268 ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED .STATES. 



age, had been engaged in driving seals, clubbing and skinning them 

 ever since he was able to work; he says (Appendix to Case of the 

 United States, Vol. II, p. 103): 



Schooners kill cows, pups die, and seals are gone. Some men tell 

 me last year, "Karp, seals arc sick." I know seals are not sick; I 

 never seen a sick seal, and 1 cat seal meat every day of my life. * * * 

 No big seals die unless we club them; only pups die when starved, 

 after the cows are shot at sea. When we used to kill pups for food in 

 November they were always full of milk; the pups that die on the 

 rookeries have no milk. The cows go into the sea to feed after the 

 pups are born, and the schooner men shoot them all the time. 



The same rule as to exclusive nursing of her own pups by the cow 

 is proven to exist in the Antarctic regions by Mr. Comer. 



George Comer (ibid., p. 598) says: 



I have never seen a "clap-match" suckling more than one pup, and 

 it is my impression that a "clap-match" would not nurse any pup except 

 her own, for I have seen her throw other pups aside and pick out one 

 particular one from the whole number on the rookery. 



Anton Melovedoff, a native of Alaska, testifies as follows (ibid., p. 



144): 



When the pup is born it is utterly helpless and would drown if put 

 into water. Those born nearest the water are often drowned in the 

 surf when the sea is rough in stormy weather. When the pup is a few 

 days old the cow goes into the sea to feed and as the pup grows older 

 the cow will stay longer and longer until sometimes she will be away 

 for a week. When the cows return they go to their own pups, nor will 

 a cow suckle any pup but her own. The pups would suck any cow 

 that would let them, for they do not seem to know one cow from another. 



H. H. Mclntyre, to whose valuable deposition attention has been 

 heretofore called, uses this language (ibid., p. 41): 



At this time they are simply land animals, with less aquatic instinct 

 and less ability to sustain themselves in water than newly hatched 

 ducklings. When the pups are a few days old the mothers leave them 

 (generally soon after coition upon the rookeries with the old male) to 

 go to the feeding grounds, returning at intervals of one to three or four 

 days to suckle their young. The pups do not appear to recognize their 

 own dams, but the mother distinguishes her own offspring with un- 

 erring accuracy and allows no other to draw her milk. 



Louis Kimmel, at one time assistant Treasury agent on St. George 

 Island and a resident of that place for over one year, testifies as fol- 

 lows (ibid,, p. 174): 



A cow never suckles any but her own pup. When a strange pup 

 approaches a cow she will drive it away from her, and out of thousands 

 of pups huddled together she will single her own. It is my opinion 

 that if a mother is killed oft her offspring dies of starvation. 



