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



ahead again there. So iu the month of May; so in the month of June; 

 so in the month of July. You will observe that iu the months of June 

 and July the whole of the tail of the herd is male, and that the greater 

 number of females are all to the front. Now take that fact finally fol- 

 lowed out, and you will see that when you get to the uortli of the 

 Aleutiau chain you have nothing but blacJc dots. There the bulls have 

 got to the islands before, and they are not shewn by this plan. You 

 have nothing but hlaclc dots there — iu other words a continuous stream 

 of gravid females on their way to the islands. Now the evidence is — 

 (I cannot stop to refer to it) — that by the middle of June the great 

 bulk of the gravid females have got to the Pribilof Islands: that by 

 the 2()tli of June practically all have got to the Pribilof Islands and 

 therefore practically all — when I say practically all I do not mean that 

 there may not be some remaining — but practically all have got to the 

 islands by the 20th of June; and therefore the proposition is to reg- 

 ulate the date of sailing from these licensing i)orts so that the great 

 bulk of the herd shall have got away, and into the Behring Sea on their 

 way to the Pribilof Islands before they could be taken or overtaken by 

 pelagic sealers setting out from San Francisco, Vancouver, Port Town- 

 send, or Victoria. 



Lord Hannen. — Upon that assumption we are to i)revent their enter- 

 ing Behring Sea before the first of July? 



Sir Charles Eussell. — I quite agree, because the Commissioners, 

 apparently, desire to be on the safe side in order to allow the work of 

 parturition — the business of producing the young — to have been accom- 

 l)lished before there could be capture. 



Lord Hannen. — A zone round the islands would protect that. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — That is undoubtedly my opinion if I were 

 to be asked it. I am putting it ou the authority of those who. — 



Lord Hannen. — That is why I asked you, when you said you justi- 

 fied it, whether you meant yourself to put forward the 1st of July as. 

 the jiroper time? 



Sir Charles Eussell. — Undoubtedly I do not gainsay the sugges- 

 tion of the Commissioners; for as they think proper to make it, I do not. 

 in any way oppose it. It does seem to me an unnecessarily wide restric- 

 tion; but as they have made the suggestion we feel bound to act uponi 

 it, and put it before the Tribunal. 



Now, as bearing on this matter, it is important to call attention to> 

 distances. We have taken the distances, in order that the Tribunal: 

 may have them in their minds, from these various ports to one point, 

 Unimak Pass, which is the principal pass. From San Francisco the 

 Unimak Pass is 2,080 miles. From Victoria to Unimak Pass is 1,560/ 

 miles. 



Senator Morgan. — In a direct line ? 



Sir Charles Eussell. — In a direct line. These are all direct lines.. 

 From Port Townsend to Unimak Pass is 1,560 miles, the same as Victo- 

 riaj and Vancouver is jiractically the same. There is very little differ- 

 ence. 



The President. — Could you state the time required for a sailing; 

 boat to go from those places to Unimak Pass? 



Sir Charles Eussell. — That, of course, is a matter which depends ; 

 on various circumstances. 



Lord Hannen. — Why restrict them then as to the time of sailing!' 

 Why not say they shall not begin to fish before such and such a timel' 



Sir Charles Eussell. — The only reason is the difticulty of checking,. 



Lord Hannen. — Other means might be taken for checking. 



