must also be taken
into consideration that man is not the only enemy which the fur-seal has
to encounter. When the young ones leave the shore to begin their
deep-sea life, they become the prey of many marine cormorants, among
which the shark is said to be the most active. This tiger of the ocean
does not attack the large, full-grown seals, who are too wary and active
for him, but the young ones often fill his capacious maw.
The aborigines employed upon the seal islands do not reach a very old
age; persons of over fifty years are seldom found among them.
Consumption is the most fatal disease which they encounter; this runs
its course with singular speed after being once contracted. All attempts
of the physicians are in vain; the patient, falling into a condition of
hopeless indifference, soon passes away. We were told that the natives
of Alaska generally were very difficult to treat medically, ignoring the
benefit of medicines, and generally refusing to take them. These
semi-savages will not hesitate to resort to incantations to exorcise
evil spirits (or disease, which to them is the same thing), but they
fear to use the white man’s agent to remove these evil influences.
For a number of years the manufacture of oil from seal blubber was
followed by the fur company with profit, thus disposing of the carcasses
of the animals whose skin had been removed; but oil-making on the seal
islands has been discontinued, as being no longer a paying business.
The sea-otter is a large animal, having fine, close black fur, sprinkled
with long, white-tipped hairs, which strongly individualize it and add
much to its beauty. Its pelt is used mostly for trimming, being both too
heavy and too expensive for making up into entire garments. The size of
a full-grown skin is about four feet in length by about two and a half
wide. It is a solitary marine animal, never seen in numbers, rarely even
with a mate, and is extremely shy, demanding great patience and
shrewdness in the hunter to insure its capture. This animal rarely lands
except to bring forth its young, and the natives say that it sometimes
gives birth to its progeny on floating sedge or kelp at sea. Of this
material the ingenious creature makes a sort of buoyant nest, according
to the natives’ ideas. When sleeping, it floats upon its back, carrying
its young clasped to its body in a ludicrously human fashion. The
Indians hunt the animals by going out a considerable distance to sea in
their frail canoes, and watching for the appearance of the otter’s nose
above the water, they paddle silently towards it so as not to disturb
the game. At the proper moment the well-balanced and delicate lance is
thrown with unerring aim. A careful watch is then kept for the
reappearance of the otter, which must soon come to the surface to
breathe, being a warm-blooded, respiratory animal. A second lance is
pretty sure to disable the otter, when it floats helpless on the
surface, falling an easy prey to the pursuer. At times six or eight
natives in single canoes join in the hunt, so as to form a broad circle;
the nearest one to the otter when he rises after being wounded is the
one to throw the second lance. The hunters obtain from the local traders
between forty and fifty dollars for a full-grown otter skin, and
sometimes double that amount, so that if successful in the pursuit they
are well rewarded for many hours of patient watchfulness, aside from
which they realize a keen enjoyment in the pursuit as sportsmen.
The hunters oftenest pursue their game alone, and if a native secures an
otter after a whole week of watching he feels well repaid, though during
that time he has lived on a scanty supply of food, and has slept nightly
in the open air exposed to the rain. Sometimes his watch is kept in his
boat upon the sea, and sometimes among the rocks on the shore, in a bay
where the otters are known to resort occasionally. A few years of such
rough life and exposure ages even an Alaskan Indian, and it is not
surprising that rheumatism and consumption should so prevail among them.
Up to a certain stage such a life may harden the hunter, but the
turning-point comes at last, and when the native begins to fail in
physical strength he does so rapidly; simply giving way to the first
attack, rejecting all medicine which the white man may offer, and unless
he is an important member of his tribe, a chief or a leader of some
sort, even the shaman or medicine man with his incantations is not
called in. Good nursing is discarded, the invalid considers it to be his
fate to die, and seems to go half way to meet the grim destroyer.
The fur of the sea-otter varies in beauty of texture and value according
to the animal’s age and the season of the year in which it is captured.
They are considered to be in their prime when about five years old, and
those skins which are taken in winter are always of a more beautiful
texture than those which are secured in summer. Of all animals hunted by
man it is most on the alert, and, as we have said, most difficult to
obtain. One intelligent statement declares that before they were so
systematically hunted eight thousand skins were shipped from Alaska in a
single year, but we believe that from four to five thousand otter skins
would be considered a good twelve months’ yield in these days. The
Saanack islets and reefs are the principal resort of these animals on
the coast, and hither the natives come from long distances to hunt them,
camping on the main island. Frequent attempts have been made to rear the
young sea-otter, specimens being often taken when the mother is
captured, but they always perish by starvation, never partaking of food
after being separated from the mother; a well-known fact, which was
referred to with not a little sentiment by the experienced hunter who
related the circumstance to us. “Him die of broke heart,” said the
native, attempting an expression of tenderness upon his egg-shaped
features, which proved a ludicrous caricature. We saw a stuffed specimen
of a young sea-otter in a native cabin at Juneau, consisting of the skin
only, but very cleverly mounted and preserved by the hunter who had
captured its mother.
It is somewhat singular that the world’s supply of otter fur, like that
of sealskin, comes almost entirely from the coast of Alaska, in the
North Pacific and Behring Sea. Otter fur may be said to be almost
confined in its geographical distribution to the northwest shores of
America.
The successful pursuit of the animal, so far as the natives are
concerned, is of even more importance than that of the fur-seals, for
contingent upon its chase, and from the proceeds of its pelts, some five
thousand natives are enabled to live in comparative luxury. It requires,
as we have shown, great energy, hardihood, and patient application to
effect its capture, but the sea-otter is a most beneficent gift of
Providence to these aborigines, and administers, as well, to the pride
of the fashionable world. The natives in former times attached great
importance to preparing themselves for hunting the sea-otter, fasting,
bathing, and performing certain mystic rites before embarking for the
purpose. After his return from a successful hunt the Aleut was
accustomed to destroy the garments which he wore during the expedition,
throwing them into the sea, so that the otters might find them and come
to the conclusion that their late persecutor had been drowned and there
was no further danger in frequenting the shore. This practice,
ridiculous as it seems to us, serves to illustrate the superstitious
character of the Alaskan natives, who seldom fail to see omens in the
most trifling every-day occurrences.
The interior and northern parts of Alaska are the greatest
breeding-places for birds in the world, being the resort of innumerable
flocks, which come from various parts of this continent, and others
which make the tropical islands their home a large portion of the year
on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of America. These myriads of the
feathered tribes consist largely of geese, ducks, and swans, coming
hither for nesting, and to fatten upon the wild salmon berries, red and
black currants, cranberries, blackberries, bilberries, and the like,
which greatly abound during the brief but intense Arctic summer. There
are eleven kinds of edible berries which mature in August, among which
the wild strawberries are the finest flavored we have ever eaten. It is
said that the geese especially become so fat feeding upon the plentiful
supply of wholesome food that at the close of the season they can hardly
fly, and are thus easily caught by the natives, who, in turn, feast
luxuriously upon their tender and succulent flesh. Explorers tell us
that they have seen on the banks of the Yukon—the great river of central
Alaska, and the third in magnitude in America—the breeding-place of the
canvas-back ducks, which has been heretofore a matter of some mystery.
They prepare on the banks of this northern watercourse broad platforms
of sedge, mingled with small twigs and bushes, laid compactly on marshy
places, and without building a carefully arranged nest deposit their
eggs in untold numbers. That keen and scientific observer, the late
Major Kennicott, says he saw on the banks of the Yukon acres of marshy
ground thus covered with the eggs of the canvas-back ducks, in numbers
defying computation. “The region drained by the Upper Yukon is spoken of
by explorers,” says Mr. Charles Hallock, editor of “Forest and Stream,”
“as being a perfect Eden, where flowers bloom, beneficent plants yield
their berries and fruits, majestic trees spread their umbrageous fronds,
and song-birds make the branches vocal. The water of the streams is pure
and pellucid; the blue of the rippled lake is like Geneva’s; their banks
resplendent with verdure, and with grass and shining pebbles.”
At the first approach of winter the augmented millions of birds take
flight for the low latitudes, or their homes in the temperate zone, the
old birds accompanied by the broods which they have hatched in the
solitudes of the far north. Those which have come from the neighborhood
of the Caribbean Sea turn in their flight unerringly in that direction;
those from the South Pacific islands heading as surely for that tropical
region. Only the ptarmigan and the Arctic owl, with a few of the
white-hawk family, remain to brave the winter cold of northern Alaska,
with the hardy Eskimo, the walrus, and the polar bear. The smaller
tribes of birds are well represented here in the summer season, even
including several species of swallows, martins, and sparrows, these tiny
creatures seeming to follow some general bird instinct. Even the
domestic robin is seen as far north as Sitka. Limited scientific
research has recognized and classified one hundred and ninety-two
different kinds of birds which are found in this Territory, a
considerable number of which were unknown to science previous to 1867.
We have said nothing relative to the hair-seals, or sea-lions, of
Alaska, because their importance is comparatively insignificant, having
no commercial value. Nevertheless, they are utilized by the ingenious
natives in various ways; the hides serve as a covering for a certain
class of boats, made with wooden frames, and are also employed for
several domestic purposes. The walrus is found in largest numbers on the
north coast, in the true Arctic region, affording some valuable oil,
together with considerable ivory, in carving which the natives are very
expert. Though the fur-trade of the land is by no means equal to that of
the sea, still its aggregate results are very considerable. It employs
numerous hunters and gives profitable business to many white traders,
nearly all of whom make a permanent home in the Territory. Undoubtedly
the most prolific and valuable fur-yielding district on the mainland is
the valley of the Yukon, where the beaver, marten, several kinds of
bears, with the wolf and fox, afford the best fur. We saw at the
principal store in Wrangel many packages of bearskins prepared for
shipment to San Francisco. These packages would average five hundred
dollars each in value, and had been gathered from those brought in by
the natives during the two weeks intervening between the arrival of the
regular steamers. Single bearskins sell here, according to their
marketable character, for from twenty-five to thirty-five dollars each.
The natives make little or no use of these skins, preferring the woolen
blanket of commerce. The red and cross fox is found everywhere in the
Territory, and its skin is comparatively cheap. It is singular that the
blue fox is found only on the islands of St. Paul, St. George, Attoo,
and Atkha, while the white fox is to be sought only at the far north.
There is also the black fox, which, however, is a great rarity, thought
to be an occasional accident of nature; the skins always bring
extravagant prices from the traders. The black fox is not found in any
special locality, but occurs now and again in any part of the Territory.
The skin of the silver fox is also highly prized, and proves a valuable
peltry to the native hunters, forty dollars each being the usual price
paid by the white traders. Only a few hundred are taken yearly. The
land-otter and the beaver so abound as to make up a large total value
annually. The latest official records show that there has been produced
and shipped from Alaska annually an average of fifty-seven thousand
beaver skins; eighteen thousand land-otter skins; seventy-one thousand
foxes’ skins of the various sorts; and of musk-rats two hundred and
twenty-one thousand. These figures should be largely added to in each
instance (we were told by one official that this aggregate estimate
should be doubled), in order to include the unregistered pelts which are
annually secured by various hunters, both whites and natives, and which
find their way to distant markets through irregular channels, more
especially over the borders of British Columbia.
This fur-trade is open to all, but requires capital, organization, and
persistency to make it profitable. The natives do nearly all of the
hunting and trapping, and will only engage in it, as a rule, to supply
themselves with means to procure certain luxuries from the trader’s
store, such as sugar, tea, and tobacco. We are sorry to add to these
comparative necessities the article of whiskey, which is only too often
furnished illicitly to the eager natives. When these wants are supplied
they idle away their time until stimulated once more by their
necessities to go upon the trail of the fur-bearing animals. Of course
there are some exceptions to this, many of them being steady and willing
workers, but we speak of the average native. There is no fear of the
supply of furs being exhausted under this system of capture; even a
combined and vigorous effort on the part of the hunters could not
accomplish that in many years. Unlike our western Indians, these
Alaskans are a comparatively thrifty race, entirely self-sustaining, and
never require support from the government, notwithstanding idleness is
their besetting sin, as is, indeed, characteristic of uncivilized people
everywhere.
We were told of several of these aborigines who had learned the lesson
of thrift from the whites to such good effect as to have saved sums of
money varying from one to five hundred dollars, which they had deposited
in the Savings Bank of San Francisco, and upon which they drew their
annual interest; an investment, the safety and economy of which they
fully appreciated.
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