14 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



7. We formed complete plans for visiting such places situated in, and such areas of 



the North Pacific Ocean, and holding personal interviews with such persons as 



4 should satisfy us that we had neglected no source of information which might 

 be likely to assist us in arriving at sound conclusions. 



8. Care was taken before commencing our local investigations to complete our 

 personal knowledge of all documentary evidence to which Ave could procure access, 

 including the previous official correspondence, and a mass of public and i^rivate 

 publications, descriptions, records, uud opinions. 



9. Reiiuests for information were also addressed to scA'eral countries outside the 

 probable scope of our personal inquiries, from which collateral information of 

 importance could be derived. With the aid of the Canadian and Imperial Goveru- 

 ments, a scries of questions were sent to the A'arious Governments who now hold 

 the chief resorts of the fur-seal iu the Southern Hemisphere, namely, the Argentine, 

 Uruguayan, Chilean, and Brazilian Republics, and the Colonies of the Falkland 

 Islands, the Cape of Good Hope, Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, and New 

 Zealand. 



10. Iniiuiries were also made for information iu regard to the North Pacific seal 

 fisheries to the Governments of Russia and Japan, to Her Britannic Majesty's Con- 

 suls at Shanghae, Canton, Honolulu, and San Francisco, and to the Canadian Indian 

 Agents along the coast of British Columbia. 



11. In regard to personal work, a brief account of our proceedings will explain 

 the plan of action adopted, and we append a Chart of our track. P>om the 6th to 

 the 9th July we consulted with the Canadian Ministers in Ottawa; we then crossed 

 the continent by train, and at Vancouver and Victoria held prearranged interviews 

 with those who were engaged in the i>ractical work of sealing, and with the Com- 

 mander-in-chief of the Pacific Station and the port authorities. So soon as the 

 chartered steamer "Danube" could be got ready for sea, we left on a direct course 

 for the jjort of Iliuliuk, iu Unalaska Island. 



12. The "Danube" made the passage of about 1,400 miles in seven and a-half 

 days. After consulting at Unalaska with the Senior Naval Officer, Commander 

 Turner, of Her Majesty's ship "Nymphe," we made the best of our way to the 

 Pribylort' Islands, where we spent several days carrying out our first inspection of 

 the seal rookeries in company with Professor Meudenhall and Dr. Merriam, the 

 Commissiouers-desiguate of the United States, every hospitality and courtesy being 

 aftbrded by the officials both of the Government and of the lessees of the islands. 



13. At this date the rookeries were still at their fullest, ami the organization had 

 not yet broken up. After careful inquiry into the various questions connected with 

 the habits and treatment of the seals on the.se islands, we started on the 6th August 

 on a cruize of 1,450 miles to the eastward and northward in coraijany with her Maj- 

 esty's ship "Pheasant,'' to satisfy ourselves as to the limits of the range of tlie fur- 

 seal in those parts of Behring Sea. We visited the native and other Settlements on 

 Nunivak Island, Cape Vancouver, St. Matthew Island, St. Lawrence Island, and 

 Plover Bay in Eastern Siberia, near the entrance of Behring Straits, returning thence 

 for a second inspection of the Pribyloff rookeries and to note the difference in their 

 appearance after a fortnight's interval. 



14. Thence we proceeded to Iliuliuk Harbour, Unalaska, to communicate by apjioint- 

 ment Avith the Commanding Officers of the English and United States war-ships as 

 to future movements. Leaving that port on the 24th August for the westward we 

 cruized along the Aleutian chain, calling at the Islands of Atka and Attn, on Avhich 

 are the only remaining natiA^e Settlements in the Avestern part of the Aleutian chain. 



15. We then crossed to the Commander Islands, and there received from the Rus- 

 sian authorities every facility and courtesy in our task of learning all Ave could 

 concerning seal life on those islands. Thence we proceeded down the coast of Kam- 

 schatka to Petropaulouski, where again the Russian authorities gave us every infor- 

 mation. On this cruize Her Majesty's ship "Porpoiscj" sailing in company, proved 

 of the greatest assistance. 



16. Leaving Petropaulouski on the 10th September our course was shaped for the 

 Pribylofl:' Islands, so as to strike them from a westerly direction, and continue across 

 that portion of Behring Sea our observations of seals seen at sea. A third and final 

 examination of the Pribyloft" rookeries was then made after a further interval of 

 twenty-six days, and Unalaska Avas again reached on the 17th September. 



17. Leaving Behring Sea on the 20th September, Ave visited Kadiak Island, Sitka, 

 and Shakan, making inquiries of both the native and White residents as to the fur- 

 seal fishery in this distant territory of the United States. Continuing our cruize of 

 investigation, we called at the following places on the coast of British Columbia, 

 viz., Port Simpson, Metla-katla, Port Essingtou, Masset (Queen Charlotte Islands), 



Bella-Bella, Nawitti, Clayoquot Sound, and Barclay Sound, Avhere, by per- 



5 sonal imiuiries, Ave Avere enabled to amplify the Avritten statements Avhich, in 

 compliance Avith our prcA'ious request, had been forAvarded to us by the Indian 



agents on the coast. The Indian Settlement at Neah Bay, on the U^nited States shore 

 of the Straits of Fuca, was also visited, where Ave likewise obtained valuable infor- 

 mation. 



