184 



a particular nation is the only or tlie best mode of preseivinc^ to mr.n a 

 gift of nature, then the world is not interested in breaking it down in 

 order simply that a iew, whose methods of utilizing that gift will 

 surely destroy it, may realize slight temporary gain. Tlie natioi.s do 

 not begrudge the enjoyment by Great Britain and some of its colonies 

 of a monopoly in pearl and other fisheries off their respective coasts, 

 far out in the open sea beyond territorial waters. And so of the coral 

 in which France and Italy are interested, and of the fisheries on 

 which the prosperity of Norway so nmch depends. 



This case, then, although new in its special circumstances, because 

 relating to animals wliich, in many respects, are unlike all other 

 known animals, is not, to use the words of Chief Justice Holt, new in 

 the reason or principles of it. 



Bringing together tlie principal facts, and the conclusions arising 

 from them, the case presented by the United States, and upon which it 

 asks a judgment at the hands of this Tribunal sustaining its claini to 

 own these seals, not only while they are at their breeding grounds, bat 

 when temporarily absent therefrom in the high seas in quest of food, is 

 as follows: 



{a) This race of animals is exhaustible in number and is valuable for 

 imrposes of raiment and food. They are not a ])rodu('t of the sea, for 

 they are conceived on land, can not be conceived in the ocean, and must, 

 of necessity, come into existence, and for a considerable part of each 

 year abide, upon land. 



(b) When away from their land home it is for temporary purposes, 

 and with the absolute certainty that, unless waylaid and killed by pela- 

 gic sealers, while they are beyond territorial waters, they will return to 

 that home at a particular time, and remain there for several months, 

 in every year, during which a proper proportion of their increase 

 can be readily taken, leaving the herd unimpaired in its integrity. 



(c) The land on which they were born — tiie islands of St. Paul and St. 

 George — became tlie property of tlie United States in 18G7, and has 

 been maintained for more than a century, fiist, by Eussia, and after- 

 wards by the United States, exclusively as the habitation of this race, 

 to which they could resort, in safety, and to which for a period so long- 

 that tbe memory of man runneth not to the contrary, they liave 

 regularly resorted, for the purpose of breeding and rearing their young, 

 and of renewing their coats of far. 



{d) While on the islands, during the breeding season , they nre protected 



