370 KEPORTS OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



Waste of life, tlius lost — aud tliG great majority are shown to 

 be females — a serious wound is inflicted u])on 

 the herd, without the gain of so much as a 

 single skin. 



Great numbers While there is much difl^erence of opinion as 



wouudeu. ^ 



to the relation of the number of seals lost in this 

 way to the number taken, no one denies that 

 some loss occurs. That seals are often wounded 

 without being taken, is proved by the frequent 

 finding of bullets and shot in the bodies of seals 

 killed on the islands. As no females are killed 

 there, and as those seals of either sex that are 

 wounded to death at sea, but not secured, can 

 never be appealed to as witnesses, the extent of 

 the injury from this source must be more or less 

 a matter of inference. The only direct testimony 

 is that which must be furnished by those engaged 

 in pelagic sealing, and in this matter they are 

 personally interested to such an extent as to 

 Percentage of j-ender thcii' evidence of uncertain value. Such 



seals lost. 



as we were able to examine on this point ven- 

 tured the opinion that about one-third of those 

 killed were lost. Captain Webster declares it to 

 be his belief that about one-third of the number 

 killed were saved. Doubtless much depends on 

 the method of killing, tJie use of spears being 

 thought to be much less wasteful than that of rifle 



