382 REPOETS OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



Fur-seals. to usG tliis pole, the liunter in his boat approaches 



the seal to within shotguu range; after firing, 

 the oarsman propels the boat rapidly to the spot, 

 thus enabling the hunter in an uncertain per- 

 centage of cases to reach the seal with his gaff. 



Hair-seals. Mr. Hinckelmami, Royal Superintendent of. 



Fisheries, in an article entitled "Injuries to the 

 Fisheries in the Baltic by Seals," states: "The 

 seal when mortally wounded invariably sinks 

 to the bottom, where, at least in deep water, it 

 can not be reached. . . . The huntsman can 

 only in very rare cases prove that his shot has 

 been successful, as the dead seal can not be taken 

 from the surface of the water, but sinks to the 

 bottom." (Translated in Bull. U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, Vol. VII, for 1887-1889, p. 81.) 



Antarctic fur- Captain Musgravo, wlio was shipwrecked on 

 the Auckland Islands, and for a year and a half 

 subsisted largely on the flesh of seals and sea-lions, 

 states: " V/hen they are killed in the water they 

 sink like a stone." (Quoted by R. A. A. Sherrin 

 in "Handbook of the Fisheries of New Zealand," 

 1886, p. 248.) 



iiair-scais. Payer and Copeland, in their account of 



" Huntinii" and Animal Life in East Greenland," 



state respecting seals: "When dead they sink 



- very quickly." (The Zoologist, No. 124, 1876, 



p. 4744.) 



seals 



