276 ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and lie had never seen any dead pups on the rookeries, except the few- 

 killed by the old bulls when fighting or by drowning when the surf 

 washed them oft' (ibid., p. 100). He states that four or five days after the 

 birth of the pup the mother seal leaves her offspring and goes away in 

 the sea to feed, and when the pup is two or three weeks old the mother 

 often stays away five or six days at a time. 



William C. Bennett (ibid., p. 35G) had been a seal-hunter all his 

 life; he was 32 years old at the time of deposing. He had hunted the 

 seal with spear and sometimes with a shotgun. Most of the seals taken 

 by him were cows. He thought that the cows slept more and are more 

 easily approached. The sex of the seal not being ascertainable in the 

 water, he shot everything that came near his boat, and when the seal is 

 shot dead it sinks very quick and is hard to secure under those condi- 

 tions. He also agreed with the other witnesses that seals were decreas- 

 ing in number very fast, and he attributed this to the indiscriminate 

 killing in the water. 



Joseph Stanley-Brown, a geologist, whose testimony on other points 

 has heretofore been given attention, says: 



For the first few days, and possibly for a week or even ten days, the 

 female is able to nourish her young or offspring, but she is soon com 

 pelled to seek the sea for food, that her voracious young feeder may be 

 properly nourished, and this seems to be permitted on the part of the 

 male though under protestation. The whole physical economy of the 

 seal seems to be arranged for alternate feasting and fasting, and it is 

 probable that in the early days of its life the young seal might be 

 amply nourished by such milk as the mother might herself afford 

 without resorting herself to the sea for food. 



John C.Cantwell (ibid., p. 408), second lieutenant in the United States 

 Bevenue Marine, had been on duty in Behring Sea during the years 

 1884, 1885, 1880, and 1801. He had paid particular attention to the 

 seals and whenever opportunity offered had visited the rookeries for 

 the purpose of photographing and sketching the animal, etc. He had 

 boarded a large number of vessels fitted out as sealers and engaged in 

 sealing, and had conversed with the masters and crews on the subject 

 of pelagic sealing. This is his testimony: 



From information gathered from these and other sources, and by com- 

 parison of testimony given by the seal hunters, would say that at least 

 00 per cent of seals killed or wounded escape and are never recovered, 

 and that 75 per cent of seals shot in the jSTorth Pacific Ocean are fe- 

 males heavy with young, and that 80 per cent, of seals shot in Behring 

 Sea from July 1 to September 15 are females, most of which have 

 given birth to their young, and are mostly caught while feeding at vari- 

 ous distances from land. 



