THE DEPONENTS AND THEIR EXPERIENCE. 41 



J. D. McDonald, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 

 Sitka. Own and command the sealing schooner 

 Adventure. Am by occupation a miner and bun- > f - D- McDonald, p. 266. 

 ter. Have been engaged in sealing two years. 

 Have bunted from San Francisco to Kadiak. 



H. H. Mclntyre, of Randolph, Orange County, Vt., on being duly 

 sworn, deposes and says, concerning the fur-seals 

 of Alaska, and matters relative thereto, as follows : H - H. Mclntyre, p. 40. 

 I am a native of Vermont, 48 years old, com- 

 missioner from Vermont to the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, 

 etc. In the years 1S68 and 1809 I was special United States Treas- 

 ury agent, assigned to duty in Alaska, and from 1870 to 1889, inclusive, 

 superintendent of the seal fisheries of Alaska for the lessees. I spent 

 ten months as special Treasury agent, from November, 18(58, to August, 

 1809, in inquiry concerning the fur-seal fisheries then recently acquired 

 from Russia, with a view to advising the Government of the United 

 States what disposition should be made of them, and to this end visited 

 all the principal points along the northwest coast of the American con- 

 tinent from Vancouver's Island to the most westerly island of the 

 Aleutian Archipelago, the Pribilof group, and points along the Bering- 

 Sea coast. 



As superintendent of the seal fisheries I visited the seal islands twice 

 in the summer of 1870; remained constantly thereon from April, 1871, 

 until September, 1872, and thereafter went to the islands every summer 

 from 1873 until 1889, inclusive, excepting 1883, 1884, and 1885. I usu- 

 ally remained on the islands about four months, from May until August, 

 in each season, supervising the annual seal catch, examining the condi- 

 tions of seal lite, studying the habits of the seals, and, in brief, doing 

 such work as the interests of the lessees seemed to demand. I also 

 went twice to London, first in 1872 and again in 1880, to attend the fur- 

 seal trade sales, with a view to becoming more thoroughly acquainted 

 with the demands of the seal-skin market. My duties as such special 

 Treasury agent and superintendent demanded and received my atten- 

 tion to every detail of seal life and its relation to commerce. In the 

 execution of these duties I was constantly aided by able, intelligent 

 assistants and native seal hunters, whose daily observations and reports 

 were from time to time communicated to me. 



H. W. Mclntyre, having been duly sworn, de- Hi w , Mclntyre, p. 134. 

 poses and says: I am an American citizen, a na- 

 tive of the State of Vermont; my age is 57 years; I am a resident of 

 Vina, Tehama County, California, and by occupation general manager 

 of Senator Leland Stanford's Vina ranch and Palo Alto vineyard. In the 

 year 1871 I entered the service of the Alaska Commercial Company, and 

 was assigned to duty at the Pribilof group of islands in Bering Sea, first 

 in the capacity of chief mechanic, and later as resident agent in charge 

 of the island of St. Paul. 



I left San Francisco for Alaska early in April of 1871, and arrived at 

 St. Paul Island about the beginning of May the same year, on which 

 island I resided continuously until the close of the sealing season of the 

 year 1881, leaving there in the month of August, except that I was ab- 

 sent on leave during a portion of the winter season in 1874, 1877, and 

 1880. During the period of my residence I visited the islands of St. 



