Paul, named after one of Bering's boats, the present town of Kadiak,
by far the largest village of the island, and situated on the eastern
coast, opposite Wood Island. It is said that the Russians, after a few
very prosperous years of indiscriminate slaughter, recognized the great
importance of carrying on the fur industry in a systematic manner, in
order to prevent entire extinction of the game, and divided the lands
and waters into large districts. They made laws, with severe penalties
attached, and enforced them. Certain districts were hunted and trapped
over in certain years. Fur animals were killed only when in good
pelage, and the young were spared. In this way hunted sections always
had considerable intervals in which to recover from attacks.
A solitary sea otter skin hanging up in the fur company's store, at the
end of the season, told us plainer than words that these animals,
formerly so plentiful east of Kadiak Island, and along the coast of
Cook's Inlet, were almost extinct. Two of our hunters were famous shots,
and they liked to talk of the good old days, when sea otter and bear
were plenty.
Pages:
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261