154 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Suppose that a crew of 25 or 30 men were landed in July on Reef rookery of St. 

 Paul; that these men entered the breeding grounds and slaughtered every animal 

 they could reach, keeping up the operation day after day as new animals came ashore 

 or until no more were found, returning the following season to pick up any remnant 

 which might be left. This would be the method of slaughter in the southern 

 hemisphere transferred to the northern. 



"INDISCRIMINATE," NOT "EXCESSIVE." 



The trouble with the contention of the British commissioners lies in the use of 

 "excessive" for "indiscriminate." It was not the contention of the United States 

 that the land killing of the south seas was identical in method with open-sea killing 

 in the north, but rather that the results were identical. Both were indiscriminate 

 killing, and, as a result, it was to be expected that the fate of the southern rookeries 

 would overtake those of the north if such slaughter were continued. That the herds 

 of the north have lasted longer than those of the south is simply the results of their 

 protection on land. Were it possible for the pelagic sealers to laud on the Pribilof 

 and Commander islands, they could accomplish in one season what it has taken a 

 dozen years to accomplish contending with the uncertainties of the sea. 



PREPONDERANCE OF FEMALES. 



Before the Paris Tribunal, and even subsequent to it, the claim has been made 

 that land killing was excessive in its reduction of male life, and had been in large 

 measure, if not wholly, responsible for the decline. We have already discussed the 

 latter part of this contention and shown its untenable character. The fact, however, 

 is freely admitted that the killing on land had greatly reduced the male life of the 

 herd. The investigations of the past season, showing that about twenty-nine males 

 out of thirty born are destined to be superfluous, indicate how this has been possible 

 without affecting the herd. Since the islands came into the possession of the United 

 States nearly 3,000,000 male seals have been taken on land, while no females whatever 

 have been killed. 



The point we wish to make clear is, that with such an abstraction of male life it 

 naturally results that the herd as a whole under normal conditions must show a large 

 excess of females. Notwithstanding this self-evident fact, it has been persistently 

 contended by those interested in pelagic sealing that the pelagic catch contained no 

 preponderance of females; that in fact the sexes as found and taken at sea were 

 practically equal. 



THE SEALING CAPTAINS' RECORD OF SEXES TAKEN. 



To illustrate this, we may say that under the regulations of the Paris award it 

 was made obligatory on the captains of sealing vessels to keep a record of the sexes 

 of all animals taken. It was manifestly absurd to suppose that men engaged in a 

 business like pelagic sealing would take the trouble to report accurately facts which 

 must injure their business. The result has been that whenever the sex returns have 

 been supplied by the sealers themselves the sexes have been reported so nearly equal 

 that the proportion of females has on the average rarely exceeded 55 per cent. What 

 we have said regarding the relation of land killing to the proportion of the sexes is 

 sufficient proof of the falsity of these returns. But we also note that during the 



