588 INVESTMENTS. 



Some of the sealing' schooners are fine, new boats, others are very old. 

 The Mary Taylor and Mary Ellen have both seen thirty-five years of 

 buffeting about the stormy ocean, while the Lilly has been forty-six 

 years afloat. The Black Diamond is really unfit for sea, and the Juanita 

 was driven out of the coast trade as unsafe and past repair. This was 

 the fate of the Wanderer also. The Lctitia I saw lying in the Victoria 

 bone-yard being broken up, and the Mountain Chief is ready for the 

 same fate. 



In order to get an exact valuation, I procured, when possible, the re- 

 cord of the latest sale of the vessel, and in other cases employed an ex- 

 pert shipbuilder or took the valuations of the underwriter's expert, not 

 on the amount for which the vessel was insured, but his estimate of 

 what it would cost to replace her. 



In every case the value 1 have given, except in case of actual sale, is 

 rather more than the vessel would sell for in an ordinary bargain. 



In the course of my investigation as to the value of the trade to Can- 

 ada, 1 secured a copy of a report made for the Dominion Government 

 by A. R. Miln, esq., surveyor of the port of Victoria. While Mr. Miln 

 is naturally prejudiced somewhat in favor of his Canadian friends in 

 preparing a report which will be made the basis of their claim on the 

 United States Government, he is clearly an honest official and has 

 done his work generally correctly. His estimate of the total value of the 

 Victoria sealing fleet is $200,500, or $27,150 in excess of my valuations. 

 As his figures are certain to be the ones adopted by the Canadian 

 Government. 1 took special pains to correct my valuations thoroughly 

 when they differed from his. I found that in many cases he had taken 

 the owner's valuation, which was far in excess of the real value. I ap- 

 pend the real value as compared with Mr. Miln's estimates, and also a 

 copy of Miln's report made August 17, 1889, sworn to before A. L. Bel- 

 yea, esq., Victoria, British Columbia, and forwarded to the governor- 

 general of Canada. 



As a sealing schooner is only engaged one-third ot her time in the 

 Bering, the other two-thirds being spent in the west coast sealing, fish- 

 ing, otter hunting, or some other business, only one-third of the fleet's 

 value can properly be said to be invested in the Bering sealing busi- 

 ness. The actual cash investment of all the Canadas in this traffic is 

 therefore one-third of $130, 750, or t\\e insignificant sum of $45,585.33, 

 and even that would not be lost if the traffic were stopped. 



Where Indians are employed as hunters, the expense of the outfit 

 and voyage is much less. The Indians hunt from 



T. T. Williams, p. 502. their own skin canoes, kill with spears instead of 

 firearms, so that other seals are not frightened 

 away, and feed themselves on seal blubber. They are paid $1.50 

 per skin and seal with two men to the canoe, one to spear and one 

 to paddle. The cost of an outfit for a schooner carrying thirty Indians, 

 which is a common number is fifteen skin canoes at $20, $300. 



The expense of the voyage is for the wages and board of a white 

 captain and four sailors, salt for sealskins and a little tea and crackers 

 for the Indians. 



Indian sealing being so much cheaper and more profitable all the 

 schooners would engage Indians were it not for the fact that these 

 Siwash are an extremely troublesome race and require the utmost tact 

 and skill to manage. Only a few captains can handle them to advant- 

 age and they are mostly captains who have Siwash blood in their veins. 



