124 



of female seals killed and wounded was more than double tlie number 

 of skins that were taken. There is also as little doubt that two-thirds 

 of the females killed or fatally wounded were gravid, and on their way 

 to the islands to be delivered of their young; and each seal in that 

 condition was then the repository of two lives that were thus destroyed; 

 the unborn pups being 99,862. 



This number, addin.f? the number taken 73, 394 



And the number killed and wounded, but not taken 220, 182 



And the unborn pups of the 146,794 females killed or fatally wounded 99,862 



Givesa total of 393,438 



How can it be said that, on the evidence in this case, this is not a 

 true and safe estimate of the result of the work of destruction wrought 

 by 122 sealing vessels in 1892, in the North Pacific while they were 

 limited to those waters by the modus vivendi of 1891? 



Reduce this estimate if you will by one-half and make it only 

 196,714 seals of all conditions and sexes that are killed, and the num- 

 ber destroyed is nearly twice as great as the number of seals that 

 were killed and recovered in 1892. Until these facts are changed or 

 expunged from the record, I can find no occasion for examining in this 

 opinion the minor details that relate to other seasons. These facts, 

 if they are to be repeated indefinitely, destroy all hope of preserving 

 these seals. 



The year 1892 with its actual experiences stands nearest to 1893, and 

 is the safest, as it is the most complete, guide to the truth of the situ- 

 ation. I therefore take that year, with its ascertained facts and 

 results, as the chief basis of my objections to the schemes of regu- 

 lations proposed by Great Britain and departed from and modified, but 

 scarcely improved, by the plan of Sir John Thompson. 



That Sir John has found it necessary to depart from the British 

 proposals is a grave concession, especially in the point so earnestly 

 contested by Great Britain, that this Tribunal has no jurisdiction out- 

 side of Behring Sea. He proposes a zone of absolute prohibition of 

 pelagic sealing of 10 miles around the Aleutian Islands. 



In considering regulations as they may be shaped and modified by 

 other considerations than the method that will best protect and pre- 

 serve the particular class of fur-seals placed under the protection of 

 this Tribunal by the treaty (if we are to take such liberties with our 

 powers), the Tribunal must, in justice, examine into the rights of the 

 pelagic sealers of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean and in Ber- 



