SKAL LIFE ON THE I'lilHILOF ISLANDS. 179 



with young. A large number of females are also caught on their way 

 from and to the I'ribilof Islands and their feeding grounds before and 

 after the delivery of their young on those islands. (0. A. Williams.) 



A statement is attached thereto,* prepared by deponent, giving his 

 estimate of the number of female seals killed by pelagic hunting in the 

 past twenty-one years. (<J. A. Williams.) 



That for the last lifteen years he has had consigned to him by fur 

 sealers from S.OOO to 10,000 seal skins annually, for the* purpose of 

 dressing and dyeing the same; that about 50 per cent, of the skins so 

 received by him came from London in casks marked as they are cata- 

 logued by C. M. Lampson & Co., and are the skins belonging to what 

 is known as the Northwest catch; and deponent is informed and believes 

 that the Northwest catch, as the term is used in the trade, means the 

 skins of seals caught in the open sea and not upon the islands. Another 

 reason for this belief is the fact that all of the skins of the Northwest 

 catch contain marks showing that the animal has been killed by bullets 

 or buckshot, the skins being pierced by the shot, whereas the skins 

 killed cu the American and Kussiau islands are killed on land by clubs 

 ami are not pierced. 



That of the skins of the Northwest catch coming into his hands for 

 treatment probably all are the skins of the female seal, and that the 

 same can be distinguished from the skins of the male seal by reason of 

 the breasts and of the thinness of the fur around the same and upon 

 the belly, most of the females being killed while they are bearing their 

 young, and the fur therefore being stretched and thinner over that part 

 of the body; and also for the further reason that the head of the female 

 seal is much narrower than that of the male seal, and that this point of 

 difference is obvious in the skins of the two classes; that of the total 

 number of skins received by him about 25 per cent are the skins of the 

 Alaska and Copper catches; that all the skins of the Alaska catch are 

 male seals, and an overwhelming proportion of the Copper catch are 

 likewise male skins; that the remainder of the skins sent to deponent 

 for dressing and dyeing, as aforesaid, are received by him through the 

 house of Herman Liebes & Co., of San Francisco, and others, the 

 majority, however, from Herman Liebes & Co. The skins received 

 from the latter sources are from each of the three catches known to the 

 trade as the Copper, Alaska, and Northwest catches, although the major 

 part thereof belong to what is known as the Northwest catch, and are, 

 as in the case of the skins received from London of that catch, all skins 

 of the female seal. (Jos. D. Williams.) 



In examining and purchasing seal skins from schooners in their raw 

 state I have observed that 90 per cent of their catch are females. I 

 know that to be a fact, because the heads of the females are smaller, 

 the bellies larger, and the teats can be plainly seen. The teats show 

 more plainly when the skin is dressed and dyed. In examining the 

 skins taken by sealing schooners I have found most of them perforated 

 with shot, making them much less valuable thereby; formerly more of 

 then used to be killed with a rifle, which did not injure the skin as 

 much. (Maurice Windmiller.) 



The destruction of the seals in the North Pacific Ocean, as well as in 

 the Bering Sea, is largely confined to females. This fact can not be 

 disputed successfully. I made an examination of the reports of the 



* Not furnished. 



