ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 361 



The President. — Well, we have perhaps disturbed a little the order 

 of your argument. 



Mr. CouDERT. — I do not mind that at all, Sir. As I said yesterday, 

 when the Court shows an interest in the argument, I am satisfied; but 

 there are some matters of detail connected with the maps which require 

 some aid and authoritj^ from the books. 



Lord HANNEN.^That is what I meant. 



Mr. CouDERT. — I pass now from that subject. I was begging the 

 Court to bear in mind the facts I have given as to the distances that 

 the cows go and all other kindred subjects; but I propose now to read, 

 with the permission of the Tribunal, from page 147 of our Case. 



I may say first, in regard to the control and domestication of the seal, 

 that everything that touches the nature of the seal is important here; 

 and I would ask the permission of the Court to state, for the informa- 

 tion of the Court and also that my learned friends may know, as they 

 have asked what evidence we had on this subject. The evidence on the 

 subject of these Charts will be found in the Counter-Case of the United 

 States and its Appendix, page 207 I think it begins; and you will 

 also find it at 219, 237, and 401 and following pages. I may produce 

 other evidence on that as well. 



Now, perhaps it might be convenient to the Court, though it is some- 

 what out of the regular order of my argument, to call attention, in 

 connection with this, to the testimony of Charles H. Townsend, a natu- 

 ralist on board of one of these ships. He was with Captain Hooper, 

 and it is in the Counter-Case of the United States, page 394. You will 

 find a photograph attached to it. 



Senator Morgan. — That is one of the ships that Commander Evans 

 had in his fleet? 



Mr. CouDERT. — No; it was the " Corwin", Captain Hooper; and on 

 page 394, you will note that Mr. Townsend says. 



Annexed to the report of Captain Hooper ivS a table giving the results of the exam- 

 ination of forty-one seals which were killed in Beluiug Sea in 1892. It appears that 

 of this number twenty-two were nursing seals. The photographs hereto annexed 

 show exactly the way all of these nursing female seals looked wlien cut open ou the 

 deck of the Corwin. 



The upper photograph, the one annexed to page 394 to which I call 

 the attention of the court, shows how they looked when they were 

 killed; and you can see the milk that has been running and is accumu- 

 lated on the deck. The photographs, he says, especially the first one, 

 exhibit the milk streaming from the glands on the deck. I mention 

 that incidentally; I had intended to speak of Captain Hooper's ex])edi- 

 tion and his experience; aud I shall refer to it more in detail hereafter; 

 but, with the permission of the Court, I will now resume the regular 

 thread of my argument and the statement of evidence. 



I stated yesterday something about the character of the seal, and 

 how near a domestic animal the seal was, even conceding, which I do 

 not concede, that it is improper to call it a domestic animal. Whether 

 it is or not a domestic animal and entitled to that appellation must 

 depend, of course, upon its nature and its habits, and, as there seems 

 to be an isvsue between us as to the real nature of the seal, and it is 

 one of the few points I think upon which there is, perhaps, a real issue, 

 it will be well to call the attention of the learned Tribunal to the posi- 

 tion taken by the United States and to the evidence in support of it. 

 I shall, therefore, read from page 147 of the United States Case. 



The peculiar nature and fixed habits of the seal make it an animal most easy of 

 control and management. A hei'd of seals is as capable of being driven, separated, 

 and counted as a herd of cattle on the plains. 



