ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 137 



dressed niul dyed seal skins, and that his father was eiigas^ed in the 

 same business before him; that for the last lifteen years lie has had 

 consigned to him by fur dealers from 8,000 to 10,000 seal skins annually 

 for the purpose of dressing and dyeing- the same; that about 50 per 

 cent of the skins so received by him came from J.ondon in casks marked 

 as they are catalogued by C. JVI. Lampson & Co., and are the skins 

 belonging to what is known as the Northwest catch; and deponent is 

 informed and believes that the Northwest catch, as the term is used in 

 the trade, means the skins of seals caught in the open sea, and not 

 upon the islands. Another reason for this belief is the fact that all of 

 the skins of the Northwest catch contain marks showing that the ani- 

 mal liad been killed by bullets or buckshot, the skins being pierced by 

 the shot, whereas the skins killed on the American and Russian islands 

 are killed on land by clubs and are not pierced. 



That of the skins of the Northwest catch coming into his hands for 

 treatment probably all are the skins of the female seal, and that the 

 same can be distinguished fi"om the skins of the male seal by reason of 

 the breasts and of the thinness of the fur around the same and upon 

 the belly, most of the female seals being killed while they are bearing 

 their young, and the fur therefore being stretched and tliinner over that 

 part of the body; and also for the further reason that the head of the 

 female seal is much narrower than that of the male seal, and that this 

 point of difference is obvious in the skins of the two classes. That of 

 the total number of the skins received by him about 25 per cent are the 

 skins of the Alaska and Copper catch. That all the skins of the Alaska 

 catch are male seals, and an overwhelming proportion of the Coj^per 

 catch are likewise male skins. That the remainder of the skins sent 

 to dejionent for dressing and dyeing as aforesaid are received by him 

 through the house of Herman Liebes & Co., of San Francisco, and 

 others, the majority, however, from Herman Liebes & Co. The skins 

 received from the latter sources are from each of the three catches known 

 to the trade as the Copper, Alaska, and Northwest catch, although the 

 major part thereof belong to what is known as the Northwest catch, and 

 are, as in the case of the skins received from London of that catch, all 

 skins of the female seal. 



Joseph D. Williams. 



DESTRUCTION OP FEMALE SEALS. 



Testimony of British furriers. 



I can also tell by examining a skin whether it has been taken from a 

 female or a male. I have examined and sorted a great many thousand 

 skins taken from sealing schooners, and have observed that they are 

 nearly all females, a few being old bulls and yearlings. A female seal 

 has a smaller head and a larger belly when with young than a male seal, 

 and the fur on the belly when with young is much thinner, and the fur 

 on the belly part where the teats are, in consequence of being worn, is 

 not worth much, and has to be cut off after being dyed. (George 

 Bantle.) 



The skins of the male and female animal are readily distinguishable 

 from each other in the adult stage by reason of the difference in the 

 shape of the heads. That the Copper and Alaska skins are almost 

 exclusively the skins of the male animal, and the skins of the North- 



