404 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



Then Grkknlkaf, a Master Mariner, of Victoria, says: 



Since 1882 I have been interested in tlie scaling business, ancl I am Avell acquainted 

 witli it and the men engaged in it and the metliods they eni])loy, I am acquainted 

 with the hunters and masters who sail from this port, and board all incoming and 

 outgoing vessels of that class. These men all acknowledge that nearly all the seals 

 taken oil" the Pacific Coast are females, and that they are neai'ly all with young. 



I have also learned by conversation with Behring Sea hunters that they kill seal 

 cows 20 to 200 miles from the breeding grounds and that these cows had recently 

 given birth to young. I have observed in the skins that the size of the teats show 

 either an advanced state of pregnancy or of recent delivery of j^ouug. 



The British GovernnieTit has made an attack upon Greenleaf by 

 endeavoiing to connect him with smuggling operations. I do not 

 know wliether he Avouid object to being connected with smuggling- 

 oi)erations, or if any-of them would. It is so common, I understand, 

 there that it has almost reached the point of being legitimate. As to 

 the moral difference, which is the better and whi(;h is the worse, killing 

 and ripping up gravid females, or smuggling a little whisky into a 

 desolate ])lace to cheer up the natives, 1 do not know which is the 

 worst, but fortunately it is not my task to enlighten the Court on that. 



Then Arthur Griffin a sealer, 



"Wo went sealing in 1890. 



Began sealing off the northern coast of California, following the sealing herd 

 northward capturing about 700 seals in the North Pacific ocean, two-thirds of which 

 were females with pup, the balance were young seals, both male and female. We 

 entered the Behring Sea on July 31st through Unimak Pass and captured between 

 900 and 1,000 seals therein, most of which were females in milk. 



Of the Ibllowiug year wliich is 1891 he says: 



We captured between 900 and 1,000 on the coast, most all of which were females 

 Avith pups. W^e entered the sea .July 12th through Unimak Pass and captured about 

 800 seals in those waters, about 90 per cent of which were females in milk . . . and we 

 captured females in milk from 20 to 100 miles from the rookeries. 



The learned Arbitrators will observe that none of these witnesses 

 pretend that they caught seals within 20 miles of the Island. I think 

 there is only one exception to that, where it is spoken of as 15, but as 

 a rule they all say it is beyond 20 miles. 



Then James Harrison, of Victoria, Sealer. 



He went out sealing in 1891 and 1892. He relates his experience in 1891 as follows : 

 We commenced sealing right off the coast; went as far south as the California 

 coast and then hunted north to the west coast of Vancouver Islands; caught 600 

 skins during the season; almost all of them were ])regnant females: out of a hun- 

 dred seals taken about 90 per cent would be females with young pu])s in them; I 

 can't tell a male from a female while in the water at a distance. On an average. I 

 think the hunters will save about one out of three that they kill. 



This is on the question of waste by missing and wounding. 



But they wound many more that escape and die afterwards. We entered the 

 Behring Sea about the 1st of June, and caught about 200 seals in those waters. They 

 were mostly mothers that had given birth to their young and were around the fish- 

 ing banks feeding. The hunters used shotguns and rifles. In the Behring Sea we 

 killed both male and female, but 1 do not know the proportion of one to the other. 



Then Jamks IIayward, of Victoria, Sealer. 



He went out scaling in 1887. 1888, 1890 and 1891. His vessels appear to have made 

 large catches. He makes the i'ollowiug statement: 



Most of the .seals killed on the coast are pregnant females, while those we killed 

 in the Behring Sea after the Ist of .Inly were females that had given Ijirth to their 

 young on the seal Islands and come out into the sea to feed. Have caught them 150 

 miles oft' from the shore of the seal islands, and have skinned them when their 

 breasts were full of milk. Seals travel very fast and go a long way to feed. 



Then the next witness says: 



A very large majority of the seals taken in the North Pacific <^cean are cows with 

 pup, and the majority of seals taken in Hehring Sea are cows with milk. . . I have 

 taken female seals eighty miles oft" the Pribiloi" Islands that were full of milk. 



