ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 119 



Besides the above, there are a considerable number of 

 United States officials who having: occupied posts aftbid- 

 ing special opportunities for studying seal life, have from 

 time to time frequently reported and written on the sub- 

 ject to their Governments, but neither their testimony nor 

 previous Reports are in any way referred to in the United 

 States Case. Of these, Mr. H.'W. Elliott, Mr. Wash I. urn 

 Maynard, Mr. W. J. Mclntyre, and Mr. George K. Tingle 

 are the ,more imi^ortant. 



The absence of all reference to the writings or opinions of Mr. u. w. ei- 

 Mr. H. W. Elliott forms a particularly noticeable omission. '*"^*- 



From a date not long subsequent to the acquisition of 

 Alaska by the United States, Mr. Elliott has been known 

 as the principal exponent and official and unofticial writer 

 on the subject of the Pribyloft' Islands and the seals resort- 

 ing to them. 



Who Mr. Elliott is, is best told in the words of his testi- 

 mony given before the Congressional Committee: 



A. My experience covers three seasons on the Seal Islands. In the 44th Cong., ]st 

 winter of 1872-73 a Bill was pending before Congress, framed by Mr. ^«^s.' H. K. 623, 

 Boutwell, providing for the establishment of lour Treasury Agents on 

 the Seal Islands. Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, 

 148 was very desirous that some one should be sent from the Smith- 

 sonian to study the life and habits of the seals. He saw Mr. 

 Boutwell, and obtained from him jiermission to nominate a man whom 

 he should appoint as one of the Assistant Agents. Professor Baird 

 selected me. I receiveil the appointment from Mr. Boutwell, and 

 landed on the Island of St. George, 28th April, 1872. I went up there 

 with the special charge of studying the life and habits of tlie seals. 

 The question was an exceedingly interesting one, about which scien- 

 tific men had no special data, and therefore Professor Baird's interest 

 in it. I immediately went to work on the grounds from the date of 

 my landing, and I soon found that the subject was one which could 

 not be settled, as I thought it could, satisfactorily to myself, in one 

 season. I accordingly remained over, and spent the season of 1873 on 

 the sealing-grouuds on the Island of St. George in order to compare 

 my observations of that season with those of the season previous. I 

 at once saw that whatever I stated in regard to this matter would be 

 subject to criticism, and I thought it necessary to be very thorough 

 in my examination of the subject before I made a report upon it. 

 . . . In the winter of 1873 I expressed to Mr. Richardson and my 

 friends here a great desire to go to the coast of Asia to visit the 

 Russian Seal Islands in order to complete and extend my work begun 

 on our own islands. Mr. Richardson said that he had no authority to 

 send me ; that I could go only by authority of Congress. Accordingly 

 I drew up a Bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to gather 

 authentic information on that subject, and it was introduced by my 

 friends, was referred to this Committee, before which I appeared (Mr. 

 Dawes being the Chairman at the time), and referred also to the Com- 

 mittee on Commerce, belore which also I appeared, was reported 

 favourably to the House, and approved on the 22nd April, 1874. I 

 immediately received my commission, and set out in May with an 

 associate, provided for by an amendment in the Bill, the Secretary of 

 the Treasury putting the revenue-cutter "Reliance" at our joint dis- 

 posal. We, in visiting other places, paid special attention to tlie 

 Seal Islands again this year. I especially wanted to visit them at the 

 height of the breeding season. We were there twenty-eight days, 

 until. Lieutenant Maynard having expressed himself thoroughly satis- 

 tied with his investigation on the subject, we set sail for St. Matthew's 

 Island, and, after exploring that and St. Lawrence Island, we returned 

 by way of Ounalaska to San Francisco, and submitted our Reports to 

 Secretary Bristow. A few days after mine was submitted. Lieutenant 

 Maynarcl submitted his Report, the contents of which I knew nothing 

 of until lately, when it was sent to Congress, in obedience to an order 

 of the House. ... 



