ALONG THE COAST. 287 



found. At this season of the year, however, they are absent from the 

 coast hunting and fishing on the ocean. 



Seal are getting very scarce on the coast the last three or four years. 

 * * * Indian hunters can not get any more 

 in canoes, on account of the few seals that are left Kinkooga, p. 240. 

 are so far from the land. 



At every village (and. we stopped, at over nine on Vancouver Island) 

 I interrogated the Indians to the best of my ability, 

 and they all agreed there were very few seals ^ nc%s R - Kin u- S a ll > 

 now compared with the great numbers which were 

 found formerly, and that this decrease began five or six seasons ago. 



When I first began to hunt seals the females jas. Klonacket,p. 283. 

 were plenty, but now they are not so plenty. 



They were formerly much more plentiful than of late years. In the 

 early part of the season the males are most num- 

 erous, a few females being taken toward its close, Frank Korth,p. 235. 

 in the latter part of May. 



It is harder to find the pups now than it was a few years ago. There 

 does not seem to be so many of them as there used ivan Krukoff, p. 209. 

 to be. 



Seals first appear in Prince William Sound about the 1st of May, and 

 were formerly quite plentiful, while now they are oiaf Kvam, p. 236. 

 becoming constantly scarcer. 



I often converse with the masters of the vessels relative to the fur- 

 seal, and they tell me that they are scarcer each 

 year, and that it is much harder to make a voyage Jas. Laflin. p. 451. 

 than it used to be. * * * 



From my experience in dealing with the people interested in sealing, 

 and from my own personal observation, I know the seals are decreas- 

 ing very fast in Bering Sea. 



Deponent further says that by reason of his knowledge of the busi- 

 ness he knows that the number of seals has greatly ^ 

 diminished within the last five years. Herman Ltebe8 ' * 514 ' 



I have noticed in examining the skins of the northwest or " Victoria 

 catch" during the last two years that they aver- 

 age much smaller in size than they formerly did. Isaac Liebes, p. 453. 

 The large breeding cows, of which this catch used 



to contain a considerable percentage, are now almost entirely absent, 

 showing conclusively that the old stock has been exterminated, and 

 the supply upon which they are now drawing is comprised of younger 

 animals. 



From what I learned when fishing in the Bering Caleb Lindahl, p. 456. 

 Sea there are not nearly as many seals there as 

 there were ten years ago. 



