FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 93 



sources of supply then the work of driving from the hitherto untouched reservoirs was 

 rt^ularly increased with vigor and tireless persistency. 



But Dr. Jordan makes his case still worse, for he goes on to say that this overkilling 

 is not practicable. On page 121 he declares: "In the hypothetical case above cited 

 we have suppos._'d that every male of a given age could be taken. WTiile in theory 

 this is possible, in practice it could probably never be done. There are certain 

 hauling grounds, such as Lagoon. Zapadnie Head, Otter Island, Ssevitch Rock, and 

 Southwest Point, from which the seals have not and never have been driven. 'Ihe 

 young males frequenting there were left undisturbed. " 



This emphatic staternent by Dr. Jordan is wholly and completely untrue. I have 

 the recora ana the proof that each and everyone of these places of retreat which 

 he names abo^e have been annually visited by the sealing gangs on St. Paul Island 

 since 1884; and these "undisturbed" seals have been regularly driven off from those 

 particular places, so that they would haul out on other places where they could be 

 taken more advantageously, or they were killed, thousands and tens of thousands of 

 them, right on the ground itself, notably on Southwest Point in 1884-1886. They were 

 entirely tunted off from other islands because the law and the lease does not allow 

 the lessees to kill seals there. And this particular secret work was in progress right up 

 to the hour when I stopped it, July 20, 1890. 



Now, who has imposed upon Dr. Jordan with this bald untruth? Who has so com- 

 pletely and shamefully misled him? What avails his high personal character or his 

 deserved reputation as a naturalist when he makes a gross and a monumental blunder 

 like this? A blunder upon whk h he bases his whole defense of an abuse which I 

 condemn? 



It is in order now to submit the proof that Dr. Jordan has falsified 

 this ishind work as to not driving or taking of seals by the lessees to 

 slaughter from certain "reservations" and "inaccessible places." It 

 is given in Hearing No. 14, July 25, 1912 (pp. 923-924, H. Com. 

 Dept. Com. & Labor), thus: 



Mr. Elliott. One of the most flagrant and inexcusable matters of "scientific" 

 malfeasance as to conduct of tl e public business on the seal islands of Alaska is tl at 

 repeated and untruthful statement made by Dr. David Starr Jordan in 1896-1898, 

 and which I I ave made the following review of (see pp. 66, 67, Hearing No. 2, June 

 9, 1911, H. Com. Exp. Dept. Com. & Labor), and continued by his associates ever 

 since, to wit: 



"But Dr. Jordan makes his case still worse, for lie goes on to say that tl is over- 

 killing is not practicable. On page 121 he declares: 'In the hypothetical case above 

 cited we have supposed that ever^ male of a given age could be taken. While in 

 theory tl is is possible, in practice it could probably never be done. Tl ere are cer- 

 tain hauling grounds, such as Lagoon, Zapadnie Head, Otter Island, Seevitch RocTi, 

 and Southwest Point, from which the seals 1 ave not and never liave been driven. 

 The young males frequenting there were left undisturbed.' " 



Mr. Elliott. I submit herewith., appended, tl e following proof of that erroneous 

 statement made by Dr. Jordan, as above cited, to wit: 



Those "wl istles" used on St. Paul, in 1890, and for driving off those seals as stated 

 in my notes following these of St. George, were not unknown, it is clear, to the lessees 

 at least six years before I knew anything about them. 



[Wardman's Entries.] 



St. George Island, July and late June. 



June '28, 1884. * * * Fii'st driving off of the young seals from under High 

 Bluffs just west of Stony Arteet. The natives set up small, noisy windmills, spilled 

 coal oil on the rocks, and set a number of small flags. * * * 



But a few days afterward I [Wardman] was astonished to see the young seals all 

 back there lajdng in and around these windmill " screech ers" and the fluttering 

 flags, showing no fear of them whatever. * * * 



Natives sent doAvn every few days with l)oats and whistles to drive the liolluschickie 

 off, since they can not round them up, and kill on the beach margin — too narrow. 



[Elliott's diary, St. Pauls Island, Ma}- 21-Aug. 14, 1890.] 



Thursday, July 3, 1890. 

 Palmer, back from Nort- east Point tl is evening, reports that all t] e native sealing 

 gang used their whistles and stampeded the I olluschickie under the bluffs at Lukanin 

 and on Katavie Point, as they came down with him; he says that they told him that 



