FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 



181 



Dr. EvERMANN. Yes, sir. (Hearing 

 No. 10; p. 531; Apr. 24, 1912.) 



Mr. Elliott. Then when you remove 

 this skin you leave how much on it? 



Mr. Lembkey. I suppose about 3 to 31 

 inches. 



Mr. Elliott. No more? 



Mr. Lembkey. We take off as much 

 skin as we can. It is my impression tliat 

 we do not leave more than 3 inches. I 

 have stated that repeatedly to the com- 

 mittee. (Hearing No. 9, p. 443, Apr. 13, 

 1912.) 



Evermanii swears that salting 

 a sealskin decreases its weight; 

 he submits ''proof " of it: 



Dr. Evermaxn. Tjast year, when Mr. M. 

 C. Marsh, naturalist, fur-seal service, went 

 to the Pribilof Islands, he was instnicted 

 to make certain iiivestisrations, one of 

 which was to determine by actual experi- 

 ment the effect that salting has upon the 

 weight of fur-seal skins. He made a very 

 careful. investigation of the matter, and 

 his report has just been received. It is 

 so interesting and valuable that 1 wish to 

 put it in the record. His investigation 

 settles the question conchisively and for 

 all lime. It shows that salting causes 

 fur-seal skins to lose weight. The report 

 is as follows: 



"The average loss of weight for the whole 

 60 skins is 0.63 pound, or 10 ounces. This 

 is an understatement of the average loss of 

 weight, which, I believe, is at least an 

 ounce greater. The reason is that it is 

 practically impossible to mechanically re- 

 move all the salt from the skins before 

 reM^eighing. They were shaken, swept, 

 and brushed, but a few grains and crystals 

 of salt were always left adhering to each 

 side of the skin. Obviotisly it would not 

 do to wash them off. By more carefully 

 cleaning a few of the reweighed skins and 

 then again weighing them, I estimate this 

 residual salt to average an ounce or some- 

 thing more. 



' "The careful identification of every skin 

 and the care given to every detail of the 

 weighing make it quite certain that the 

 salting of sealskins as practiced on St. 

 Patil island subtracts materially from its 

 original weight when freshly skinned. 

 Presumably, though not necessarily, the 

 London weights reported are less than the 

 actual weights of the skins at the island 

 killings. If any change takes place dur- 

 ing transportation to London, it is likely 

 to be a further loss, and if the London 



impossible to find otit its exact length 

 when yoti lay it on the grotmd, because it 

 may ctirl up, or roll, or stretch, and it can 

 only be measured after it has become har- 

 dened by salt, 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. Then it will not 

 stretch? 



Mr. Lembkey. Certainly not. 



Mr. McGillicuddy. That is the proper 

 time to measure it, after it has become 

 rigid and stiff? 



Mr. Lembkey. Certainly. 



Mr. McGillicuddy. You can not then 

 stretch or shrink it? 



Mr. Lembkey. No, sir. (H^earing No. 

 9, pp. 399, 400, Mar. 1, 1912.) 



Chief Special Agent Lembkey 

 makes an official record of fact 

 which exposes the trick of Ever- 

 mann: 



Chief Special Agent Lembkey makes 

 the following entry on page 149 of the jour- 

 nal of the Government agent on St. Paul 

 Island, to wit: 



Saturday. July 23, 1904. 

 On July 18, 107 skins taken on Tolstoi 

 were weighed and salted. To-day they 

 were hauled out of the trench and re- 

 weighed. At the time of killing they 

 weighed 705 pounds, and on being taken 

 out they weighed 7591 pounds, a gain in 

 salting of 54^ pounds, or one-half pound 

 per skin. (Report Agents H. Com. Exp). 

 Dep. Com.. Aug. 31, 1913, p. 112.) 



