406 ' OEAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



but kill evcrytliiiij? that comes near the boat in the shape of a seal. . . The 

 majority of the seals killed in Behriug Sea are females. I have killed female seals 

 75 miles from the Islands that were full of milk. 



Then Victor Jacobson. He is a British subject and has been engaged for 11 

 years in sealing, 10 years as master. He is apparently a rejmtable man as he appears 

 for the British Government on the question of damages. They have produced him 

 and he may presumably be relied ui)on. He says: 



The female seals go through the passes from the Pacific Ocean into Behring Sea 

 between June 25th and July 15th. Females killed previous to this time I found 

 with pup but none with pups after that latter date. I have killed female seals with 

 milk 200 miles from the Pribiloft' Islands. I think of the seals taken by me that 

 three in tive are females, and nearly all with pup. 



And iu connexion with this he is crossexaniiued and he states: 



My experience has been that about three out of five seals taken on the coast are 

 females, and about the same in Behriug Sea. 



This witness has nothing further to say iu his cross-examination on the subject of 

 females. 



Then we have the testimony of Edwin P. Porter. He says: 



My experience in four years sealing is that nearly all the seals taken along the 

 coast are pi'egnant females, and it is seldom that one of them is caught that has not 

 a young pup in her. In the fore part of the season the pup is small, but in May and 

 June, when they are taken oti:" the Queen Charlotte ;nid Kodiak Islands the unborn 

 pup is quite large, and we irequeutly take them out of the mothers alive. I have 

 kept some of them alive for six weeks that we cut out of their mothers by feeding 

 them, on condensed milk. The seals we captured in Behring Sea were fully 80 per 

 cent females that had given birth to their young. A fact that I often noticed was 

 that their teats would be full of milk when 1 skinned them, and I have seen them 

 killed from 20 to 100 miles from the seal islands. 



Then Charles Petersen, of Victoi-ia, Sealer. 

 He went out sealing in 1886, 87, 90, and 1891. As to 1887 he says : 

 We entered the Behring Sea about the 1.5th of August through the Unimak Pass 

 and captured therein 1,404 seals, most of which where cows in milk. On that voyage 

 we caught female seals in milk over eighty miles i'rom the rookeries where they had 

 left their young. . . I have seen the deck almost Hooded with milk while we were 

 skinning the seals. . . Ninety per cent of all the seals we captured in the water were 

 female seals. 



The testimony I will now read and which will close this branch of the 

 subject, at least as far as the Victoria testimony is concerned is the 

 testimony of Mr. McManus. He is an intelligent man and a journalist. 



He spent the summer of 1891 on the schooner Otto which hunted for 

 nine days in Behring Sea. Following are some extracts from the journal 

 he kept. 



This is the testimony of a man who noted down what he saw and the 

 impressions he had from day to day. He is a British subject and a 

 resident of Victoria : 



Tuesday, 25 August, rain in morning. Boats and canoe out at half past 9 o'clock; 

 out all day (returning to dinner). Result: First boat, two seals reported, wounded 

 and lost tive; seals said to be shy and wary, and not so numerous as formerly; atten- 

 tion called to cow seal being skinned (which I had taken for a young bull). The 

 snow white milk running down blood-stained deck was a sickening sight. Indian 

 canoe, one seal. Total, 3 seals; 2 mediums and 1 cow. 



Wednesday, 26 August, cloudy morning; seals floating round schooner. Boats and 

 canoe out all day. Result: First boat, Iseal; second boat, none; Indian canoe, 10 

 seals; total, 11 seals; 8 cows in milk, and 3 medium. Skipper in first boat blamed 

 the powder. Second boat said it was too heavy and clumsy for the work. Skipper 

 reported having wounded and lost 7, and the men in second boat 9 ditto, 16 in all. 

 Skipper said seals not so numerous as formerly, more shy, also blamed the powder. 

 Evidently a great deal of shooting and very few seals to correspond. 



Saturday, 29 August, ship's cook brought down from deck a large cow seal at 40 

 yards rise. Boats and canoe out all day; fine, clear, balmy weather; Aleutian 

 Island in sight. Result; First boat, three seals; second boat, three seals; cook, 

 from deck, one; ludiau canoe, ten; total catch, seventeen seals, greater proportion 

 cows iu milk; horrid sight, could not stay the ordeal out till all were flayed. A 

 large number reported as wounded and lost. According to appearances, slaughter 

 indiscriminate. 



