SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 537 



and Bering Islands. All the skins so eaught have been sold by de- 

 ponent's firm in the city of London, and the total number of such 

 "Copper" catch from the year 1872 to 1892 appears upon the statement 

 which is hereto annexed and marked Exhibit B, showing the total so 

 sold during- such years of 7(38,090 skins. 



The "Northwest" catch, being the skins of seals caught in the open 

 sea either of the Pacific Ocean or of the Bering Sea. These skins were 

 originally caught exclusively by the Indians and by residents of the 

 colony of Victoria and along the coast of the British Possessions. A 

 statement of the total number of the catch from the year 1808 to 1884, 

 inclusive, is appended hereto and marked Exhibit C, showing a total 

 of 153,348. That statement is divided into three heads: First, the 

 salted "Northwest" coast skins; second, the dried "Northwest" coast 

 skins, both ofwhicli were mainly sold through deponent's firm in London; 

 and third, salted "Northwest" coast skins, dressed and dyed in London, 

 but not sold there. It will be noticed that in the years 1871 and 1872 

 an unusually large proportion of dried skins appear to have been mar- 

 keted. Those skins were purchased in this year from the Russian 

 American Company, which was the lessee of the Russian Government 

 on the Pribilof Islands prior to the cession of Kussian America to the 

 United States. Those skins had been accumulated by the Kussian 

 Company and sold when the Americans took possession. For the years 



1871 and 1872, therefore, the surplus skins over the average for the 

 other years should be rejected in a computation of the general average 

 of seals killed during the years from 1808 to 1884, inclusive. 



From the year 1885 to the year 1891 the number of skins included in 

 the "Northwest" catch enormously increased, and a statement of such 

 skins is hereto annexed and marked Exhibit D, showing a total of 

 331,962, and is divided, like the statement marked Exhibit C, into three 

 heads: The salted Northwest coast skins, the dry Northwest coast 

 skins, and the salted skins dressed and dyed in London, but not sold 

 there. The majority of the first two classes were, as in the previous 

 case sold by deponent's firm. The great majority of these skins appear- 

 ing in the last-mentioned statement are the skins caught by vessels 

 sent out from the Canadian provinces; many also by vessels sent out 

 from San Francisco, Port Townsend, and Seattle; and a few from vessels 

 sent out from Yokohama; the majority, however, are supposed to have 

 been caught by vessels sent out from British harbors. A large num- 

 ber of the skins included in Exhibit D have been consigned to C. M. 

 Lampson and Co., by the firm of Herman Liebes & Co., of San Fran- 

 cisco. In estimating the total number of the "Northwest" catch it 

 should also be mentioned that something like 30,000 skins belonging to 

 that catch have been dressed and dyed in the United States, which 

 have not gone to London at all. 



Besides the "Alaska," "Copper," and "Northwest" skins there are 

 also a certain number of skins arriving in London, known as the 

 Lobos Island skins, although the same are not handled by the firm of 

 C. M. Lampson & Co.; but the total number of which, from the year 



1872 to the year 1891, inclusive, is, as appears from the catalogues of 

 sales, 247,777. The Lobos Island skins are those of seals killed on the 

 Lobos Island, belonging to the Republic of Uruguay; and deponent is 

 informed and believes that there is no open- sea sealing in the vicinity 

 of such island, and that the animals are protected on the island as they 

 are on the Russian and Pribilof Islands, by prohibition from the kill- 

 ing of females and limiting the number of males killed in each year. 

 A statement of the seals killed on Lobos Island is hereto annexed and 



