206 PELAGIC SEALING. 



Testimony of is Supported by mauy others of the same .pi'ofes- 



pahigic sealers. j. j. ^ ^ 



sion.^ Other sealers, without fixing a percentage, 

 state that the seals taken are "principally"^ or 

 "most all"^ females. 

 Examiuation of ^hc skius also upou vcsscls seized by United 



catch 01 vessels ^ -^ 



^^''^*'*^- States officers in Bering Sea, which were subse- 



quently examined, also show a similar ratio of 

 destruction of female life. Captain Shepard says 

 that over twelve thousand skins taken from seal- 

 ing vessels seized in 1887 and 1889 were exam- 

 ined, and at least two-thirds or three-fourths 

 were the skins of females.^ Mr. A. P. Loud, 

 assistant Treasury agent, who in 1887 captured 

 the sealing schooner Angel Dolly, personally 

 examined the skins found on board, and he states 

 that "about eighty per cent were the skins of 

 females."^ Capt. A. W. Lavender, assistant 

 Treasury agent on St. Greorge Island, in Se]^- 

 tember, 1891, made a personal examination of 

 one hundred and seventy-two skins, the catch of 

 the schooner Challenge in Bering Sea, and of the 

 whole number only three were the skins of male 

 seals.*^ It is only necessary to examine such an 



1 William Short, Vol. II, p. 348; F.Johnson, Vol. II, p. 441; H. 

 Harmsen, Vol. II, p. 442; A. J. Hoffman, Vol. II, p. 446. 



nVilliam H. Long, Vol. II, p. 457; James Keau, Vol. II, p. 448; 

 James Kennedy, Vol. II, p. 449. 



3 George Zammitt, Vol. II, p. 507; Adolph Sayers, Vol. II, p. 473; 

 Thomas Brown (No. 1), Vol. II, p. 319. 



<Vol. II, p. 189. 



6 Vol. II, p. 39. 



6 Vol. II, p. 265. 



