REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 240 



Leiter from Captain .John Devcreux, addressed 1o Ashley Fronde, Esq., Seerefari/, IlehriiK/ 



tSea Comiiiissiov. 



Graving Dock, Esquimau, Noremher 10, ISOl. 

 Sit? : In reply to your letter of the 28th ultimo, rospectiuc: the habits of the fur- 

 seal along the coasts of British Colunihia and Alaska, I beg- to report as follows: 



1. From the early part of Deceuilier to the beginning of June they are found near 

 the edge of the bank of soundings along the coast from south of the Strait of De 

 Fuca to Cape Scott Islands on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and that about 

 the middle of June they disappear altogether, and are seldom seen again until late 

 in November or early part of December, when the weather is then too rough for all 

 Ijractical purposes to catch them. 



2. The distance from the shore where they are to be found most plentiful — say oft' 

 Cape Boale, where the bank extends furthest from the land — is from 30 to 100 miles, 

 and in some cases to 150 miles; but these tigures must not be taken bj' any means as 

 a lixed limit, because they are frequently found inshore and up the sounds some 8 

 or 10 miles inside the headlands, and, in fact, I have seen them in the Strait of 

 Fuca, and on rare occasions in the Gulf of Georgia even. 



3. When they are found along the bank on the west coast of Vancouver Island 

 they are feeding on their natural feeding grounds, where they feed upon all kinds 

 of fish in season — of which we have a variety on this coast of some thirty odd 

 species — however, the herring is their principal food, and then comes the salmon 



and other varieties, and so long as the fish are plcntii'ul the seal never leaves 

 178 the feeding ground, but when the herring, salmon, smelts, and others proceed 



northward and into the inlets, harbours, rivers, »fec., to spawn, the seals follow 

 them, but so soon as they tind shoal water they go to sea again. Now some of our 

 inlets on the west coast are from 50 to 100 fathoms deep, and the seal is quite at 

 home in them. 



4. As far as my observations have extended regarding the increase or decrease in 

 their numbers, and I have been on this coast twenty-seven years, all I can say on the 

 siiltject is that when they return to their feeding grounds after their jjeriodic 

 migrations they appear to be in numbers very similar to the salmon, herring, smelt, 

 ooiachan, &c. Some years they are found in inexhaustible numbers, then for a year 

 or two they will be scarcer, only to return in the following year in as great abun- 

 dance as ever, and it is my firm belief that if the tisli never left the banks fringing 

 the west coast of British Columbia and Southern Alaska the seals would never leave 

 their feeding grounds, for the only food they can get in Behring Sea is codhsh, 

 which is by no means so plentiful as the herring, smelt, and oolachans further south. 



As to the distance they preserve from the shore-line, I do not believe there is any 

 difference, foi instance, in the months of November, December, and January the 

 salmon and herrings, &c., are i'ar off shore, and as s^jring advances they approach 

 the land in shoals and the seals follow them. The herrings come in first, the salmon 

 follows, and feeds upon them, and the seal feeds upon all, although the herring ia 

 its favourite food. 



Any other information as to the history of seal-fishing in this province, &c., I can 

 supply if necessary. 

 I am, &,Q. 



(Signed) John Devereux, Dock-master. 



179 Appendix (D). 



MiscEiXANEotTs Correspondence and Memoranda. 



1. Behring Sea Commissioners to Her Britannic Majesty's Consuls-General at Shang- 



liae. Canton, and Honolulu. 



2. Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at San Francisco to Behring Sea Commissioners. 



3. iler Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at iShanghae to 15ehring Sea Cominis- 

 ■ sioners. 



4. Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at Canton to Behring Sea Commissioners. 



5. Behring Sea Commissioners to Senior Naval Officer, Esquimalt. 



6. Extracts from "Challenger" Reports. 



7. Letter from Mr. F. Chapman. 



8. Extract of letter from Baron Nordenskiold. 

 0. Letter from Mr. .John Murray. 



10. Report of examination of dead Seal Pup by Dr. Giinther. 



11. Memorandum by Sir Samuel Wilson, M. P. (Sheep-breeding). 



