SEAL LIFE ON THE PRII5ILOF ISLANDS. 143 



fur-seal herd a thing of the past. If continued as it is to day. even if 

 killing on the islands >\as absolutely forbidden, the herd will in a few 

 years be exterminated. I am, therefore, of the opinion that pelagic 

 sealing should be absolutely prohibited both in Bering Sea and the 

 North .Pacific Ocean. If this is done and a few years are allowed the 

 seal herd to recover from the enormous slaughter of the past seven 

 years the Pribilof Islands will produce their 100,000 skins as heretofore 

 for an indefinite period. 



I hereby append to and make a part of this affidavit a table, marked 

 A, 1 giving the number of seals killed each day on the island of St. Paul 

 during the years 1889 and 1890 up to the 20th day of July. 



+ ** 



CHARLES J. GOFF. 



MANAGEMENT OF SEAL KILLING, AND PELAGIC SEALING. 



Deposition of Abial P. Loud, special assistant Treasury agent on Pribilof 



Islands. 



DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 



City of Washington, ss: 



Abial P. Loud, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I am a resident 

 of Hampden, Me., and am 55 years of age. On April 4, 1885, I was 

 appointed special assistant Treasury agent for the seal islands, and 

 immediately started for the islands, arriving at the island of St. Paul 

 on May 28 or 30. Spent that season on St. Paul Island, and returned 

 for the winter to the States, leaving the islands on the 18th of August. 

 Went back again next spring, arriving there in latter pa,rt of May, and 

 remained until August, 1887, on St. Paul Island. Spent the season 

 of 1888 and 1889 on St. George Island, returning in the fall of 1889 to 

 the States. In 1889 I spent some time in the fall on St. Paul Island. 

 On whichever island I was located I always kept careful watch and 

 made frequent examinations of the rookeries during this entire period. 

 During the time from 1885 to 1889 there was a very marked decrease 

 in the size of the breeding grounds on St. Paul Island, and from 1887 

 to 1889 I also noticed a great decrease in the areas covered by the 

 rookeries on St. George Island. 



In his reports of 1886 and 1887 George E. Tingle, special Treasury 

 agent in charge of the seal islands, reported having measured the rook- 

 eries on the islands, and that the seals had largely increased in num- 

 ber, giving the increase at about 2,000,000. From this report I dissented 

 at the time, as I was unable to see any increase, but, on the contrary, a 

 perceptible decrease, in the rookeries. I expressed my views to many 

 on the islands, and all agreed that there had been no increase in seal 

 life. I do not think that there was a single person on the island except 

 Mr. Tingle who thought there had been an increase, or, in fact, that 

 there had not been a decrease in seal life. The measurements of the 

 rookeries on which Mr. Tingle relied were made with a common rope by 

 ignorant natives while the seals were absent from the islands, the 

 grounds covered by them being designated by Mr. Tingle from memory. 

 Even if these measurements had been correct, which was impossible, I 



1 See "Island Records," Appendix. 



