ALONG THE COAST. 283 



I can not say positively as to the decrease in numbers, but I know 

 they are much, more shy now than when I com- 

 menced sealin g. Niel * Sonde, p. 316. 



In 1891 I noticed that there was a considerable decrease in the num- 

 ber of seals seen in the water; also, that they 

 were more shy and wakeful, as compared with my Henry Brown, p. 318. 

 observations in 1890. 



About six or seven years ago I commenced to notice a decrease in 

 the number of seals arriving in the straits and 

 around the cape. Peter Brown, p. 377. 



I did not see as many seals as the years previous; I left the vessel 

 in April at Victoria, British Columbia. The seals 



upon this voyage were more shy than in 1889 and Thoa. Brown, (No. i), 

 more difficult to capture. J,< 319, 



Seals used to be very plentiful around the cape and in the Strait of 

 San Juan de Fuca, but they have been rapidly 

 decreasing during the last five or six years. We Landis Callapa, p. 379. 

 were out sealing a short time ago and captured 

 but five seals. A few years ago, during the same period of time, we 

 would have caught about sixty. They are wilder now and more diffi- 

 cult to catch, and will soon be destroyed if guns are used in hunting 

 them. 



There was much less number of seals to be seen Chas. Chalall, p. 410. 

 in the North Pacific and Bering Sea in 1890 than 

 in 1888. 



Seals used to be plentiful in the straits, but for the last five or six 

 years they have become very scarce in the straits, 

 so that now we can not find any more there. We Circus Jim, p. 380. 

 used to hunt seals in canoes for about 20 miles 



out in the ocean, off Cape Flattery and up and down the coast, between 

 Greys Harbor and Barclay Sound. Seals were very plentiful along the 

 coast six or eight years ago. 



When white men or traders began coming in here with schooners 

 they offered us large inducements to go cruising 

 for seals and we commenced going further from Jm. Claplanhoo, p. 382. 

 land but did not notice any decrease in the num- 

 ber of seals each year, until about six or seven years ago, when vessels 

 with white hunters and armed with shotguns began to appear in con- 

 siderable numbers off the coast. Since that time the decrease has 

 been very rapid. 



But during the last four or five years there have not been near as 

 many coming to the strait [Of San Juan de Fuca] 



or on the coast as in former years. There are a J<™. Claplanhoo, p. 387. 

 few in the strait, but we do not hunt them now, 

 and can not secure more than one-sixth as many in a season as we used 

 to a few years ago. 



