ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 141 



TESTIMONY RELATING TO THE GENERAL SEAL-SKIN INDUSTRY IN 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



Deposition of H. S. Bevington, head of the firm of Bevington d; Morris, 



furriers^ London. 



H. S. Beviugton, M. A., being duly sworn, doth depose and say: 

 That he is 40 years of age and a subject of Her Britannic Majesty, and 

 is the head of the firm of Bevington & Morris, doing business as fur 

 merchants and manufacturers at 28 Cannon street, in the city of I^on- 

 dou; that his said firm was founded in the year 1726, and has been 

 continued in the same family during the whole of these years down to 

 the present time, and has been engaged during the whole of the period 

 since 1726 in the same business, dealing in furs and leather; that 

 deponent has been in the business ever since the year 1873. During 

 the whole of the period since that date his said firm has been in the 

 habit of buying fur-seal skins, and he knows from his general knowl- 

 edge of the business that prior to that time they were in the habit of 

 buying seal skins ever since they became an article of commerce; that 

 deponent has personally handled many thousands of skins of the fur 

 seal, and by reason of that fact and of his experience in his business, 

 has a general knowledge of the history of the fur-seal skin business 

 and a general and precise knowledge of the several kinds of skins 

 which now and for many years last past have come upon the London 

 market; that since deponent has been in business skins coming upon 

 the London market have been principally divided into three classes, 

 known as the Alaska catch, the Copper catch, and the IS'orthwest catch. 

 Small supplies have also been received from the Southern Sea, and 

 Lobos Islands, Falkland Islands, and Cape Horn, but the skins arriving 

 from these last-mentioned localities make no figure in the market; that 

 what is known as the Alaska catch consists of skins of seals which are 

 killed upon the Pribilof Islands, in the Bering Sea, and the Copper 

 catch of skins which are killed upon the Copper and Bering islands, 

 in Russfan waters. 



That the Northwest skins consist of skins taken from animals which 

 are caught in the open Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia 

 or in the Bering Sea; that the difierences between the three several 

 sorts of skins last mentioned are so marked as to enable any person 

 skilled in the business or accustomed to handle the same to readily 

 distinguish the skins of one catch from those of another, especially in 

 bulk, and it is the fact that when they reach the market the skins of 

 each class come separately and are not found mingled with those 

 belonging to the other classes. The skins of the Copper Island catch 

 are distinguished from the skins of the Alaska and i^orthwest catch, 

 which two last-mentioned classes of skins appear to be nearly allied to 

 each other, and are of the same general character, by reason of the 

 fact that in their raw state the Copper skins are lighter in color than 

 either of the other two, and in the dried state there is a marked diifer- 

 ence in the appearance of the fur of the Copper and the other two 

 classes of skins. This difference is difficult to describe to a ])erson 

 unaccustomed to handle skins, but it is nevertheless clear and distinct 

 to an expert, and may be generally described by saying that the Copper 

 skins are of a close, short, and shiny fur, particularly down by the flank, 

 to a greater extent than the Alaska and Northwest skins. The skins 

 of the male and female animal are readily distinguished from eacli other 

 in the adult stage by reason of the difference in the shape of the heads ; 



