REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 303 



39. Q. If there lincl been any such thing going on, it would have leaked out? — 

 A. It would certainly have leaked out, and I would have heard of it. It is almost 

 impossible to kee]) it quiet. 



(The above having been carefully read over to Captain Bissett, he corroborates and 

 substantiates the same.) 



(Signed) Alfred Bissett. 



Sworn before me at Victoria, British Columbia, this 18th day of November [sic], 1892. 

 (Signed) A. R. Milne, Collector of Customs. 



January 19, 1892. 



Captain Theodore M. Magnesen, in command of the schooner "Walter A. Earle," 

 of Victoria, examined by Collector Milne: 



1. Q. How many years have you been sealing in Behring Sea, Captain Magnesen? — 

 A. Three years; this will be my fourth. 



2. Q. You have had very good success last year? — A. Yes; very fair success. 



3. Q. Did you notice last year any perceptible decrease in the number of seals 

 compared with previous years ? — A. I think they were more plentiful last season than 

 I ever saw them before. 



4. Q. Do you mean in Behring Sea? — A. Yes; both along the coast and in the Sea. 

 The biggest catch I ever made was last year, on the coast as well as in the Behring Sea. 



5. Q. You have noticed the habits of the senis — how they travel? — A. They travel 

 in batches, the bull seals by themselves, and the cow seals by themselves, and the 

 yearling pups by themselves. 



6. Q. As a matter of fact, are there more seals shot while sleeping than while they 

 are travelling? — A. That is hard to say; but I think there are just as many shot 

 while moving as there are sleeping seals. 



7. Q. When you shoot seals by sleeping, what is the safe shooting distance? — A. 

 About 25 yards. 



8. Q. And when travelling? — A. About 4,5 to 50 yards. 



9. Q. The usual mark you shoot at is the head of the seal? — A. Yes. 



10. Q. When hit in the head, the seal does not sink? — A. No; sometimes he does, 

 though, if he is shot when short of wind at the moment, and he will sink if you are 

 too far away to pull it out. 



11. Q. You have noticed them sinking? — A. Yes; they generally sink tail first. 



12. Q. If the seal is shot in the head, he drops his head, and that confines the 

 breast, and it floats? — A. Yes; that is the way 1 have accounted for them floating. 



13. Q. How many seals, in your experience, do you think a hunter loses out of say, 

 100 shot at? — A. I know my head hunter killed 498 seals last year, and 17 of them 

 sunk. 



14. Q. That would be about 3^^ per cent? — A. Yes. 



15. Q. Do you consider that a fair average on the number of seals lost? — A. As an 

 experienced hunter, I think it is a fair average. 



16. Q. Would you say that a man who loses, say, 5 per cent of the seal he shoots 

 would not be an experienced hunter? — A. He could not lose more than that. 



17. Q. Will that percentage of loss apply to the travelling seals as well as to the 

 sleeping seals? — A. Yes, the most of the seals lost are the ones shot by the ones 

 moving or travelling. 



18. Q. Your boats carry pole, spear, and gaff ? — A. Yes; and if the seal sinks down 

 10 or 15 feet they are easily recovered. 



19. Q. If you were on your oath, now, and heard any one say that for every seal 

 that was killed, male or female, one was lost, you would say it was a misstatement? — 

 A. Yes ; that is not so. 



20. Q. If any one came here and said that for every seal you hit you killed another 

 seal ? — A. That is nonsense. 



21. Q. The highest percentage of loss, you say, would be 5 per cent, for 

 228 sinking seals? — A. Yes; and I may say that I have taken seals with shot 

 in them, dropped out when skinning, and they seemed as strong and healthy 

 as ever. 



22. Q. That is to say, that unless you shoot a seal in a vital part, the wound heals 

 quickly ? — A. Yes ; and unless you hit it hard the seal gets away. 



23. Q. You have seen females with young? — A. No; I never saw them carrying 

 their young in the water. 



24. Q. Down the coast the seals are pretty well divided, are they not? — A. Yes. 



25. Q. The cows travel by themselves, and the bulls by themselves? — A. Yes. 



26. Q. Did you say that you have caught more bull seals than cow seals during the 

 season? — A. Yes, along the coast; but when I got up and up I got more bulls than 

 cows. 



