296 cause. 



There was never while T have been upon the islands any scarcity of 



vigorous bulls, there always being a sufficient 



Danl. Webster, p. 181. number to fertilize all the cows coming to the 



islands. It was always borne in mind by those 



on the islands that a sufficient number of males must be preserved for 



breeding purposes, and this accounts partly for the lowering of the 



standard weight of skins in 1888. The season of 1891 showed that male 



seals had certainly been in sufficient number the year before, because 



the pups on the rookeries were as many as should be for the number of 



cows landing, the ratio being the same as in former years. Then, too, 



there was a surplus of vigorous bulls in 1891 who could obtain no cows. 



During the season of 1891 nearly every mature female coming upon 

 the rooke es gave birth to a young seal, and 



W. H. Williams, p. 94. there was great abundance of males of sufficient 

 age to again go upon the breeding grounds that 

 year, as was shown by the inability of large numbers of them to secure 

 more than one to five cows each, while quite a number could secure 

 none at all. My investigation confirms what has been so often said by 

 others who have reported upon this subject, and that is that the Pribi- 

 lof Islands are the great breeding grounds of the fur seals, and that 

 they can be reared in great numbers on said islands, and at the same 

 time, under wise ami judicious restrictions, a certain number of male 

 seals can be killed from year to year without injury to the breeding 

 herds, ami their skins disposed of for commercial purposes, thereby 

 building up and perpetuating this great industry indefinitely, and thus 

 adding to the wealth, happiness, and comfort of the civilized world, 

 while, on the other hand, if the pelagic hunting of this animal is to 

 continue, and the barbarous practice of killing the mother seal with 

 her unborn young, or when she is rearing it, is to go on, it will be but 

 a very short time before the fur seal will practically become extiuct and 

 this valuable industry will pass out of existence. 



RAIDS ON ROOKERIES NOT THE CAUSE. 



Page 174 of The Case. 



It may be worth while to add that the suggestion has been made 

 Report of American that the decrease in the number of seals is due to 

 Commissioners, p. 378 of piratical raids upon the islands themselves dur- 

 Tl " ' " s <- ing the breeding season. 



While it is unquestionably true that such raids have occasionally 

 occurred during the past, and that some skins have been obtained in 

 that way, the number of these is so trilling in comparison with the 

 annual pelagic catch as not to affect in any way the question under 

 consideration. It is also difficult for one familiar with the rookeries 

 and habits of the seal to conceive of a raid being made without its 

 becoming known to the officers in charge of the operations upon the 

 islands. The " raid theory," therefore, may be dismissed as unworthy, 

 in our judgment, of serious consideration. 



III. The statistics which I have examined, as well as all the inquiries 

 made, show that in the raids upon the rookeries 

 J. Stanley Brown, p. 18. themselves by marauders the loss of seal life has 

 been too unimportant to play any part in the de- 

 struction of the breeding grounds. The inhospitable shores, the expo- 



