64 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 



the work of procreation is going on feed at all; that is an undisi)nted 

 fact between us. The universal testimony is that they come on the 

 Islands fat and sleek and in good condition, and that they leave them, 

 having stayed by the Islands during the whole of the time lean and 

 emaciated ; and they do not during that period seek any sustenance at 

 all. Nature seems to have made the curious provision for tliem that in 

 the early part of the year and in the winter they have been able to 

 accumulate an amount of fat upon which practically they subsist dur- 

 ing this very exhaustive period of their existence. So much as regards 

 the breeding males, that is common ground. But it is also common 

 ground, as you will find when you come to the case of the holhischickie 

 or young males; but as that is not so clearly admitted between us, I 

 must ask leave to call attention to one or two small points of evidence 

 on the matter. I will rely in this connexion, in the tirst instance upon 

 what appears in the United States documents themselves put forward 

 in their Case and Counter Case. In their Case on page 121 they make 

 this statement: 



Both Captain Bryant and Mr. Morgan say that in their opinion the bachelor seals 

 feed very little while located on the islands, and Mr. Glidden states that the bachelors 

 once in a while go into the water, but remain in the vicinity of the islands. 



The bachelor seals, the holluschickies are the young males who have 

 not yet been in a position to acquire a place upon the rookery. 



Mr. Glidden states that the bachelors once in a while go into the water, but remain, 

 in the vicinity of the islands' Anton Melovedoft", the native chief on St. Paul Island 

 for seven years (1884-1891) states that he has found that the seals killed in May and 

 early .June were fat and that their stomachs were full of food, principally codtish, 

 and that later in the season they were poor and had nothing in their stomachs, and 

 that, in his opinion, none but the mother seals go out in the sea to eat during the 

 time the herds are on the islands. 



I will deal with the mother seals in a moment. 



And his opinion in this matter corresponds with the views of natives and whites 

 who have been long resident on the Pribiloff Islands. 



Further evidence on that point is to be found in collateral testimony 

 in the United States Argument under the title "Feeding" page 159. 

 In that j)age the last paragraph but one. 



The Holhischickie (batchelors) do not go out to feed. When they come in May 

 there is plenty of fish in their stomachs but after June there is nothing. 



Again : 



Young wigs go into the water, but during the breeding season hang about the 

 rookeries never going far from shore. 



And again on the top of page 160. 



I have also observed (says Mr. Fowler) that the male seals killed soon after they 

 come to the Island are fat and their stomachs filled with food while those killed in 

 the latter part of the season are poor and l«an aud without food in the stomachs. 



Then Mr. Fratis : 



I do not think the batchelors go to feed from the time they haul out until they 

 leave the islands in November for I have observed the males killed in May are fat 

 and their stomachs full of fish, mostly cod fish, while the males killed in July and 

 afterwards are poorer and poorer and their stomachs are empty. 



I pass the next and go to Nicoli Krukoft": 



I think the batchelors do not eat from the time they arrive till they go away, and 

 I think so because the seals Killed in May and early June are fat and have plenty of 

 food in their stomachs, while those killed later than June are poor and their stomachs 

 are empty and they get poorer aud poorer until they go off iu November. 



