234 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



without pups". Then there are two others who decline to express an 

 opinion. One of them, a witness named Shatter, says, he cannot say 

 what i)ro])ortioi), and I find one added at the bottom to those 25 I gave 

 before on the British side who support the American Case. There you 

 see where this evidence conies out. There is another class of witnesses 

 however, it is only rig'lit to say, in attempting- to deal with the whole 

 of this evidence, in wliich this is i)ut in another way, not how many, 

 not what proportion of the cows are pregnant, but what proportion of 

 barren females are found in the catch. As I have explained, that 

 means all who are not in a condition of pregnancy, who are not gravid. 



Of these British witnesses, 8 testify to finding very few barren 

 females; they say, "2 out of DO"; "not noticeable"; "not any"; "not 

 seen any"; have only seen few"; "they are generally two years old, 

 and travel with young seals"; and one witness gives the explanation 

 that he has seen a few older females that were barren, — "got a few 

 barren females this year"; " 2 out of 90 seals"; " a few barren females": 

 and another witness says, "We cannot tell in the sea whether the cow 

 is barren or not"; and another "we always find a few barren females ". 



Then there are 10 who testify to finding a great many barren females. 

 Ten of these sealers testify strongly the other way. In 64 seals " 20 or 

 25". Another says, " quite a number". " By barren females, I mean 

 one that has no young". Then by another witness, "a good many 

 barren females this year"; "a great many"; "almost half barren; the 

 other half cows and pups". Then, "Less than half, about a quarter". 

 That is the evidence on this subject. 



I next enquire what proportion of the females taken in Beliring Sea 

 are nursing mothers, who have young upon the islands. 



(Upon this point Mr. Phelps reviewed all the evidence upon both 

 sides. He pointed out that on the part of the United States had been 

 examined four officers and Government officials, eight captains, owners, 

 and mates of vessels engaged in the sealing business, thirty-six hunt- 

 ers and seamen, white men, and nine Indian hunters engaged in the 

 same pursuit, fifty-nine witnesses iu all. That the statement of those 

 among this number who attempted to give a numerical proportion of 

 nursing females killed, fixed it variously at from seventy-five to eighty 

 per cent of the whole Behring Sea catch. That the other witnesses 

 testified the nursing females formed " the large proportion," " nearly 

 all," " the greater part" of the catch, and other equivalent expressions, 

 except that three of them gave no opinion upon this point, but only 

 stated the distances from the islands at which nursing seals were found. 



He showed that the British Commissioners in their report stated that 

 no nursing females were killed in the early part of the season, and but 

 few later in the summer, but remarked that in this, as in every other 

 disputed fact in the case, without exception, the statement of the British 

 Commissioners was overwhelmingly refuted by the evidence. 



He pointed out that upon this question there had been examined on 

 the part of Great Britain twelve captains of vessels, twenty-three hunt- 

 ers and sealers, and ten Indian hunters — forty-five witnesses in all; 

 that of these nineteen sustained the American contention that the 

 greater part of the Behring Sea catch were nursing females, using the 

 same language, as to the proportion, employed by the witnesses on the 

 American side; that fourteen of the others did not contradict the Amer- 

 ican witnesses, expressing no o])inion upon the point and not being 

 pressed to express any, although their means of knowledge were ample; 

 and only eleven witnesses supported the British contention, stating that 

 the nursing mothers killed in the Behring Sea were "few," "very few," 



