ALASKAN HERD. 255 



collectively, every month in the year is comprised a close season 



•^ -^ '' ^ ^ impracticable. 



in the statement of one sealer or another, evidently 

 showing that in every month the seal herd needs 

 protection. Dr. George Dawson, one of the 

 British Bering Sea Commissioners, in an article 

 entitled ''Note on the Question of Protection of 

 the Fur Seal in the North Pacific," which was 

 inclosed in a communication from Sir Julian 

 Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine, dated March 9, 1890, 

 says: "The circumstance that the female fur- 

 seal becomes pregnant within a few days after 

 the birth of its young, and that the period of 

 gestation is nearly twelve months, with the fact 

 that the skins are at all times fit for market 

 (though for a few weeks, extending from the 

 middle of August to the end of September, during 

 the progress of shedding and renewal of the longer 

 hair, they are of less value), show that there is 

 no natural basis for a close season generally 

 applicable."^ And Sir George Baden-Powell, 

 the other British Bering Sea Commissioner, in a 

 letter to the London Times, published Saturday, 

 November 30, 1889, opposes a close season for 

 all months excepting July, August, and Septem- 

 ber, on the ground that "the Canadian sealers 

 commence sealing in December and seal contin- 



1 Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine, March 9, 1890, iuclosuro 

 No. 4. 



