276 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



And on the same page he says this: 



This snrplna area of the males is also more than balanced and equalized by the 

 15,000 or 20,000 vir<;iu females which come on to this rookery lor the tirst time to 

 meet the males. They come, rest a few days or a week, and retire, leaving no young 

 to show their presence on the ground. 



And on page 139 he says : 



Next year these yearling females, which are now trooping out with the youthful 

 males on the liauling-grouiids, will rei)air to the rookeries, while their male com- 

 panions will be obliged to come again to this same spot. 



I may aUude briefly to the condemnation by Mr. Elliott of various 

 points that have been suggested rather than i^roved on the other side. 

 On page 83 yon will lind-=-I do not quote his language — that coition 

 does not take place in the sea. 



On pages 57 and i)S he contradicts the assertion that the efiect of 

 raids on the Islands had been considerable as tending towards this 

 decrease; and 1 nmy say here once for all, for I cannot dwell any longer 

 upon it — it wonld take two or three days more if 1 were to go through 

 the evidence on all these minor points — let me say here now in respect 

 of this business of raids on the Islands, that I am entirely indifferent 

 which way the fact is found. If there are any raids on the Islands (and 

 they have taken place undoubtedly in some instances) they come from 

 these pelagic sealers. It is the very presence in the water of these 

 schooners that produces all the raids that have taken place on the 

 Islands, whether they are many or few; and in the condition of the 

 weather there it is perhaps true that they cannot alwaj^s be prevented. 

 That is one of the very mischiefs we are trying to protect ourselves 

 against; not merely that they are slaughtering the seals in the water, 

 but whenever fog or night or any accident enables them "to do it, they 

 go upon the Islands and trespass there. He says on page 53 and on 

 two or three other pages, that the seals have great power of locomotion 

 on the land. 



There is another theory that has been thrown out here — that there is 

 a congregation of young seals that do not come back to the Islands. I 

 shall have a few words to say about that independently of Mr. Elliott; 

 but on page 103 you will find he says this: 



By the 14th-20th June, they (the holluschickie) appear in their finest form and 

 number for the season, being joined now by the great bulk of the 2-year olds, 

 and (jnitc a number of yearling males. By the lOtli of .July their numbers are begin- 

 ning to largely iu(!re;ise, owing to the influx now at this time of that great body of 

 the last year's jjups or yearlings; by the 20th of July, the yearlings have put in their 

 appearance for the season in full force. Very few yearling females make their 

 appearance until the 15th of July, but by the 20th they literally swarmed out, in 

 1872-74, and mixed up completely with the young and older males and females as 

 the rookeries relax their discipline and "pod" or scatter out. 



On page 253, he speaks again of the yearlings there. He says: 



A great many yearling females are halting down at landings in and among the 

 scattered harems, aimlessly paddling about. 



On page 298 he says : 



I observed a very large proportion of yearling cows scattered all over the breeding 

 ground from end to end near the sea margin, while the yearlings of both sexes are 

 completely mixed upon the outskirts of the rookery, here and everywhere else 

 commingled with the adult cows and their young pups. 



There is another point that has been suggested here by my learned 

 friends, that these seals consume the food-tisiies, or that they may do so 

 at some time or other. What that has to do with this case I do not 

 know. Tlic question as to the right of the United States does not 

 depend upon it. The question of regulations does not depend upon 



