^ REPORT OP BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 37 



wliodo not ship in sealing-vessels, is, from the point of view 

 of the Indians themselves, not inconsiderable. It amounts 

 for the British Columbian coast alone (§ 560) to an annual 

 money value of about 30,000 dollars (6,000/.), besides a con- 

 siderable food value represented by the seal liesh and lat. 

 This independent native huntin,y- is undoubtedly a prim- 

 itive vested interest of the coast tribes, and its character 

 in this respect is strengthened by the fact, now made clear, 

 that the winter home of the fur-seal lies along, and is adja- 

 cent to, the part of the coast which these seal-hunting tribes 



inhabit. 

 19 114. In regard, then, to the interests likely to be summary. 



affected by any measures of preservation, it is evi- 

 dent that much the largest amount of invested capital is 

 that engaged in pelagic sealing, uhile the most important 

 native interest involved is that of the Indians who take 

 seals either along the coast or as engaged hunters in the 

 schooners. On the islands there is far less capital employed, 

 and the number of natives earning a livelihood is relatively 

 small. 



(B . ) — Principles involved. 



115. Passing from the interests to a more special consid- Protection both 

 eration of the princi])les involved in the i)rotection of the "ea.^^'""^" '^^ 

 fur-seal, it is in the first place clear, in view of the habits 



and range of migration of this animal, that unlimited kill- 

 ing, whether practised on shore or at sea, must nltinmtely 

 result in destroying the jJTOsperity of the sealing industry 

 as a whole, and, therefore, that any measure of protection, 

 to be effective, must include both areas. 



116. It is, moreover, equally clear, from the known facts. Easier on shore. 

 that efficient protection is much more easily afforded on the 

 breeding islands than at sea. The control of the number 



of seals killed on shore might easily be made absolute, and, 

 as the area of the breeding islands is small, it should not 

 be difficult to completely safeguard these from raiding by 

 outsiders and from other illegal acts. 



117. The danger to seal life on the breeding islands is, Greater changer 



.Li XI 1 1 1 ii- .c • -1 1 • 1 ''f depletion on 



on the other hand, and lor reasons ot a similar kind, par- shore, 

 ticularly great. It is chiefly by the persistent killing of 

 all males between certain ages upon tae Pribyloft Islands 

 that the sealing industry is immediately threatened. To 

 killing carried out on shore at the breeding season the 

 depletion of the fur-seals of the Southern Hemisphere is 

 entirely due, and, as Ave have seen, as an effect of such 

 killing, long before the inception of pelagic sealing, the 

 rookeries of the Pribyloff" Islands were more than once 

 brought to the verge of depletion. 



It is certain that by excessive killing on the breeding- 

 islands, to whatever class of seals directed, the sealing 

 industry as a whole might without difficulty be ruined. 



118. In sealing at sea the conditions are categorically ^^5^*^^''' *^*"ser at 

 different, for it is evident that by reason of the very method 



of hunting the profits must decrease, other things being 

 equal, in a ratio much greater than that of any decrease 

 in the number of seals, and tliat there is therefore inherent 



