ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 267 



On Conper Island. 

 say tlie British Commissioners in section 700 — 



on tlie contrary, the drives generally extend acr(;.ss the ishmd, niid are from three 

 to four miles long, very rtmuli, and crossiuj;' one oi' more intcrvciiinsj;' steep ridi;<>s. 

 These drives must be mucli more trying- to the seals than any now made upon the 

 Pribilolf Islands. 



We never heard from tliere or any quarter in this case that any 

 diminution bad ever been noticed till the year 1892, when the pelagic 

 sealing commenced. 



The statement of Mr. J. K. Monlton in the United States Case, page 

 72, volume II, is: 



I am positive the reproductive organs of every one of the hundreds of thousands 

 of seals I have seen driven were uninjured by their movements on land, and I am 

 further convinced tliis must be so from tiie fact that a seal wlien movint:^ on land 

 raises himself slightly on the hind llippers, so that his rejiroductivo organs are clear 

 of the ground. 



In 1S91 and 1S02 the number of seals killed on tlie ground was 

 13,()()() and 7,riO() respectively. In neither of those years were year- 

 lings killed. All yearlings tlriven up were allowed to return to the 

 water. Mr. IVIacoun's evidence or statement in tlie report is gone into. 

 He witnessed i)art of one drive, which is all he claims to have known 

 anything about. And if you take the trouble to read it, I do not care 

 to spend much time upon it, you will see the consequences. 



Now let me refer to some few of the witnesses as rapidly as I can 

 out of the many witnesses on this subject of driving to be found in the 

 United States Case. 



We have examined 44 witnesses on this point, who are men on 

 the Islands, employed there in one capacity or another, and knowing the 

 manner in which this takes place, in a business you will recollect, the 

 method or theory of which, is described by the Commissioners them- 

 selves as an ideal method. The only objection that is attempted to be 

 stated to it is the nutnner in which it was carried into effect. Mr. 

 Bryant says — and this is in the Appendix to the Argument, page 235: 



The driving and killing of the bachelor seals was always carried on in the most 

 careful manner and during my stay upon the islands, there was practically no injury 

 caused to seal life by overdriving, and after 1873, when horses and mules were 

 introduced by the lessees to transport the skins, the seals were not driven as far, 

 killing grounds being estabiislied near the hauling grounds, and the loss by over- 

 driving was reduced to the fraction of 1 per cent. 



Mr. Falconer, who was on the Islands from 1870 to 1875, says in his 

 testimony. — I cannot read it all : 



The greatest care wa.s always taken not to overheat the seals in driving them, and 

 when a seal was by accident smothered, the skin was removed and counted in the 

 number allowed to be taken by the lessees. There were not, to the best of my recol- 

 lection, twenty-live seals killed during any one season on St. (ieorge by overdriving. 



Whenever tlie sun came out while a. "drive" was in progress tlio driving at once 

 ceased, so great was the care taken not to overheat the seals. . . 



I never saw or heard of a case where a male seal was seriously injured by driving 

 or redriving. 



Certainly the reproductive powers were never in the slightest degree impaired by 

 these means. AVhen we consider that the bulls, while battling on the rookeries to 

 maintain their positions, cut great gashes in the llesh of their ihm ks and bodies, are 

 covered with gajiing wounds, lose great quantities of blood, fast on the islands for 

 tliree or four months, and then le.ave the islands lean and covered with scars, to 

 return the following season fat, healthy, and full of vigor, to go tlirongh again the 

 same mutilation, and re])cating this year after year, the idea that driving or redriv- 

 ing, which can not possibly be as severe as their exertions during a combat, can affect 

 such unequal vigor and virility, is utterly preposterous and ridiculous. 



Senator Morgan. — Has ;iny witness ever stated that, from his obser- 

 vation, there was any loss of virility in male seals "i 



