102 ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



seals, that resulting from sinking alone becomes reduced 

 (on a much larger number of seals) to about 3.1 per cent. 

 See remarks iu A further reference is then made by the United States 

 Caiefp. m'"^*^'^^'^ ^^^ omission by the British Commissioners of any sta- 

 tistics respecting tlie loss of wounded seals which may 

 escape capture. This is a subject upon which it is evi- 

 dently imi)ossible to obtain precise figures. The Commis- 

 sioners' reference in this connection to the number of shots 

 found in seals killed upon the Pribyloft' Islands is next 

 criticized. It is said : 



Page 98. The notion that the carcass of every seal killed on the islands is 



searched for encysted bullets is sufficiently absurd, but it seems to be 

 assumed in the reasoning of the Commissioners. 



British Com- It will, howevcr, be found, on referring to this allusion 

 port, parr628^^ by the Commissioners, that allowance was made for the 

 causes referred to by the United States. 

 British Conn- III later Statements published in connection with the 

 tercaso, pp.192, j^^.j^j^l^ Couutcr Casc, carc has been taken to obtain all 

 information possible on the subject of seals shot and 

 wounded, and which escape; and though, as above noted, 

 dix^'voi fi^^pp'^^ ^'^ ^ subject not susceptible of accurate numerical treat- 

 ii-i:;. ' nient, the number so lost is found to be exceedingly small. 

 tefc'ise'^ coun- Still further, as stated'in the British Counter-Case, it is 

 ase.p. . ^^^ known that the loss of a certain proportion of wounded 

 wild animals has ever previously been advanced as a reason 

 lor the disuse of the gun as a means of taking such 

 animals. 

 United states 125 Mr. Towuscud, who was attached to the steamer 



Ap^Hmiix^'^pp' " Corwin " during the summer of 1892, volunteered 



39i,2io. ' " to act as seal-hunter, and is quoted in supi)ort of the asser- 

 tion made by the United States, that the number of seals 

 lost by wounding is great. His expeiiments as a " pelagic 

 sealer " are too few and too unskilled to afltbrd any useful 

 evidence on the subject. 

 Ibid., p. 395. j^ part, at least, of Mr. Townsend's loss by wounding is 

 accounted for when he says, referring to the wounded seals 

 which escaped : 



At first I blamed the ineffectual firing of the cartridges, but the 

 cartridges proved all right as soon as I learned to aim at the head, 

 and not at the animal as a whole. 



^^ihid., p. 208 et ^j^ analysis of Captain Hooper's Keport, and the Table 



accom])anying it, shows that between the 27th July and 



the loth August, when one of the seal-hunters carried by 



Cmffl to^r'^cVs^e'' ^^^ " t^orwiu " was iu Unalaska, and the other was unwell. 



Appendix, vol. i] Mr. Townscud and a quartermaster acted as hunters and 



^■^''^' took eighteen seals, losing four by sinking. These four 



were killed from the dingy, a small, clumsy ship's boat, in 



no way adapted for seal hunting, in charge of a man with 



t^.'"^)'','!.!! v^?.?,"?" one day's exi)erience as a seal hunter. Between the 10th 



ter Cii.se, Appen- .71 



dix, voLii.p. 134. August and the 21st August eighteen seals were captured 

 by Hodgson the seal-hunter; in taking these he h)st but 

 one by sinking, of which he says: "That one I shot at a 

 long distance, from 45 to 50 yards." Five other seals were 

 taken during this time, but by whom is not stated, i)resum- 

 ably by Mr. Townsend or the " quartermaster," and one 



