66 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



tlieless, and this is not the first instance, nor the last, in which different 

 statements on the same snbject and on the same point will be found in 

 this document, there is sonjething in section 210 that seems to bear the 

 other way, — that it is not easy to reconcile with that which I have been 

 reading-. 



In section 210 it is said: 



In order to arrive at as comxilete a knowledge as possible of the actual distribution 

 of the fur-seal in Beliring Sea, a circular was prepared, in which it was requested 

 that regular seal logs should be kept on the British cruizers, and, through the 

 kindness of the Comniauder-in-chief on the Pacific Station, communicated to their 

 Commanders. The work was taken up with enthusiasm by the various officers, and 

 niaiutaiued throughout the season. Careful observations of the same kind were also 

 made on our own steamer, the "Danube", and subsequently, through the courtesy 

 of the United States Commissioners, copies of the track-charts, and observations 

 made of seals by the various United States cruizers, were supplied. Information on 

 the same subject was also sought in various other ways, such as by inquiry from the 

 captains and hands of sealing-vessels met in Victoria and Vancouver, and from the 

 inhabitants of various places touched at during the summer. 



Then section 212 page 35 : 



The observations at command for 1891 practically cover jiretty thoroughly the 

 period of aljout two months during which seals are ordinarily taken by pelagic 

 hunters in Behring Sea, extending from the middle of July to the middle of Septem- 

 ber, and they are much more comiilete for the eastern than for the western part of 

 the Behring Sea. 



On consideration of the material to be dealt with, it was decided that it might 

 be most advantageously divided into two periods of about a month each, the first 

 including all dates from the loth July to the 15th August, and the second those 

 between the 15th August and the 15th September. All the lines cruized over in the 

 lirst of these periods were plotted on one set of maps, and those in the second pe- 

 riod on another. The parts of these tracks run over during the night, and in which 

 seals tlierefore could not well be observed, were indicated on the maps in a differ- 

 ent manner from the day tracks, as far as possible; and with the assistance of the 

 logs, the numbers of seals seen in certain intervals were then entered along the vari- 

 ous routes in a graphic manner. The places in which pelagic sealers had reported 

 seals to be abundant or otherwise, as well as those in which sealing-vessels were 

 found at work by the cruizers, and other facts obtained from various soiirces, were 

 also indicated on the maps. 



The result of all this is, if you will now have the kindness to turn to 

 page 150 of the British Commissioners' Eeport, that three maps are set 

 forth by these gentlemen. The first is immaterial to my present pur- 

 pose. It only indicates their own cruise; in the second and third maps 

 you will find indicated, in red colour, what they call the resorts and 

 migration routes of the fur-seals in the North Pacific. You will see 

 from that red colour that the resort and habitat (to use a very awkward 

 word) of these animals extend clear across from the American to the 

 Eussian side, a considerable distance to the north and south. It is 

 represented so that the map conveys the idea that the seals are scat- 

 tered all through that body of water in such a manner that, if it was 

 true, it would be totally impossible to assume which seal went to which 

 Island, or whether it made any difference to any seal which Island it 

 w^ent to. The third map extends from July the 15th to August the 10th. 

 The fourth map, which I omitted to refer to, gives the area frequented 

 by fur-seals from August the IGth to September the 15th 1801. 



Looking at that map and looking at nothing else, it would settle the 

 question that there is no particular distinction and that these seals 

 are everywhere intermingled. Tliat is, of course, what the map was 

 intended to convey, and what it does convey until it is refuted. You 

 will remember the particularity with which it is stated by the British 

 Commissioners that these maps are founded upon the logs of the Brit- 

 ish cruisers and the American cruisers. They are not conjectural; 

 they are not hypothetical, nor suggestive; they are put before you as 



