REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS, 159 



620. Mr. A. K. Milne, Collector of Customs at Victoria, wlio lias liad 

 occasion to make, for otticial purposes, a special study of tlie pelagic 

 sealing industry, and to take much sworn evidence from hunters and 

 others engaged in sealing, in summing up bis conclusions on the point 

 here in question, writes: "Many erroneous opinions have been given 

 in the American press, and by the paid officials of the Alaska Fur Com- 

 pany, as to the loss of seals by wanton slaughter (as they term it) by 

 our sealers. 1 have made due and diligent in(|niry as to the percentage 

 of seals liable to be lost after being shot, and from what I have gath- 

 ered it amounts, at most, to only per cent."* 



621. Further evidence on this subject, derived from sworn statements 

 obtained by Mr. Milne, with special reference to the last two or three 

 years, is printed in Appendix (H). The following is an abstract of the 

 general statements made: 



C. J. Kelly, with two years' experience of sealing, stated his belief 

 that the average number lost is less than 3 per cent. 



(Captain W. Petit, says that Whites do not lose more than 5 per cent., 

 Indians 1 per cent. 



Captain W. E. Baker, states that the proportion of seals lost was not 

 more than 3 per cent. 



C. ]Sr. Cox, states that the Indians lose 1 per cent., the White hunters 



4 or 5 per cent. 



Captain T. M. Magnesen believes 3J per cent, would be a fair average 

 figure for seals lost. 



H. Crocker states the loss at 3 to 4 per cent. 



George Iloberts, with four years' experience, gives 3 to 5 per cent, as 

 representing the proportion lost. 



li. Thompson, with two years' experience, also places the loss at 3 to 



5 per cent. 



A. Laing, with ten years' experience with Indian hunters, states that 

 they do not lose more than 1 in 10. 



Captain W. Cox, with four years' experience with Indian crews, states 

 that there is no loss of seals when Indians emj)]oy the spear. 



622. From information obtained by ourselves on the West Coast, the 

 following brief notes may be given: 



Martin Lundberg, with three other practical sealers, possessing no 

 vested interest in sealing, and at the time employed as seamen, and 

 no longer connected with the sealing business, concurred in stating, as 

 to the iH'oportion of seals lost, that if a man should lose two out of 

 thirty killed he would be considered a poor hunter. 



623. Judge J. C Swan, of Port Townsend, Washington, whose famil- 

 iarity with the sealing industry of the West Coast, and particularly 

 with the Indian interest in sealing, is well known, went so far as to 

 characterize many of the statements made as to great numbers of seals 

 being lost as " scandalous falsehoods." The same gentleman, in a com- 

 munication subsequently received on this point, writes as follows: 



I have seen several Makah Indians who have been here, and they tell me that 

 Indians lose very few seals, whether they spear or shoot them, as they are always so 

 near the seal at such times that they can recover them before they sink. Captain 

 Lavender, formerly of the schooner "Oscar and Hattie," who is a very tine shot, told 

 me that he secured ninety-five seals out of every hundred that he shot. He said that 

 poor hunters, of which he had several on his vessel, would fire away a deal of ammu- 

 nition and not hit anythinjj, but wonld be sure to report on their return to the vessel 

 that they had killed a seal each time they fired, but that all the seals sank except 

 the few they brought on board. Captain Lavender was of opinion that not over 7 

 ])er cent, of seals killed were lost. 



* Ibid., p. SGO. 



