242 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



Jfirvis Inlet, taken from animals killed at Sangstor's Island, near Tcxada. 'I'liese 

 animals wen-, driven to the oecan from tlie narrow waters l)y being bnntcd with the 

 nse of lire-arms; during the spring numbers of the young animals iish in the broken 

 waters inside of the outlying half-tide rocks and reefs which fringe the western 

 shores of Yaucouver Island and of the other islands which lie west of the main- 

 land from Queen Charlotte Sound to Dixon's Entrance. The older animals 

 172 remain further at sea, but numbers of them take shelter in the larger sounds 

 during stormy weather. I have seen them oft" Metlakahtla in the month of 

 .lanuary. They were first systematicnlly bunted by the Whites about 1856. The 

 Indians took to hunting them some two or three years later; before that i^eriod they 

 merely killed them when they happened incidentally to come in their way, as they 

 didAvith most other wild animals; up to that period the beaver, marten, mink, laud- 

 otter and sea-otter were the only animals which the Indians systematically hunted 

 for their skins. 



"The Indians above quoted stated that the fur-seal bred on the Race Rocks, on 

 Smith's Island (Wash.), and on several islands in the Gulf of Georgia. They used 

 to have their young to within a recent period on the Haystack Island, oft' Cape Scott, 

 Vancouver Island. It is probable that a few individuals still breed there, these 

 islands being very inaccessible to small craft, on account of the strong tides and 

 cross currents which prevail in that neighbourhood." 



A further inquiry addressed to Mr. .1. W. Mackay on the subject of the former 

 breeding of fur-seals on Haystack Island, elicited (under date the 7th .lanuary, 1892) 

 the subjoined additional particulars on this and other points previously referred to. 



"Respectihg your query of the 1st instant, I got my information from the late Cap- 

 tion Hugh Mackay, of the schooner 'Favourite.' Mackay was the first person to 

 practise the taking of the fur-seal in the open ocean, and using a seaworthy vesscd 

 as the starting point and for shelter. The idea was suggested to him by the Indian 

 hunters, who rejjrcsented to him the difficulties and dangers of following tl'.e seals 

 far from land in open canoes, and asked him to take them out in his schooner. Ho 

 acceded to their demands, and success followed the operation. Mackay died about 

 twelve years ago. He was an intelligent Scotchman from Sutherlaudshire, a cooper 

 by trade; he collected much trustworthy information during the twenty years in 

 which he was occupied trading on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I believe his 

 statement respecting the fur-seal on Haystack Island, as it agrees with the accounts 

 which I got in early days respecting individual fur-seals having their young in the 

 unfrequented parts of the coasts of Vancouver Island. Mr. Huson is probably cor- 

 rect as regards the landing of sea-lions on the Scott Islands. In former times these 

 animals extended their peregrinations all round Vancouver Island. I was one night 

 kept awake for hours by the roaring of the male animals on Smith Island, oft' the 

 south entrance to Rosario Strait. The sea-lions would not interfere with the move- 

 ments of the fur-seals, and both varieties might herd together." 



From a further correspondence respecting the date at which Captain Hugh Mackay 

 first attempted sealing at sea the following are extracts: 



January SO, 1S92. — " The date of Hugh Mackay's beginning to take the fur-seal at 

 sea may be arrived at approximately by an examiuation of the Customs Records at 

 the port of Victoria, British Columbia. Mackay owned the sloop ' Ino ; ' with her he 

 traded oil and furs from the Indians of the west coast of Vancouver Island. He made 

 his first exijeriment on the fur-seal at sea with the ' Ino ; ' finding this vessel too small 

 to carry two or three canoes on deck, he built the schooner ' Favourite,' of 75 tons 

 burthen. The ' Favourite' was registered at the port of Victoria. The date of her 

 register will be about eighteen months subsequent to the 'Ino's ' first fur-sealing 

 cruize. I shall write to Mr. Milne, the Customs Collector at the port of Victoria, to 

 give me the date of the ' Favourite's' first register, and shall communicate results 

 to you." 



January 31, 1892. — " I am informed that the schooner ' Favourite' was launched at 

 Sooke, British Columbia, on the 28th April, 1868. She was registered in Victoria on 

 the 18th June, 1868. Hugh Mackay was registered owner and master; on this data 

 we may conclude that tlie first attempt at taking the fur-seal at sea was made by 

 Hugh Mackay in the spring of 1866, say, February 1866. The above information is 

 from the Collector of Customs at the port of Victoria, British Columbia." 



Extracts from Letters from Judge James G. Swan, of Port Toivnsend, State of Washington, 

 addressed to Dr. G. M. Dawson. 



Under date of the 4th November, 1891, Judge Swan writes: 



" Your letter of the 28th October was received this morning. I promised you, when 

 we met in Victoria, to send you certain information relative to the seal catch at Cape 

 Flattery, and particularly regarding the date when schooners first took out Indiana 

 with their canoes on the sealing grounds. But there has been no ofiicial record, and 



