REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 307 



Victoria, B. C, January 22, 1892. 



Andrew Laing, called and examined by Collector A. R. Milne: 



1. Q. You are one of the oldest seal-liunters in the province, Mr. Laing? — A. I 

 have been ten years at it. 



2. Q. Your knowledge of sealing really goes beyond the present knowledge of the 

 average sealer? — A, I have had as much experience as any of them. I think I know 

 as much as any of them. 



3. Q. Your observations on the west coast extend beyond the advent of the seal- 

 ing business in Behring Sea? — A. Yes. I went ou the coast in 1871, and have been 

 sealing with natives for the last tweutj^-one years. 



4. Q. You had ample ojiportunity of observing the life and habits of the seals? — 

 A. Yes. 



5. Q. From those observations last year did yovi notice any perceptible or material 

 decrease in the number of seals? — A. None whatever. 



6. Q. It was generally reported last year they were more numerous than the year 

 before? — A. Yes. I think, if anything, they weie a little more numerous than 1890. 



7. Q. Does that remark apply to full-grown? — A. To full-grown and mid-sized. 



8. Q. What direction do the seals on the coast usually come from? — A. They come 

 from the south, following the herring, which spawn on the west coast and different 

 places, and the seal follow those fish into the shore or far out, as the case may be. 

 The natives get a great number of these seals among a school of herring. 



9. Q. What is the usual distance which the natives hunt away from shore? — 

 231 A. In the spring they will hunt 10 or 15 miles off, later in the season 20 or 25 

 miles. I have seen them 40 miles from the land. 



10. Q. How long does the hunting of the seal on the west coast usually last? — A. 

 Commences in February, or latter end of January, and lasts till the 1st June, when 

 you get more or less seals; you can get a few stragglers in July. 



11. Q. And the tendency of the seals is from the south? — A. Yes, following their 

 food fish. 



12. Q. You have been down the coast to where you meet the seals in their migra- 

 tion? — A. I have gone down as far as Shoal Water Bay, Columbia River. 



13. Q. How do you meet the seals — in large bands or batches? — A. Yes, in schools, 

 from two to twenty in a school. 



14. Q. Do they seem to travel in pairs,? — A. No, Sir. 



15. Q. Do you find in these schools, or bunches, Ihey are all males or females? — A. 

 They are mixed. I remember an instance — I think in 188G — when we got on the coast 

 off Cape Flattery either 104 or 109, am not positive, and out of that there were over 

 100 bull seals, and the next day we got about 86, and out of that number over 70 

 were bulls. That was in the year 1886. 



16. Q. Would your observation lead you to suppose that your catch would depend 

 entirely upon the group of bulls or females as to which your catch would be com- 

 posed of principally? — A. As we get amongst them; yes. 



17. Q. But taking one year with another — from 1886 to the jireseut time — have you 

 seen any more females killed than of bulls ? — A. No, Sir. I think we have got abouo 

 three males in five, and when we get up about the Bank, about Middleton Island, I 

 think they will average more males than females. 



18. Q. When you strike the seals on the coast about 40 or 50 miles from shore, do 

 you find a large proportion of them sleeiJing? — A. They are generally sleeping. The 

 Indians get none but sleeping seals. I have never been working with Whites. 



19. Q. The natives approach the seals very close? — A. Yes; and he comes to the 

 leeward of them, and if there is any sea on they get into the trongh of the sea and 

 make no noise. If he went to windward the seal would scent him, and get away. 



20. Q. When he gets close enough he throws his spear, and seldom misses? — A. 

 Yes; he don't miss one in ten. 



21. Q. And when once his spear is fastened, the seal never gets away? — A. No. 



22. Q. If an Indian loses more than what you say, he would not be a good hunter? — 

 A. No good at all. It would not pay to "pack" him. 



23. Q. Do the Indians ever shoot? — A. Sometimes. They never shoot if the seal is 

 sleeping. 



24. Q. Does that percentage of loss apply to the sleeping seals only ? — A. Yes. 



25. Q. You mean by "loss" — what? — A. By sinking. 



26. Q. If the seal is wounded so it gets away, you don't consider it lost? — A. No. 



27. Q. If speared and wounded, and scurried off, you don't consider it lost? — A. 

 Oh, no; not lost. 



28. Q. The Indian hunter is very close to the quarry, and rarely misses his aim ? — 

 A. Well, he will got within 25 or 30 yards of it. 



29. Q. Have you noticed any marked difference in the manner in which the females 

 carrying young travel as compared with the males? — A. The only difference I could 

 see is that they will travel very fast for a little distance, and then turn up and rest 



