192 OKAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M. P. 



would be 15 days. Of course, if she bad strong gales always blowing 

 from the Southward and Eastw^ard, she might go quicker; but what 

 happens then "? That would mean 15 days' waste if she has to go straight 

 up and is not sealing on the way. The experience, as appears trom the 

 United States Commissioners' lvej)ort, is that the sealers come out when 

 they can along the coast and do harm, as 1 have admitted, in the months 

 of February, March and April in that coast catch. It is entirely for 

 the Tribunal. In making these suggestions we have not been guided 

 by any feeling of trying to get the best possible bargain that could be 

 suggested for the British Sealer. In making these suggestions we have 

 considered, that looking to the practice of sealing and the way in which 

 done, the result of such Regulation would be that the female herd would 

 be well into Behring Sea before they could be attacked by the pelagic 

 sealer, and you know, of course, that in Behring Sea they will be safe 

 until the 1st of July, and always safe within 30 miles of the Islands. 



iSTow, the next suggestion my attention was asked to was, whether 

 there was not evidence of sealing in the passes of the Aleutian Islands. 

 There certainly is not beyond the instance I mentioned of a native who 

 resided near one of those passes; but I stated m^y answer, on informa- 

 tion from the British Commissioners' Report, was that the character of 

 the Passes was such that no pelagic sealing was really practicable in 

 them. My attention has been called to Captain Hooper's affidavit on 

 this point in the United States Counter Case, at page 232 : 



Systematic observations of tlie movements of the seals iu tlie Pacific Ocean, near 

 the passes, at this season of the year is impracticable. 



Lord Hannen. — What season is he speaking of? 



Sir Richard Webster. — He is speaking of the season when the 

 seals are passing through, if you look a little further up. 



General Poster. — It is dated the 30th of November. 



Senator Morgan. — It is in the winter. 



Sir Richard Webster. — I will show that it makes no difference to 

 the point I am upon. This is the description of Captain Hooper's. 



Almost constant gales and thick weather prevail. In the influence of the strong 

 current though the passes the sea is very rough. 



that would not depend on the season, the strong current. 



And even were it possilde for a vessel to remain there, few, if auy, seals would be 

 seen. Under such circumstances the seals travel very fast and remain under water 

 except when forced to come to the surface to breathe, and then only the nose is pro- 

 truded ab(jve the water for a moment. In bad weather on the sealing grounds in the 

 Pacific and Behring Sea the seals disappear so entirely that the Indian seal hunters 

 (erroneously) believe they go to the bottom and remain there until the weather 

 becomes better. 



My point is quite independent of the particular season in which that 

 was observed. It is clear from Captain Hooper's description of the 

 Passes, I am sure that nobody, without evidence at any rate, would 

 assume that sealing in such a place was practicable. 



But Mr. Elliott in writing to Mr. Bayard, on the 3rd of December, I 

 am reading from the 50th Congress Reports, 2nd Session of 1889, Execu- 

 tive Document N" 100, page 95, — a part of the letter is cited in the third 

 Appendix but this is not, — he says: 



Therefore, if you will glance at the Map of Alaska, you will observe that the con- 

 vergence and divergence of these watery paths of the fur-seal in Behring Sea to and 

 from the Seal Islands resembles the s]iread of the spokes of a half- wheel; the Aleu- 

 tian Chain forms the felloe, while the hub into which these spokes enter is the small 

 Pribilof Group. Thus, you can see that as these watery paths of the fur-seal con- 

 verge in Behring Sea, they in so doing rapidly and solidly mass together thousands 

 and tens of thousands of widely 'scattered animals as they travel at points 50 and 

 even 100 miles distant from the Rookeries of the Seal Islands. 



