ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 339 



hiter-miiigiiDg or inter-mixture of blood. If it is true, that is the end. 

 It shews that the distinctiou is there, that it has always been there, 

 that it continues to exist; and the two herds, or families, are entirely- 

 separate and distinct. I say our distinguished friends have undertaken 

 to cross-examine these witnesses, and of course have used nothing but 

 the methods which we would expect from men of their high character, 

 and they think that they have shaken the testimony, in some respect, 

 of these witnesses. 



Kow this will be a sample — I am referring to page 230 of volume II 

 of the Appendix to the Counter-Case of Her Britannic Majjesty's Gov- 

 ernment. These are all cross-examinations, and the Arbitrators will 

 see at the outset that these gentlemen, on their cross-examination, had. 

 been fully furnished by us in our Case with the testimony that we had 

 elicited from the witnesses, and upon which we relied. There was no 

 objection to their putting leading questions, and to informing them of 

 the points which they desired to establish. 



Mr. Poland, on page 230 (after stating how long he had been a i^artner 

 in the concern), says: 



As regards the difference between Copper and Alaskan skins, I have always con- 

 sidered that the chief difference was that Alaskan fur was a better quality that is to 

 saj^, denser than the fnr of the Copper Island seals. This is the difi'erence which 

 makes the Alaskan skins fetch more in the market than Copper skins. The differ- 

 ence in price is also, I think, inflnenced by the fact that the people responsible for 

 slanghtering the animals on the Pribylof Islands are more successful and skilled in 

 flaying, curing, and selecting, than the Copper Island people. 



That is simply his opinion, but he states the fact to be, without any 

 hesitation or mitigation, that the difierence w^hich makes the Alaskan 

 skin fetch more, is, that the fur is of a better qualiti/, being denser than 

 the fur of the Copper Island seal, due, probably, to some climatic dif- 

 ference. Of course when we say that there is a difference between the 

 Copper Island skin and the Alaskan skin, we must not lose sight of the 

 fact that all these animals belong to the same genus or species, and that 

 there must be very great resemblance between them. They are all 

 seals; they are all fur-seals; they all belong to the general creation of 

 seals; and the difference must of necessity be one such as this; none 

 can be more important than the fineness or density of the fur. 



And if there were nothing else in the case — if nothing more were 

 proved than that the Alaskan skin of the Paris market or London 

 market brought a much higher price than the Copper skin, would not 

 that be of itself decisive of the question ? In order to produce a larger 

 price it must be superior, and the superiority must naturally consist of 

 the texture of the skin and the fur. But that is not all that this gen- 

 tleman says even on his cross examination: there are also other diifer- 

 ences between the Coppers and Alaskans, namely the difference in the 

 color of the fur — the fur of the Coppers being, on the whole, of a more 

 bronzy yellow color than the Alaska. Then there is this statement 

 (and this, I suppose, if anything, is to be relied upon by the other side) : 



In inspecting the shipments made through Messrs. Lampson from the Pribiloff 

 Islands, I have from time to time noticed the presence amongst them of skins which 

 were undistinguishnble from Copper Islnnd skins, and also in the same way I have 

 noticed amongst Copper Island consignments, skins which are evidently of thw 

 Alaskan description. I have also noticed skins in both classes which in a lesser 

 degree resemble the other class. 



That is as far, I think, as any witness undertakes to go — that pos- 

 sibly there may be a mixture; but you will observe that there is not 

 one single witness who will testify that he ever found a skin which he 

 would call a Copper skin, in a consignment of Alaskan skins. They 



