244: REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



Judge Swan to Dr. G. M. Dawson, 



State of Washin(;ton, December 13, 1891. 

 Df,ar Sik: I have just received from Neab Hay tlje following names of vessels 

 engaged in sealing from Neali Bay iu 1^90 and 18Lil. with the uumber of seal-skius 

 taken by each vessel. 



1890, 

 Schooner— Skins. 



Swau 136 



Lottie 120 



Teaser -50 



C.C. Perkins 30 



536 

 1891. 



Swan 100 



Lottie - 480 



C. C. Perkijis 190 



Teaser 195 



1, 025 



The schooner " Teaser " is owned in Seattle, the "Swan," " Lottie," and " C. C. 

 Perkins" are owned by Indians at Keah Bay. 

 Yours truly, 



(Signed) James G. Swan. 



174 Under date of the 28th November, 1891, Judge Swan writes: 



" The same letter informs me that schooner ' Lottie,' Captain Peter Thompson, 

 was the tir&t vessel which took Indians and canoes from Neah Bay to hunt seals. 

 This was in 1869; the 'Lottie' was a ])i]ot-boat at that time. She is now owned bj" 

 Captain James Claplanhoo, a full-blood Makah Indian, and Head Chief of the tribe. 

 Last spring the 'Lottie' went to Behring Sea and did very well. Captain Claplan- 

 hoo, after paying all costs of the voyage, had 7,000 or 8,000 dollars left. He deposited 

 5,000 dollars gold in the Merchant Bank iu this city. He will buy another schooner 

 and try his luck again next season. 



"I am amused with reading the remarks of correspondents of the eastern press 

 about seals. They only know what they have seen and been told on the rookeries, 

 but of the migratory habits of seals they know nothing and care less. I have always 

 contended, and still hold my opinion, that the seals are not in one great band, but iu 

 countless herds, like tfocks of wild geese or the bauds of buffalo. Geese do not all fly 

 to the Arctic, as was once supposed, nor did the buffalo of Texas go north to the 

 Saskatchewan in the summer, or the herds of Winnipeg visit Texas in the winter. 



"All the bands of fur-seals in the North Pacific do not go to the Pribylofi" Islands, 

 and there are thousands which do not visit Behring Sea at all. But these writers, 

 who assume to know all the facts, never discuss this question, Where do the seals go 

 when they leave Behring Sea? 



"If the killing of fur-seals is prohibited on the Prihyloff Inlands during the breed- 

 ing season there will be no fear of extermination. That butchery is driving off the 

 seals more than the so-called poaching. 



"I inclose an article from the 'Seattle Post Intelligencer' of the 5th on fur-seals, 

 written by myself. It was published in the Sunday issue, but the demand was so 

 great f hat every copy was sold, and another edition published in their weekly the 

 following Thursday. The editor told me that it has been extensively cojjied iu the 

 leading journals of the east." 



Extract from the "Seattle Post Intelligencer" of November 5, 1801. 



[Special Correspondence.] 



Port Town.sknd, October 31, 1891. 

 The investigations of the United States and British Connnissions in Behring Sea 

 during the present season of 1891 have been the most thoroughly scientific ever 

 made by either Government. Hitherto all the special agents sent by the IJnifed 

 States Government from Washington City have conlined their investigations and 

 reports to the seals of the Pribyloft" Islands, derived partly by their own observa- 

 tions, but mostly from the interested statements of persons residing at the rookeries 



