130 OEAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M. P. 



Eeport, that if ]^r. Dawsou and Sir George Baden Powell liad found 

 the fact of excreta on these rookeries they would not have stated it. 

 ]i^ very single fact they did discover in this matter, however it told — and 

 there was no reason to think it would tell in their favor at the time they 

 made this Keport — they have stated every single fact in the case as it 

 came to their knowledge without bias or colour. 



Now at ParagrajDh 260 they say ; 



It appears possible to meution only two conditions "which have been avoided by 

 the seals in the choice of their rookery grounds: these are mnd and loose sand. On 

 muddy ground the fur is doubtless apt to become uncomfortably clotted, and the 

 sand if driven by the wind or splashed about by rain is probably also irritating to 

 them. Shifting sandy ground besides renders the always clumsy locomotion of the 

 seal when upon the land additionally difficult; but it may be noted that sandy 

 beaches appear to be well liked by the seals when they haul out temporarily, and 

 are not actually established for breeding purposes. On most of tlie rookery grounds, 

 away from the actual beach, the character of the soil is such that it becomes beaten 

 down between the projecting rocks into a hard and nearly smooth lloor, a circum- 

 stance which depends in part on the incorporation with it from year to year of the 

 felted hair which is shed by the seals themselves during the stagey season. 



Then at Paragraph 256 sub paragraph 4, they say : 



Beef Eoolceries. — Occupying both sides of the outer part of the long promontory 

 known as Reef Point, and facing to the north-west and south-east. The north- 

 western slope, often called Garbotch, is rather steep, and a part of the rookery 

 ground occupied on this side consists of a narrow fringe of rocky shore overlooked 

 by low basaltic cliffs. A narrow ridge, which is worn bare and occupied as a haul- 

 ing ground by holluschickie in the early part of the season, and is frequented by 

 all classes of seals at a later period, separates the northwestern Irom the south- 

 eastern side of Reef Point. On the south-east side there is a wide border of flat land 

 but little elevated above the tide, upon which the greater part of the seals of the 

 reef rookeries is found. Almost the whole of the rookery ground of the reef is plen- 

 tifully strewn with angular masses of rock, though occasional smooth spaces also 

 occur. The higher parts of the Reef Point consist very largely of a bed of volcanic 

 scoriae, lying compact and much in its original state, and forming a iine hard surface 

 considerably diiferent from that found on most of the rookeries. 



So there you have the statement, made from independent sources, 

 that the character of the ground between is either rock, or else it is 

 beaten down hard ground. 



Senator Morgan. — That is in the rookeries proper? 



Sir KiCHARD Webster. — That is in the rookeries proper. 



Senator Morgan. — How do the holluschickie haul out? 



Sir Richard Webster. — They haul out on ground practically speak- 

 ing beaten down by the lying upon it, and which consists to a large 

 extent of seal hair and fibre toughened from the pressure of years and 

 centuries. 



Senator Morgan.— The holluschickie do? 



Sir Richard Webster. — Yes. It is also hard, although not the 

 same kind of hardness as would apply to the rocky formation of the 

 rookery and it is the fact that upon the rookeries with this abundant 

 opportunity of examination, no trace of anything of the kind has been 

 found. 



Now this is what Mr. Stanley Brown says at page 387 of the United 

 States Counter Case. There is nothing iu his original affidavits con- 

 tradicting the universal testimony and no evidence upon this point 

 from persons of experience contradicting what I have stated. 



The presence of excremeutitious matter upon the breeding rookeries is recognized 

 both by sight and smell. It is of a yellowish color, and though much of it is 

 excreted it is of such a liquid consistency that it is quickly rubbed into and mingled 

 with the soil, and thereafter its existence can only be noticed through the discolora- 

 tion of the soil and the offensive odour. The latter is readily detected at a distance 



