128 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M. P. 



tancein connection with the qnestion of the feeding or abstinence of seals during 

 the breeding season. Shortly before labour began a female was sometimes seen to 

 void a small quantity of excrement; once only, in addition to this, did I see excre- 

 ment on rookery-ground that had not been voided by pups. In the instance referred 

 to, Mr. iJrown who was with me at the time said that it was probably from a female 

 that had recently come ashore. 



That is Mr. Stanley Brown who is referred to there. 



In this connection Captain Bryant may be quoted. He says : 



I found, in a few instances, where newly-arrived seals had made a single discharge 

 of red-coloured excrement, but nothing was seen afterwards to show that such dis- 

 charges were continued, or any evidence that the animals liad partaken of food. 



Mr. Vincent Colyer, in his Report to the Secretary of the Interior, dated 18th Feb- 

 ruary, 1870, likewise says : 



The assertion that the fiir-seal eats but little food from June to September may 

 be true ; certainly, there was little or no offensive excrement even in October, when I 

 believe it is acknowledged that they do get some food from the water. 



On the 27th July a large piece of fresh light-coloured excrement, firm, and of 

 cylindrical form, was noticed on the ground where holluschickie had been; a great 

 many worms such as are found in seals' stomachs were mixed with it. 



A large harem, the resort of over 300 seals, near the west end of Reef rookery, 

 was visited by me almost daily, and excrement was always carefully looked for. 

 This harem lay just beneath an overhanging bank, and the opportunities for obser- 

 vation were excellent; but, though between twenty and thirty visits were made to 

 this place, no excrement was ever seen either on the breeding-ground, or the slope 

 leading to it, with the exception of very small pieces voided by pups which differs 

 greatly from that of older seals, both in shape and colour. While it is certain that 

 holluschickie go to and from the water at all times, and when the weather is warm 

 quit the land almost en masse, there is no satisfactory evidence to show that they 

 feed while in the water. Several hundred stomachs were opened in my presence 

 during the summer of 1892, and no trace of food was found in any of them, though, 

 while struggling together in the killing-ground, some of them voided a small quan- 

 tity of dark yellowish excrement. 



ISTow the suggestion is made for the first time in the evidence in con- 

 nection with tlie United States Counter Case that this absence of this 

 sign is due to the ground being such that the excrement is soaked up. 

 While in the first place the evidence is conclusive as to the dejecta of 

 the animal that it cannot be of that character, you would not expect it 

 to be, and it is not in fact — if the Tribunal desire further information, 

 though no further information is necessary, than that contained in Mr. 

 Macoun's report there is of course the most direct testimony in regard 

 to the matter in the statement annexed to the Supplemental Eeport of 

 the British Commissioners. I do not at present refer to it because I do 

 not desire to give rise to anything as to which discussion can take place, 

 but if the Tribunal have any doubt I shall ask them to refer to it later 

 on. They can find it out for themselves in Paris without referring to 

 the supplemental Eeport. I desire to call attention to the character of 

 this; and I would direct your attention to Mr. Stanley Brown's first 

 affidavit when no suggestion had been made at any time, that either on 

 the rookeries or elsewhere, was excrement to be found. This is on 

 page 12 of the 2nd Volume of the AjDpendixto the United States Case, 

 under the heading "Eookeries": 



As a result of the volcanic origin of the islands, their shores are, with few excep- 

 tions, either made up of bowlder-strewn lawledges or covered by jagged fragment s 

 of basalt of all sizes, the sharp edges of which are only slightly worn by the seals 

 flippers or more comiiletely rounded by the waves at the water's edge. There are a 

 few true sand beaches, occasional level areas are found at the back of the rookeries, 

 and in some places between the rock masses comparatively smooth interspaces occur, 

 but even the level portions referred to must be reached by crossing a wide belt of 

 bowlders of all sizes that have been pushed landward by the waves and by the ice 

 which annually surrounds the islands. It is upon such shores that the seal "rook- 

 eries" are located. Of the ruggedness of these shores or of the irregularity "and 

 confusion of the lava blocks tliat cover them it is difiicult to form a picture, but it 

 is iu a measure indicated in the accompanying photographs". 



