ALASKAN HERD. 263 



sucli a zone could protect seal life, it would be q^/^^ "^ Benug 

 impossible, on account of the atmosphere being 

 so constantly foggy and misty, to prevent ves- 

 sels from crossing an imaginary line drawn at 

 such a distance from and about the Pribilof 

 Islands.^ Others also consider this question of a 

 protecting zone and give the same opinion as the 

 witnesses quoted above.^ Commander Charles J. 

 Turner, of Her Majesty's cruiser NynipMe, which 

 was in Bering Sea in 1891, states that "the 

 weather experienced on the whole was very foggy 

 and rainy, and the fogs greatly aided the sealing 

 schooners in escaping observation."^ And Lord 

 Salisbury, in discussing the possibility of limiting 

 sealing to one side of a line drawn through the 

 sea, says "that if seal hunting be prohibited on 

 one side of a purely imaginary line drawn in the 

 open ocean, while it is permitted on the other 

 side of the line, it will be impossible in many 

 cases to prove unlawful sealing, or to infer it 

 from tlije possession of skins or fishing tackle."* 

 And the soundness of this statement is still 

 more evident when such an imaginary line is 

 almost continually enveloped in fogs and mists. 



iVol. II, p. 9. 



2H. H. Mclntyre, Vol. II, p. 46; A. P. Loud, Vol. II, p. 39; 

 George Warclinaii, Vol. II, p. 179; H. W. Mclntyre, Vol. II, p. 138; 

 H. N. Clark, Vol. II, p. 160. 



^Britisli Blue Book, United States No. 3 (1892), C-6635, p. 115, 



■•Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr Wharton, June 6, 1891 (In- 

 closure). 



