178 DECREASE OF THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD. 



Experts. the sole cause of the decrease to be pelagi(5 seal- 



ing.^ Capt. Daniel Webster, abeady mentioned, 

 and one of the most, if not the most, expe- 

 rienced white man in seal habits and life, after 

 mentioning, the increase of seals from 1870 to 

 1880 and the rapid decrease from 1884 to 1891, 

 says: " In my judgment there is but one cause 

 for that decline and the present condition of the 

 rookeries, and that is the shotgun and rifle of 

 the pelagic hunter, and it is my opinion that if 

 the lessees had not taken a seal on the islands 

 for the last ten years we would still find the 

 breeding grounds in about the same condition 

 as they are to-day, so destructive to seal life are 

 the methods adopted by these hunters."^ Dr. 

 W. S. Hereford, with eleven years' experience on 

 the seal islands, says: "I made the conditions 

 of seal life a careful study for years, and I am 

 firmly of the opinion their decrease in number 

 on the Pribilof Islands is due wholly and entirely 

 to hunting and killing them in the open sea."^ 

 Charles F. Wagner, who was located at 

 Unalaska in 1871, and has been a fur trader 

 since 1874 to the present time, says: "I am 



• T. F. Morgan, Vol. II, p. 65 ; H. H. Mcliityre, Vol. II, p. 46 ; Gus- 

 tave Niebaum, Vol. II, p. 203. 

 2 Vol. II, p. 184. 

 'Vol. II, p. 36. 



