SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE. 251 



What might be the result if the seals were prevented from landing 

 to drop their young at the Pribilof Islands is wholly a matter of con- 

 jeetnre. It would seem from the testimony in the Case quite certain 

 that the pregnant females would lose their young if they were on the 

 point of delivery when reaching the islands, and if driven oft' by man, 

 or by accident; they certainly would be exposed to great danger while 

 looking for another home, even assuming this exercise of sound judg- 

 ment in extremis to be probable. Such difficulties do not, however, 

 trouble the Commissioners, who are satisfied that if they were to be de- 

 barred from reaching the islands now chiefly resorted to for breeding 

 purposes, they would speedily seek out other places upon which to give 

 birth to their young. (Report of British Commissioners, Sec. 28.) 



This is based upon " experience recorded elsewhere." We fail to find 

 any such recorded experience which would justify so wild an assertion. 

 On the contrary, it appears that when the heavy females have been 

 debarred by ice from the land they were delivered in the water and 

 the yonng j>erished. 



The experience of the South Sea seals is directly opposed to this 

 theory. Exclusion from their usual haunts meant destruction. Why 

 did they not when shut off from the resort of their choice seek out a 

 new home, with the proper conditions of climate, soil, and food, to take 

 the place of the old home from which man had driven them? We know 

 of no reasonable theory upon which it may be plausibly argued that 

 the Pribilof seals would, under the like circumstances, act differently. 



III. — Movements of the Seals After the Birth of the Young-. 



It being conceded that the fur-seals known as the Alaska seals breed, 

 "at least for the most part" (Report of British Commissioners, Sec. 

 27), on the Pribilof Islands in summer, it becomes important to know 

 what their movements may be after the birth of the young. There is 

 no very material difference between the statements of the Commis- 

 sioners of the respective governments on this point. 



The breeding males begin to arrive on the Pribilof Islands at vary- 

 ing dates in May and remain continuously ashore for about three 

 months, after which they are freed from all duties on the breeding 

 rookeries and only occasionally return to the shores. The breeding 

 females arrive, for the most part, nearly a month later, bearing their 

 young immediately on landing, and remain ashore, jealously guarded 

 by the males, for several weeks, after which they take every oppor- 

 tunity to play in the water close along the beaches, and about a month 



