308 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



30. Q. I mean, do they sink their bodies more? — A. No; they do not. 



31. Q. Do you think that the female is more shy than the male, that is, those "with 

 young"? — A. No; I think they are not any more shy. The female is always inclined 

 to be sleepy. The male is always on the watch, and will rise till his head and shoul- 

 ders are out of the water. 



32. Q. One hunter xias said that the female lies deep in the water, exposing only a 

 portion of her head? — A. I have never noticed that. When lying asleep one-half of 

 the head is under water. 



33. Q. Then you will say that the percentage of loss of the Indian hunters is not 

 more than how many in the hundred ? — A. Not more than one in ten ; not more than 

 10 per cent. 



34. Q. You say you never hunted with white men until this year? — A. No. 



35. Q. If any person made a statement that there is a greater amount of loss than 

 what you say, you would not regard it as correct? — A. I would say it was not cor- 

 rect, with Indian hunters. 



36. Q. Your statement is based upon actual experience? — A. Yes. 



37. Q. In going down the coast in the spring, in February, March, and April, have 

 you noticed that females are more plentiful than in the following months? — A. I do 

 not think they are. 



38. Q. But as they come from the south, you think they are not? — A. Between 

 January and June, and between the south and the Shumagin Islands, have you 

 noticed any time or place where there were any more females killed than others? — 

 A. I think in May, I have noticed one thing: you will not lind, take one in ninety, 

 you will never find a female pup. Where the female young go to is something that 

 the Commissioners ought to have found out before they came down from the sea. 



39. Q. It has been stated that the Indians eay there is no such thing as a female 

 grey pup? — A. I have never seen one yet, and cannot account for it, unless the 

 females go one way and the males another. 



40. Q. Among all yearling grey pups, there has never been anyone known to have 

 found a female? — A. Yes, it is a fact. I have heard a great deal of talk of females 

 having young on the kelp, too, but I don't think that is so. Some hunters re^wrt of 

 seeing pups otf Middleton's Island, but I think that is impossible. 



41. Q. Have you ever seen them cut a pup out of the female seal? — A. Yes; and I 

 have seen the pup so cat out walk or move about the deck of the vessel, and I have 

 tried to raise it. I have also thrown it intd the water, and have seen it swim about 



like a young dog; I have seen it keep afloat for fifteen miuutes, as long as the 

 232 vessel was within sight. On the islands, the mother seal will take the young 



and force them into the water to teach them to swim. They will never take 

 the water freely themselves for from six weeks to two months. 



42. Q. You think they will swim 50 yards probably, or 100 yards? — A. Yes; but 

 don't think they could live continually in the water if they were born in it. 



43. Q. When you strike the seals on the west coast, what would you say was the 

 usual distance per day that the seals travel? — A. That is impossible to say; it 

 depends upon their food. 



44. Q. That is, they linger longer over good food than otherwise? — A. Yes; I 

 remember in, I think, 1888, where an Indian threw his spear at a seal, and his line 

 broke; it was near the Shumagin Islands, and he took the same seal the next day — 

 we lay-to all night — and he recovered his own iron spearhead. That might show the 

 distance they move in, say, a night, because it did not travel far. 



45. Q. When you lower your boats two Indians go to a canoe? — A. Yes, and both 

 paddle. 



46. Q. The Indian in the bow keeps his spear right before? — A. Yes. 



47. Q. And he throws it at the animal, and strikes it where? — A. It makes no dif- 

 ference where they are hit. They try when shooting to hit in the head. 



48. Q. When a seal is struck, or wounded, what time does it require to heal? — A. 

 It heals very rapidly. 



49. Q. What time does it require to get the seal aboard after it is speared? — A. 

 Not more than two minutes when they spear, and not as long as that when they 

 Bhoot it. 



50. Q. What is the usual length of the sealing-boat? — A. About 20 feet. 



51. Q. And the canoe? — A. About 22 feet. 



52. Q. Is it not a fact that sealing in these small boats in the stormy spring months 

 is a very hazardous undertaking ? — A. Yes. 



53. Q. It is commonly reported that our seal-hunters, both Whites and Indians, 

 are more expert than any others on the coast? — A. That is so. They are the most 

 expert. 



54. Q. It is said also that unless the weather is very tempestuous nothing will 

 retard them? — A. Yes; they go out every chance they can get. 



55. Q. The loss of a full-sized skin meant the last two years how much to the 

 hunter? — A. About 3 dollars per skin. 



