ALASKAN HERD. 261 



northward from Unalaska Island, which said Courses of seal- 

 ing vessels. 

 island was the nearest land."^ 



Sir George Baden-Powell, in the article pub- 

 lished in the "London Times," already referred 

 to, says: "As a matter of fact the Canadian sealers 

 take very few, if any, seals close to these (the 

 Pribilof) islands." 



The American Commissioners in their report, Fogs in Bering 



^ Sea. 



after speaking" of the absurdity of such a pro- 

 posed method of protection, say: "There is 

 almost constant cloudiness and dense fog-, and it 

 is difficult for a vessel to know her own location 

 within reasonable limits after having cruised 

 about for a short time. A margin of uncertainty 

 would be nearly as wide as the zone itself. . . . 

 In most cases it would be difficult to prove that 

 the sealer was actually within the forbidden area."^ 

 Captain Shepard, of the United States Revenue 

 Marine, who seized a number of vessels in 1887 

 and 1889, while engaged in sealing in Bering 

 Sea, says : "It is my opinion that should pelagic 

 sealing be prohibited in a zone thirty, forty, or 

 fifty miles about the Probilof Islands, it would 

 be utterly useless as a protection to seal life, 

 because female seals go much farther than that 



1 British Blue Book, U. S. No. 2 (1890), C-6131, p. 161. See also 

 William H. Smith, Vol. II, p. 478; Fred Smith, Vol. II, p. 349. 

 'Keport of American Bering Sea Commissioners, post, j). 376. 



