. The cruise of the Marchesa to Kamschatka & New Guinea : with notices of Formosa, Liu-Kiu, and various islands of the Malay archipelago. Marchesa (Schooner yacht); Natural history; Natural history. 190 BERING ISLAND. [chap. support to the inhabitants, and at the same time a fund of conver- sation to enable them, in conjunction with tea and tobacco, to sus- tain life through the winter until the "killing season" commences. Before my reader accompanies me across the tundras to the rookery on the other side of the island, a glance at the habits and distribution of the anunal is nec
. The cruise of the Marchesa to Kamschatka & New Guinea : with notices of Formosa, Liu-Kiu, and various islands of the Malay archipelago. Marchesa (Schooner yacht); Natural history; Natural history. 190 BERING ISLAND. [chap. support to the inhabitants, and at the same time a fund of conver- sation to enable them, in conjunction with tea and tobacco, to sus- tain life through the winter until the "killing season" commences. Before my reader accompanies me across the tundras to the rookery on the other side of the island, a glance at the habits and distribution of the anunal is necessary to enable him to under- -^ '#- stand the system upon which the annual " take " is worked. The fur seals, or more accurately ALEUT PIPE. speaking, the breeding-places of the fur seals, are in the North Pacific confined to five islands. On Masafuera and Juan Fernandez Islands off the coast of South America a few skins are still taken, and in bygone days the South Shetland, Crozet, and Falkland Islands were the resort of countless thousands of these animals. But they are now nearly extinct, and almost every sealskin that finds its way into the London market is obtained upon one or other of the islands rented by the Alaska Commercial Company. Copper and Bering Islands are by no means the most important. By far the largest export is made from the Pribylov group, two islands (St. Paul and St. George) in Bering's Sea to the east and north of the Komandorskis, on which 100,000 skins are taken annually. Last, and of least importance, is Eobben Island, the chief interest of which lies in its somewhat abnormal situation as a breeding-ground—it being nearly 1000 miles distant from the other seal islands. It is close to Cape Patience, on the eastern shores of Saghalin, and the number of skins yearly obtained from it is very small as compared with the yield of the Bering and Pribylov groups. The sea-cat or sea-bear, as CallorJiinus has been familiarly named by the seal-hun
Size: 1691px × 1478px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookp, booksubjectnaturalhistory
