274 ORAL ARGUMENT OP CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, Q. C. 



Senator Morgan. — In the Georgian Cliannel. 



Mr. Robinson. — I am not quite certain of tbe position of Barclay 

 Sound. I know it is a sound on the coast of Vancouver Island. 



Senator Morgan. — To go into the Straits of Georgia the seals would 

 have to go throngh some of the openings in the Pacific Ocean, the 

 Straits of Fuca, or some other opening. 



Mr. KoBiNSON. — Yes; they would have to go through the straits of 

 Juan de Fuca. I have the location now. I was wrong. It is in the 

 southwest corner of Vancouver Island, opening on the ocean. 



The President. — Do the seals ever go in fresh water"? 



Mr. EoBiNSON. — I have never heard of it. I have seen them in 

 brackish water. I cannot say more than that. It may be known to 

 some of the members of the Tribunal that tlie water in the St. Law- 

 rence is brackish until you get a considerable distance down. 



Senator Morgan. — Do you refer to the fur-seal? 



Mr. EoBiNSON. — Oh no; the hair seals. There are no fur-seals on 

 the Atlantic Coast that I ever heard of. 



The President. — Do they require salt water? 



Mr. Robinson. — i!^o; they do not require saltwater. I think that 

 in the Zoological gardens tliey are not always supplied with it; and I 

 have seen them high enough up to say that they go into water that is 

 not quite salt. That is the hair seals. I do not know anything about 

 the fur-seals. 



We have all this evidence collected; and it is given by 27 white 

 hunters and a large number of Indian hunters — I should think some 

 30 or 40. Several Indians refer to the fur-seals following the herring 

 into the bays. All this evidence is to be found in Appendix II to the 

 British Counter-Case; and I shall read to the Tribunal some few 

 extracts to show the character of it. I have it all here and I could give 

 it to the Tribunal either verbally, the whole of it, or put it in writing, 

 as would be most convenient, so that all of it would be before them. 

 I do not think it would be wise, or that there would be any sufficient 

 object in it for me to detain you while I read all the aflidavits. I merely 

 mean to read one or two or half a dozen as specimens of the whole; 

 and then I can either give you the names of the others or give you the 

 printed list, whichever may be found most convenient. 



For example, at page 43 of that Counter Case there is a man named 

 Petit, one of the white hunters. He says: 



I have seen seals opened and find in them salmon, cod, and sometimes squid. 



At the same page, another man, Abner Sinclair, speaks to the same 

 effect : 



Seals eat cod, salmon and squid; more squid than either of the others from what 

 I have seen. 



A man named Luke McGrath, of the city of Victoria, at page 46, now 

 a hunter in the "Dora Diewind", a sealing schooner, says: 



I h.ave found that seals eat salmon principally along the coast, but squid princi- 

 pally in Behring Sea ; cod also. 



Then Ralph Starrat, at page 48 of the British Counter Case, says: 



The jirincipal food of the seal along the coast is salmon; but they eat any kind of 

 fish. 



The President. — Is that in the Counter Case or the Appendix? 



Mr. Robinson. — It is in the Appendix to the Counter Case, Vol- 

 ume II. You will find that our Appendix to the Counter Case is 

 arranged in this way, may say, Mr. President: From page 43 to 139 



