128 



of the seals killed or seriously wouiuled in tlie open sea eaii in tliis 

 maiiuer be caught. We are therefore i)ersuaded that a ijrohibition of 

 pelagic sealing is a necessarij condition for the prevention of the total 

 extermination of the far seal.''"' U. S. Case, Vol. f App. 4^8. 



Prof. Middendorf, an eminent scientist of Russia: "The method of 

 treating these animals which was originally adopted by the IJussiaur- 

 Americau Company at their home on the Pribilof Islands is still con- 

 tinued in the same rational manner, and has, for more than half a cen- 

 tury, been found to be excellent, both on account of the large number 

 of seals taken and because they are not exterminated. So long as super- 

 fluous young males are killed, not oidy the existence but even the 

 increase of the herd is assured." U. S. Case, Vol. 1, App. 430. 



Prof. Holub, of Prague, Austria-Hungary: "If the pelagic seahng 

 of the fur seal is carried on still longer^ as it has been executed dur- 

 ing the last years, the pelagic sealing as a business matter and a 'liv- 

 ing' will soon cease by the full extermination of this useful animal." 

 U. 8. Case, Vol. 1, App. 133. 



The abundance of fur seals at the Island of Juan Fernandez two 

 hundred years ago is shown by Dampier, who visited that island in 

 1083. In his Voyage Around the World, 5th ed., 1713, Vol. 1, pp. SS, 

 90, it is said: 



"Seals swarm as thick about this island (of John Fernando, as he 

 terms it) as if they had uo other plat^e in the world to live in; for there 

 is not a bay nor rock that one can get ashore on but is full of them* 

 * * * Those at John Fernando'' s have tine, thick, short fur; 



the like I have not taken notice of anywhere but in these seas. Here 

 are always thousands, I might say possibly millions of them, either 

 sitting on the bays or going and coming in the sea around the island, 

 which is covered with them (as they lie at the top of the water playing 

 and sunning themselves) for a mile or two from the shore. When 

 they come out of the sea they bleat like sheep for their young, and 

 though they pass through hundreds of other young ones before they 

 come to their own, yet they will not sutler any of them to suck. The 

 young ones are like puppies, and lie nuuih ashore, but Avhen beaten by 

 any of us they, as well as the old ones, will make towards the sea, and 

 swim very swift and nimble, tho' on shore they lie very sluggishly, and 

 will not go out of our way unless we beat them, but snap at us. A 

 blow on the nose soon kills them. Large ships might here load them- 

 selves with sealskins and traneoyl; for they are extraordinarily fat." 



