SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 545 



about the same number and condition." It goes without saying that if 

 new influences for destruction are brought in, seal life would be dimin- 

 ished in proportion to the effectiveness of said influences. 



Exhibit B. 



[From C. M. Lampson & Co. to C. A. Williams, August 22, 1889.] 



London, 64 Queen Street, E. 0., 



August 22, 1888. 



Dear Sir : We beg to acknowledge receipt of your favor of the 10th 

 instant, inclosing draft of a paper to be submitted 

 to Congress on merchant marine and fisheries. 0. A. Williams, quoting 



We have read the paper with a great deal of °- M - Lamjjson f Co., p. 

 interest and consider that it places the matter in 



a thoroughly impartial way before its readers. It has been so care- 

 fully prepared and goes into all details so fully that we can add but 

 little to it. There are, however, one or two points to which we beg to 

 draw your attention, and which you will find marked in red ink on the 

 paper. 



When speaking of the supply of fur-seal skins we would suggest 

 mentioning the following localities: 



(1) Cape of Good Rope. — From some islands off this cape, under the 

 protection of the Cape Government, a yearly supply of from 5,000 to 

 8,000 skins is derived. All these skins come to the London market, 

 part of them being sold at public auction, the remainder being dressed 

 and dyed for account of the owners. 



(2) Japan. — The supply from this source has varied very much of 

 late years, amounting sometimes to 15,000 skins a year, at others to 

 only 5,000. Last year, we understand, the Japanese Government 

 passed stringent laws prohibiting the killing and importation of seals, 

 with the view of protecting seal life and encouraging rookeries, and the 

 consequence has been that this year very few skins have come forward. 



(3) Vancouvers Island. — For many years past, indeed long before the 

 formation of the Alaska Company, regular supplies of fur-seals in the 

 salted and parchment state, have come to the London market, killed 

 mostly off Cape Flattery. The quantity, we should say, has averaged 

 at least 10,000 per annum. This catch takes place in the months of 

 March and April, and we believe that the animals from which these 

 skins are derived are the females of the Alaska seals, just the same as 

 those caught in the Bering Sea. 



Had this quantity been materially increased we feel sure that the 

 breeding on the Pribilof Islands would have suffered before now; but 

 fortunately the catch must necessarily be a limited one, owing to the 

 stormy time of the year at which it is made and the dangerous coast, 

 where the seals only for a short time are found. It must, however, be 

 evident that if these animals are followed into the Bering Sea and 

 hunted down in a calm sea in the quietest mouths of the year a prac- 

 tically unlimited quantity of females might be taken, and, as you say, 

 it would be only a few years till the Alaska seal was a thing of the 

 past. 



Yours, very truly, 



C. M. Lampson & Co 



C. A. Williams, Esq., 



New London. 

 35 BS 



