REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 185 



small local additious as could be made, insufficient, and when exhausted 

 the people often found it necessary to pnrchase more coal from the 

 Company, of which the price was lixed at 30 dollars {61.) ])er ton! 



726. This particular abuse has fortunately been remedied under the 

 present lease, for in 1890 the amount of coal for St. Paul was increased 

 to 50 tons, and in 1891 the Government stipulated that 100 tons should 

 be provided for the same island, where there are now only thirty-eight 

 families. The more liberal provision thus made, however, tends to show 

 very clearly how insufficient that previously accorded actually was. 



(G.)— Raids. 



727. In forming- an adequate estimate of the number of seals killed 

 from time to time in the North Pacific Ocean, and especially on the 

 Pribyloflt Islands, it is necessary to take into consideration the numbers 

 taken by "raids," an absolutely illegal form of seal killing, which has 

 for years past been in active operation. 



728. This form ot sealing has distinct historical connection with the 

 original seal hunting of the South Seas in the latter years of the last 

 and the earlier years of the present centuries. There seal hunting is 

 and was conducted entirely by the crews of vessels landed on various 

 islands or reefs where seals were to be found, the seals being shot or 

 clubbed on shore, and the skins shipped away in the vessels. 



729. Such a form of sealing was obviously the most destructive that 

 could be devised. The seals are easily herded together on shore by 

 very few men, and can be driven slowly inland, and there guarded until, 

 if need be, every single one of those thus herded is killed. But in the 

 process of herding them together on the beaches thousands upon thou- 

 sands of seals around are and must be stampeded, and in their wild 

 rush to the sea not only do they do themselves much physical injury, 

 but they overrun the smaller seals, and especially the pups, that chance 

 to he in their path. We have ourselves seen the evil after-effects of 

 such rushes in the corpses of pups lying thick along such tracks. More- 

 over, in this form of killing it is usually the plan to pay no regard what- 

 ever to sex, age, or condition, and certainly females are not spared. 



730. In addition to this, the raiding schooners make an abundant 

 catch along the rookery fronts, where thousands of seals, and especially 

 of females in milk, habitually disport themselves, and even play around 

 any passing boat. The consequent shooting by the raiders greatly dis- 

 turbs, scares, and scatters the females and males on the breeding^ 

 rookeries close by. There thus seems to be no limit to the numbers of 

 females and other seals that may be easily taken or destroyed by schoon- 

 ers cruizing close in shore. 



731. Eaiding is a purely piratical and illegal form of sealing when 

 carried on along shores over which Governments have extended their 

 sovereignty, and particularly where regulations have been established 

 for the preservation of the fur-seal. 



732. At the present time, this illegal and destructive practice is car- 

 ried on in various parts of the South Seas— for instance, in a paper by 

 Mr. T. E. Chapman on "The Outlying Islands south of New Zealand," 

 contained in the transactions of the New Zealand Institute for 1890, 

 though it is stated that the fur-seal is now very scarce on these islands; 

 the operations of seal poachers are referred to in connection with the 

 Auckland Islands, Campbell Island, Antipodes Island, and the Bounty 

 Islands. The name "poacher" is here applied to sealers killing on the 

 islands, in contravention of the laws of New Zealand. Some of the 



