REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS, 57 



elsewliere; and it is iirobably in great measure because of the abun- 

 dance of food fishes near the hirger openings in the land above men- 

 tioned, that these phxces are special resorts. 



193. It is a noteworthy and interesting fact, ascertained in the course 

 of the present inquiry, that the full-grown males, known as "beach- 

 masters" or "seacatchie," have seldom or never been reported to the 

 south of the 50th parallel, while all other classes of seals are found in 

 considerable numbers nuich further south. This statement, of course, 

 applies to the seals frequenting as their winter habitat that part of 

 the ocean lying off the coasts of British Columbia and the State of 

 Washington. 



194. Touching the distance to which the seals extend off the coast- 

 during the winter months, the generally stormy weather at this season,, 

 with the dependant absence of i)elagic sealers, have prevented accurate 

 information from being obtained. Captain Devereux, already cited,, 

 has, however, possessed special opportunities for obtaining information; 

 on this subject. He writes: "The distance from the shore where they 

 (fur-seals) are to be found most plentiful, say, off Cape Beale (wher© 

 the bank extends furthest from the land), is from 30 to 150 miles; but 

 these figures must not be talcen by any means as a fixed limit." Judge 

 Swan has recorded the fact that, in 18S0, large numbers of fur-seals 

 were seen at from 100 to 300 miles off shore by vessels bound into the 

 Straits of Fnca from China and the Sandwich Islands, but the exact 

 time of year is not given.* While the seals are moving northward in 

 the spring, it can only be stated that, when the weather becomes such 

 as to enable pelagic hunting to be carried on, the main body of seals is 

 found to extend for a width of 50 or 60 miles off the coast of Vancouver 

 Island, and for about 80 miles off the Queen Charlotte Islands. 



195. Between the winter and summer resorts of the fur-seals lies a 

 minimum distance of about 1,200 miles, across which they pass only 

 during their migration. As already stated, in their spring migration 

 they appear to follow parallel to the general trend of the coast on their 

 way northward and westward, keeping in touch with the shore, or at 

 least with the soundings or submarine edge of the continental plateau. 



196. In their southern or southeastern migration the seals do not 

 follow the coast, but after passing through the Aleutian Islands, it is 

 possible that they may at first scatter rather widely and at random over 

 the ocean. It is certain, at least, that they do not pursue a direct course' 

 to the northern portion of their winter habitat, and thence travel regu- 

 larly southward along the coast. The comparatively small differences; 

 and occasional irregularities in their dates of arrival in the different 

 parts of their winter resorts, with other circumstances, seem to indicate 

 that they come in-shore from the westward with an extended front. 

 This, it would appear, results naturally from the set of the currents iu 

 this part of the ocean from west to east and directly toward the coast, 

 together with the prevalent westerly winds of November, December, 

 and January. The latter are well shown iu detail on Maps 27, 47, 

 and 49 in the "Challenger" Eeports, Physics and Chemistry, vol. ii. 

 (For currents and directions of drift in the Pacific Ocean, see especially 

 Petermann's "Mitteilungen," 3G Band, 1890.) 



While, therefore, the course and manner of this southern and eastern 



migration (embracing scarcely two months of the entire year) 



32 must at present remain to some extent hypothetical, the whole 



remaining migratory route of the fur-seal is now accurately known, 



and the circumstances are such as to leave little doubt that this iDartis 



*" Fishery Industries of the United States," vol. ii, p, 394. 



