334 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



from May 1 to June 10 were almost immediately eaten by themi, as is 

 tlieir custom after the scanty supply of meat during the winter and 

 spring months, and no jjart of these seals was salted or x>reserved for 

 future use. During the killing season by the lessees imder their quota 

 for commercial purj)oses, the natives are ke])t very busy and have no 

 time to prejtare meat for future use, and only so much is used for food 

 as is cut oft" for j^resent use; so that the seals killed between June 10, 

 when the season commenced, and July 2, when the notice of the modus 

 t'iye/?f7i was received, were not available for the 'future subsistence of 

 the natives. As stated, there only remained 3,029 seals to be taken 

 for their subsistence from July 2, 1891, to May 1, 1S92. The agent 

 cites the fact that from the close of the commercial killing season of 

 1890, on July 20, there were killed by the natives for food up to De- 

 cember 31, 1890, 6,218 seals, including 3,468 pup se;ds, the further kill- 

 ing of the latter being now prohibited. It was plain to the agent that, 

 under the construction which he had placed upon the modus vivendl, 

 the supply of meat for the natives during the coming winter would be 

 entirely inadequate, and before his departure from the islands he called 

 uj)on the lessees to bring in a sufficient sui)ply of salt beef to carry the 

 natives through the winter and up to May 1, 1892. 



The agent had no means of determining the scope and meaning of the 

 phrase of the British Commissioners, as used in your note, "this year's 

 catch," or "the catch of this season," as used in their communication 

 to him dated July 30, except by the interpretation to be given to the 

 text of the modus vive7idi, as contained in x^aragraphs 1 and 2. The 

 "same period," found in paragraph 2, he understood to refer to the 

 period within which the British Government undertook to prohibit seal- 

 killing in Behring Sea. The British Commissioners informed the agent 

 that, as to the British Governmeut, this period did not begin until a 

 reasonable time after June 15 (the date of signing) sufficient for the 

 naval vessels to reach the sea. The agent interpreted the paragraphs 

 cited as mutually binding, and he could not assume that it would be 

 claimed that their provisions were to take eft'ect on one date in the 

 interest of the British sealers and on another in the interest of the 

 United States. 



I have thus taken pains to communicate to you in some detail the 

 action of the agent of the United States on the subject com])lained of 

 by the British Commissioners, and I hope what has been set lorth will 

 convince your Government that there has been no disposition on the 

 part of the agent to evade or violate the stii)ulations of the agreement 

 of June 15 last. 

 1 have, etc., 



William F. Wharton, 



Acting Secretary. 



Mr. Wharton to Sir Julian Pauncefote. 



Department of State, 



Washiuffton, October 12, 1891. 

 My Dear Sir Julian: On July 23 last I wrote you a note present- 

 ing a i)roposal for the settlement of claims for damages which was to form 

 a part of the proposed agreement of arbitration of certain matters af- 

 fecting the seal hsherics in Behring Sea. On August 22 I wrote request- 

 ing you to be kind enough to inform me when an answer to my note 



