10 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



lished, and which it was in the enjoyment of — a peril to the preser- 

 vation of this race of seals — a peril, not proceeding- from what may be 

 called natural causes, such as the killing by whales and other animals 

 which prey upon the seals in the water, but a peril i)roceeding- from the 

 hand of man. It was found that the practice of i)elagic sealing, which 

 had for many years, and indeed from the earliest knowledge of these 

 regions, been carried on to a very limited extent by the Indians who 

 inhabited the coasts for the purpose of obtaining food for themselves 

 and skins for their clothing, and which had made a limited draft upon 

 the herds in that way — it was found tliat this practice was beginnings 

 to be extended so as to be carried on by whites, and in large vessels 

 capable of proceeding long distances from the shore, of encountering 

 the roughest weatlier, and of carrying boats and boatmen and hunters, 

 armed with every appliance for taking and slaughtering the seals upon 

 their passage through the seas. That practice began, I think, in the year 

 187(), but at first its extent was small. The vessels were fitted oat 

 mostly from a port in British Columbia, and confined their enterprise 

 to the North Pacific Ocean, not entering Bering Sea at all; and their 

 drafts upon the seals, even in the North Pacific Ocean, were at first 

 extremely small, only a few thousands each year. But the business 

 was found to be a i)rofitable one, and, of course, as its ]>rofit was per- 

 ceived, more and more were temi)ted to engage in it, and a larger and 

 larger investnumt of capital was made in it. More and more vessels 

 prosecuted the fishery in the North Pacific Ocean, and in 1S83, for the 

 first time, a vessel ventured to enter Bering Sea. 



The learned arbitrators will perceive that up to this time, during the 

 whole of the Russian, and the whole of the American, Qccui)ation of 

 these islands, there had been no such thing as pelagic sealing, except 

 iu the insignificant way already mentioned by the Indians. Those two 

 nations had enjoyed the full benefit of this property, the full benefit of 

 these herds of seals, in as complete a degree as if they had been rec- 

 ognized as the sole proprietors of them, and as if a title in them, not 

 only while they were ashore and upon the breeding islands, but while 

 they were absent upon their migrations, had been recognized in them 

 during that whole period ; or as if there had been some regulation among 

 the nations absolutely prohibiting all pelagic sealing. Up to the period 

 when pelagic sealing began to be extended those advantages were 

 exclusively enjoyed by Russia and the United States; and at first, as 

 I have said, this pelagic sealing did not extend into Bering Sea, but 

 was carried on in the North Pacific Ocean, and south and east of the 

 Aleutian chain. 



Why Bering Sea was thus carefully abstained from, it may perhaps 

 be difficult at the present time altogether to say. It may be for the 

 reason that it was farther off, more difficult to reach. It may be for the 

 reason that the pelagic sealers did not at first suppose that they had a 

 right to enter Bering Sea and take the seals there, for it was well 

 known that during the whole of the Russian occupation, Russia did 

 assert for herself an exclusive right to all the products of that region 

 of the globe; and it was also well known to all Governments, and to 

 these pelagic sealers, that the United States had, when they acceded 

 to the sovereignty over these islands, asserted a similar right, and made 

 the practice of pelagic sealing, in Bering Sea at least — perhaps farther, 

 but in Bering Sea, at least — a criminal offence under their law. But 

 from whatever cause, it was not until the year 1883 that any pelagic 

 sealers ventured into Bering Sea. During that year a single vessel did 

 enter there, took a large catch, was very successful, and was not called 



