SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE. 235 



Mr. Thomas F. Morgan was the agent, in 1891, of the Eussian Sealskin 

 Company of Petersburg. Prior to that time he had been engaged in 

 seal fishing; he resided several years, as agent of the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company, on the Pribilof Islands. His long and varied experience 

 fitted him in an especial manner to testify intelligently on the subject. 

 He says (ibid., p. 61): 



The Alaska fur-seal breeds, I am thoroughly convinced, only upon the 

 Pribilof Islands; that 1 have been on the Alaska coast and also along 

 the Aleutian Islands; that at no points have I ever observed seals haul 

 out on land except at the Pribilof Islands, nor have I been able to 

 obtain any authentic information which causes me to believe such is 

 the case. 



The Alaska fur-seal is migratory, leaving the Pribilof Islands in the 

 early winter, going southward into the Pacific and returning again in 

 May, June, and July to said islands. I have observed certain bull 

 seals return year after year to the same place on the rookeries, and I 

 have been informed by natives that have lived on the islands that this 

 is a well-known fact and has been observed by them so often that they 

 stated it as an absolute fact. 



It is also interesting to note, from his supplemental sworn statement, 

 that the British Commissioners had some testimony to show that there 

 was no identity between the herds (ibid., p. 201) : 



I was on the Bering Island at the same time that Sir George Baden- 

 Powell and Dr. George M. Dawson, the British representatives of the 

 Bering Sea Joint Commission, were upon said island investigating the 

 Bussian sealeries upon the Komandorski Islands; that I was present 

 at an examination, which said Commissioners held, of Sniegeroff, the 

 chief of the natives on the Bering Island, who, prior to the cession of 

 the Pribilof Islands by Russia to the United States, had resided on St. 

 Paul, one of the said Pribilof Islands, and that since that time had 

 been a resident on said Bering Island, and during the latter part of 

 said residence had occupied the position of native chief, and as such, 

 superintended the taking and killing of fur-seals on said Bering 

 Island; that during said examination the Commissioners, through an 

 interpreter, asked said Sniegeroff if there was any difference between 

 the seals found on the Pribilof Islands and the seals found on the 

 Komandorski Islands; that said Sniegeroff at once replied that there 

 was a difference, and on further questioning stated that such difference 

 consisted in the fact that the Komandorski Island seals were a slimmer 

 animal in the neck and flank than the Pribilof Island seals; and fur- 

 ther, that both hair and fur of the Komandorski Island seal were 

 longer than the Pribilof Island seal; said Commissioners ;isked said 

 Sniegeroff the further question whetl er he believed that the Pribilof 

 herd and Komandorski herd ever mingled, and he replied that he did 

 not. 



Mr. John IN". Lofstad (ibid., p. 516,) a fur merchant of San Francisco, 

 testifies that he can easily distinguish the Copper Island seal in its 



