ESTIMATES OF NUMBERS. 87 



enumeration we know nothing beyond Mr. Crowley's statement 1 tliat "the breeding 

 seal herd has been reduced to such proportions that it can now be counted with 

 comparative accuracy." 



COLONEL MURRAY'S ESTIMATE. 



The other calculation is one given by Colonel Joseph Murray. 2 He finds 5,000 

 bulls and 200,000 cows. Here again we have no details and only know that his 

 method of enumeration was to count the breeding bulls and then to apply to each an 

 average harem of 40 cows. This average size of harem is so large as to make it 

 unnecessary to double for the absentee cows. We have, therefore, simply to add the 

 necessary 200,000 pups and we have a total of 405,000 " breeding seals and young." 



DEFECTS OF THIS ESTIMATE. 



That Colonel Murray's count of bulls is more than a rough approximation its 

 author has never claimed. That in greater part it is incorrect is clear from the fuct 

 that, while it was begun about July 18 it was not completed before August 21. Our 

 investigations show that a count of harems after July 25 can give no idea of actual 

 conditions. In examining the count, as given, moreover, our attention is attracted to 

 the fact that on Lagoon rookery he finds only 50 harems, whereas Mr. True and Mr. 

 Towusend, counting separately, found between 115 and 120 harems in the same season. 

 While having manifestly suffered additional decline, it still had in 1897 115 harems. 

 On the other hand, for a total of about 300 harems on Kitovi and Lukanin rookeries, 

 counted by Messrs. True and Townsend, Colonel Murray records 500. These differ- 

 ences tend to show that the latter's count is made in round numbers, no account of 

 anything less than 50 being taken. 



CONTRAST OF ESTIMATES FOR 1895. 



To give an idea of the nature of these various estimates for 1895, it is worth while 

 to contrast them in tabular form : 



Estimates, season of 1895. 



It is not a gracious task to call attention to these widely variant and conflicting 

 estimates put forward by authorized agents of the Government, and published simul- 

 taneously; but as they have been used by the British Commission to weaken the force 

 of the more accurate and conclusive statistics of 189G, they must be shown in their 

 true light as rough efforts at approximation, not corrected by other data. 



CONTRAST OF ACREAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



In leaving the subject of acreage measurements it will serve our purpose, as 

 showing the unsatisfactory nature of the results thus obtained, to compare for a 



1 Sen. Doc. 137, Pt. I, p. 35. 2 Sen. Doc. 137, Pt. I, p. 372. 



