180 DECEEASE OF THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD. 



Indian hunters, ing- tliGin at sea."^ Nicoli Apokche, a native fur 

 trader at Fort Alexander, Cook's Inlet, says : 

 " Fur seals were formerly observed in this neigh- 

 borhood in great numbers, but of late years 

 they have been constantly diminishing, owing to 

 the large numbers of sealing vessels engaged in 

 killing them,"^ and his affidavit is signed by 

 several other natives of that region engaged in 

 seal hunting. Peter Brown, the old chief of the 

 Makah Indians, already quoted, says : " White 

 hunters came here about five or six years ago 

 and commenced shooting the seals with guns, 

 since which time they have been rapidly decreas- 

 ing and are becoming very wild."^ Ellabash, 

 another Indian of the same tribe, confirms this 

 statement in the following words: "Seals are 

 not so plentiful now as they were a few years 

 ago. They began to decrease about five or six 

 years ago. A good many years ago I used to 

 capture seals in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. but 

 of late years, since so many schooners and white 

 men have come around here shooting with guns, 

 that only a few come in here and we do not 

 hunt in the Straits any more. I used to catch 

 forty or fifty seals in one day, and now if I get 



>Vol. n, p. 229. 



2 Vol. II, p. 224. 



3 Peter Brown, Vol. II, p. 378. 



