408 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



Now this is his language, on page 213 : 



Siuce leaving San Francisco on March 9, the Corwin has steamed. 16,200 miles, and 

 8,713 miles since the date of my reportiut* lor dnty as part of the Bebring Sea Heet. 



Of this distance 5,567 miles were steamed in Hclirinij Sea I find 



in general, as one of the results of my investigations, that more than two-thirds of 

 the seal taken are cows now having young or capable of bearing them at no distant 

 day; that it is impossible to discriminate as to age or sex of seals while in the water, 

 excepr in tlie case of young pups and old bulls; that even under the nu)st favourable 

 conditions a large percentage is lost by sinking or wouuding, and that by reason of 

 the tanieness of the nursing cows, which form the larger part of the seals seen, 

 pelagic huntiug in Behring Sea is peculiarly destructive and unless stopped will 

 wholly exterminate the already greatly depleted herds. 



I do not believe that it is possible to indicate any zonal limit in Behring Sea 

 beyond which pelagic sealing could be carried on, and at the same time preserve the 

 seals from complete annihilation. Further, I wish to renew a statement contained 

 in a former report made to the honourable Secretary of the Treasury, that unless 

 supplemented with protection in the Paciiic Ocean, no amount of protection in Beh- 

 ring Sea will preserve the herds. 



Captain Hooper's testimony is commented on in the argument of our 

 friends on the other side, on pages 108-9, and this is what they say: 



The United States revenue Cutter Corwin Caj^tain Hooper, was occupied for 

 twenty-six days in hunting seals during the summer of 1892. The whole number of 

 seals killed however appears to have been but forty-one, a result small as to evidence 

 eitlier in experience, or in competent hunters. Of this number twenty-nine are 

 stated to have been females, a proi^ortion which does not differ very largely from 

 that given by several of the pelagic scalers, but which upon so small a total number 

 means little as compared with the experience embodied in their statements. 



As far as mere experience is concerned, of course it does not; but I 

 take this to be an acknowledgment that the testimony given by, at 

 least some of the witnesses on the other side, — tbe pelagic sealers, — 

 agrees with the testimony of Captain Hooper; he made out that some 

 70 i)er cent or upwards were females. 



Charles H. Townsend, Naturalist, attached to the U. S. Revenue Cutter "Corwiu " 

 in 1892. 



{Counter case of the U. S., pp. 392, 394.) 



As already stated above, I was attached to the steamer Corwin during the past 

 summer, and I made all the examinations of tbe stomachs of the seals referred to in 

 Captain Hooper's report, covering, in all, thirty-three seals. I annex hereto photo- 

 graphs of two of the seals which were dissected and examined by me on the deck of 

 steamer Corwin. These seals were taken on the 2nd day of August, 1892, at a distance 

 of about 175 miles from the islands. The photographs exhibit the mammary glands 

 and convey a good idea of the considerable size of these glands, which in all cases 

 were hlled with milk. The inference is unavoidable that the pup is a voracious 

 feeder, and this inference is in keeping with the observations I have made on the 

 rookeries where I h.ave repeatedly seen pups suckle for half an hour at a time. The 

 milk glands are quite thick and completely charged with milk. The photographs 

 (opposite p. 394) especially the first one, exiiibit the milk streaming from the glands 

 on to the deck. 



Annexed to the report of Captain Hooper is a table giving the results of the exami- 

 nation or forty-one (41) seals which were killed in Bering Sea in 1892. It appears 

 that of this number twenty-two (22) were nursing seals. The photographs hereto 

 annexed show exactly the way all of these nursing female seals looked when cut 

 open on the deck of the Corwin, 



The next is 



Captain L. G. Shepard, U. S. Revenue Marine. 



(Case of the U. S., Appendix, vol. II, p. 187.) 



I am 45 years of age; a resident of Washington, D. C, and am Captain in the 

 U. S. Revenue Marine Service, chief of division Revenue Marine, Treasurj' Depart- 

 ment. In command of the revenue steamer Rush, I made three cruises to Behring 

 Sea in the years 1887, 1888, and 1889 for the purpose of enforcing existing law for 

 protection of seal life in Alaska and the waters thereof. . . I hereby append to and 



