ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 237 



Auotber fact I have gained from reliable sources is that the great majority of the 

 seals taken in the open sea are pregnant females or females in milk. It is an unques- 

 tionable fact that the killing of these females destroys the pnjis they are carrying or 

 nursing. The result is that this destruction of pups takes about eijualJy from tlio 

 male and female increase of the herd, and when so many nuile puits are killed iu 

 this manner, besides the 1(^0,000 taken on the islands, it UBcessarily aftects the 

 number of killable seals. In 1889 this drain upon uuile life showed itself on the 

 islaiuls, and this in my opinion accounts for the necessity of the lessees taking so 

 many young seals that year to fill out their quota. 



Mr. Palmer is a witness iiitrodiued by tlie British Government. He 

 went witli Mr. Lond. He is an ornithologist — a man employed in the 

 Smithsonian Institute to stufl" birds. He says: 



The greater number of the seals captured iu the waters of Behring Sea are females 

 which are on their way to or have left their young on the rookeries while they are 

 seeking food. As it is a well-known fact that a mother seal will only suckle its own 

 young, and that the young seal is unable until it is several months old to procure 

 its own food, it necessarily obtains that the death of the pup follows that of its 

 mother in a short time. The numbers of dead pups about the shores of St. Paul's 

 begau to attract my attention about the middle of July last year. 



That was 1890: 



Ou Aug. 2 I stood on Zoltoi Beach and counted 17 dead pups within ten feet of 

 me, and a line of lliem stretched the whole length of the beach. Many of them starve 

 to death on tlie rookeries, but by far the greater number sink iu the deep water 

 alouir the mariiin of the rookeries. 



Now in 1888 — (I have nearly done with this but I want to be done 

 with it efiectually) — an examination, as you have learned was made by 

 a Congressional Committee at Washington, and the Keport has been 

 put into this case; and from the testimony there given before that 

 Committee — (not for the purposes of this case) — we extract two or three 

 witnesses. 



D"" Mclntyre, whose testimony I have read before in this case, said: 



And I would say further that if cows are killed late in the season, say in August 

 after the pups are born, the latter are left upon the islands deprived of the mother's 

 care, and of course perish. The eft'ect is the same whether the cows are killed 

 before or after the pups are dropped. The young perish iu either case. 



Mr. Mclntyre's great familiarity with the subject, and the candid 

 manner in which he has testified, and his large experience, are already 

 known to you. 



At page 255 of that Eeport, Mr. Moulton, the United States Treas- 

 ury Agent at the islands from 1877 to 1885 testifies as follows. He is 

 asked : 



Q. When a female is nursing her young and goes out for food aud is killed or 

 wounded, that results also in the death of her young? — A. Yes, sir. As her young 

 does not go into the water, it does not do anything for some time, aud cannot swim 

 and has to be taught. 



Mr. Tupper, my friend on the other side, knew that as early as 1888 

 the United States claimed that the pups died when the mother was 

 killed; because on page 443 of volume III of the Appendix to the 

 British case, referring to the testimony just quoted, he says: 



The opinions of the gentlemen given before the Congressional Committee in 1888 

 for the most part, though sometimes contradictory, are in favour of the undermen- 

 tioned theories. 



1. That the female seals while nursing their young go great distances in search of 

 food; 



2. When out a great distance, female seals are shot, and the pups on shore are 

 lost for want of their mothers' care. 



I shall read no more. Tlie subject can be pursued upon the refer- 

 ence that I have given to the Cuilated Testimony, and the fuU testi- 



