ments.

They are not very tenacious, however, and after they have been harpooned are easily killed.

The humpback is a shoal water whale, that is to say, it is generally captured near shore where the females come to produce their young. The humpbacked whale is very seldom caught in deep water. The oil from this species is inferior in grade to that of the right and bowhead, and does not bring as good a price.

The white whale, or grampus, is usually found in the immediate vicinity of the rivers. At Kotzebue Sound the grampus can be seen almost any day sporting on the surface of the water. Its color is a beautiful cream-white, and its length 10 to 20 feet. It feeds upon salmon, cod and other fish found in immense quantities at the mouths of rivers.

The pursuit of whales in the Arctic waters has been prosecuted for more than one hundred years. Whale ships are of various sizes and kinds. The varieties are called barks, schooners and steamers, the latter being under both sail and steam. They measure from 200 to 600 tons, and cost from $40,000 to $200,000. The crew on a whaling ship numbers from 25 to 45 men, according to the tonnage of the vessel. The outfit for a whaling ship is from two to five boats, each manned with a crew of six men, an officer, boat steerer and four common sailors. The boats are about 29 feet in length, generally built from cedar wood and equipped with harpoons, bomb guns and lances.

When the ships arrive in the vicinity of the whaling grounds a lookout is kept constantly at the masthead. As soon as a whale is sighted the man on watch cries. out, "There she blows," and all are now eager for the capture. Boats are quickly lowered and the pursuit begun. In the bow stands the harpooner and at the proper moment he seizes the harpoon and, as the bow of the boat touches or nears the whale, hurls it with all

his force, aiming at a vital point, and crying, “Stern all." The crew instantly back the boat, and the whale in its terror plunges below the surface. The line, often 100 fathoms in length, is soon exhausted, and a second attached, and sometimes a third. The whale stays under water from 20 to 60 minutes, and when it rises the boats hasten to it and again strike it with the harpoons, and it again descends. It stays below the surface but a short time, and on rising spouts bloody water or blood alone through its blow-holes. The boats again approach and endeavor to lance it in a vital point. If they are successful, it sometimes turns upon its side or back and dies quietly; oftener its death struggle is terrific, the water being dyed with blood and beaten

into foam.

The whale is now towed to the ship and hauled up parallel with the keel. A fluke chain is then run out and made fast around the small of the animal's tail, and the prey is now firmly secured for cutting.

The method by which whalemen distinguish the different varieties of whales at sea is by the spout, or respiration. The right whale has two blow-holes or spiracles on the top of his head which diverge in somewhat of a forked manner, while the sperm whale has but one, which is inclined to one side. And again the different varieties of whales herd in different latitudes, and knowing the position of their ship at all times the whalemen generally know when a whale is sighted what species it is.

The aggregate catch of the whalers during the past twenty-six years has been enormous. Since 1874 they have secured over 7,000,000 pounds of bone and 400,ooo barrels of oil, the value of which is approximated at $33,000,000.

Whaling in the Arctic is not so profitable today as it

was years ago. The whales are fewer in number and are not so easily captured now as they were formerly, besides the price of oil and bone is lower today than it has been for years. Petroleum has interfered greatly with the market value of sperm oil of late years, and the substitution of steel, vulcanite and ratan for whalebone has reduced the price of the latter nearly one-half. The walrus is still found in these waters in limited numbers. They enter the Arctic Ocean in the spring as soon as the ice leaves the straits, and remain until they are driven back again by the ice into Bering Sea. They are hunted vigorously by both the Alaskan and Siberian natives, sometimes with success.

The full grown walrus attains a length of 10 to 14 feet and will measure round its body 8 to 12 feet. They weigh from 1,500 to 2,200 pounds. The eyes are small and set on the top of the head. Their skin is between one-half and three inches thick, and is utilized by the natives as covering for their skin canoes or bidarkas, and also as soles for their boots, and sometimes for the construction of houses. The flesh of the animal is used for food. The walrus has been the means of saving some of the Arctic explorers from starvation. It can be seen drifting about on the ice floes in the Bering Sea during the month of June, and many a fierce battle is fought between it and its natural enemy, the polar bear.

Both the hair and the fur seals are plentiful in the waters of the Bering Sea, and they are hunted by the natives for food and clothing.

The polar bear is rapidly becoming extinct in Alaska. Occasionally one can be seen on the ice or in its immediate vicinity, looking for trouble with the walrus. The polar bears grow to an enormous size, some of them weighing 2,000 pounds. They fight the walrus constantly and are generally successful. They are a ma

licious animal, and are ever ready to turn upon the man who happens to inflict a wound not immediately fatal.

A few black and a few brown bears are still found far in the interior, but their number is not large. The latter are generally of great size and ferocity, frequently measuring from 10 to 12 feet in length.

Moose, caribou, reindeer and mountain sheep, once so plentiful in these regions, are now almost exterminated. For the past fifty years these animals have

been recklessly, slaughtered by the natives, and their pelts turned over to the trading schooners in exchange for molassses and rum. The white traders have aided and abetted in the culpable work, and the result is that the natives have destroyed the animals upon which they depended for food and clothing, leaving their condition today, especially in the more northern portion of the territory, a most serious and pitiful one.

Foxes of all known varieties, blue, red, white, black and silver gray, are common between the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers. Red and gray squirrels are abundant in the Copper River district, with a few caribou and some moose. In the vicinity of Kadiak, woodland

caribou, moose and mountain sheep are found, also the black and the gray wolves, the wolverines, the lynx, the marmot, porcupine, marten, mink, ermine and beaver. Sea otters are found on the eastern side of Nuchek Island, and muskrats and ground squirrels are numerous everywhere. In the Kotzebue Sound region a few moose, reindeer, mountain sheep, foxes, wolves and white rabbits remain, but they are fast being extirpated by the ardent hunter. The skins of all of these animals are sold to the traders, and their carcasses are used for food.

Birds, both land and aquatic, are quite numerous. The American, the cackling and the Emperor geese, eider ducks, swans, sea gulls, grouse, ptarmigans, sandhill cranes, pigeons, loons, puffins, the golden plover, song sparrows, blackbirds, eagles, black crows, American ravens, the brown thrush, American robins, the rosy finch and the snow birds appear all over the territory.

With the exception of the black crow all these varieties of birds are hunted by the natives and by them used for food and raiment. With them, black crows are sacred birds and are regarded with a superstitious reverence which forbids their slaughter for any purpose.

Trout, greyling, white fish, tomcod, halibut, codfish, herring and the different species of salmon, are found in immense quantities in all the Alaskan waters. It is said that Alaska has 60,000 miles of surveyed codfish banks, great salmon and halibut fisheries.

Alaska is the great salmon fishery of the world. There are forty-eight salmon canneries and salters in operation, and the salmon pack for the year 1900 is reported to have been 1,400,000 cans, an increase of 300,000 cans over the previous year.