182 SEAL LIFE OX THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



west catch are at least 80 per cent of the skins of the female animal. 

 That prior to and in preparation for making this deposition deponent 

 says he carefully looked through two large lots of skins now in his 

 warehouse for the especial purpose of estimating the percentage of 

 female skins found among the Northwest catch, and he believes the 

 above estimate to be accurate. That the skins in the Northwest catch 

 are also pierced with shot and spear marks, in consequence of having 

 been killed in the open water instead of upon land by club. (H. S. 

 Bevington.) 



And In the same way deponent thinks, from his own personal experi- 

 ence in handling skins, that he would have no difficulty whatever in. 

 separating the skins of the Northwest catch from the skins of the 

 Alaska catch by reason of the fact that they are the skins almost 

 exclusively of females, and also that the fur upon the bearing female 

 seals is much thinner than upon the skin of the male seals; the skin 

 of the animal while pregnant being extended and the fur extended 

 over a large area. (Alfred Fraser.) 



That the said firm can distinguish very readily the source of pro- 

 duction of the skins when the latter are in their undressed state; that 

 for several years besides the skins of the regular companies, such as 

 the Alaska Company (American concessionaire) and the Copper Com- 

 pany (Russian concessionaire), the said firm has bought quantities of 

 skins called Northwest Coast, Victoria, etc. That these skins are those 

 of animals caught in the open sea by persons who apparently derive 

 therefrom large profits, and nearly three-quarters of them are those 

 of females and pups, these probably being less difficult to take than 

 males; that these animals are taken by being shot. That the seals 

 taken by the Alaska and Copper companies are males: the destruction 

 of which is much less prejudicial to the preservation of the race, and 

 which furnish the best skins, these being much finer and more furnished 

 with down ; that they are killed on the islands with clubs. That every 

 animal killed by ball or shot bears the traces of such slaughter, which 

 marks greatly depreciate the value of the skin. (Emin Hertz.) 



An essential point of difference between the skins of the Northwest 

 catch and the skins of the Alaska and Copper Island catches consists 

 in the fact that most of the Northwest skins are the skins of the female 

 seal, while the Copper and Alaska skins are of the male seal. Deponent 

 has made no computation or examination which would enable him to 

 say specifically what proportion of the Northwest catch are the skins 

 of the female seal, but it is the fact that the great majority, deponent 

 would say 7.~> to 80 per cent, of the skins of this catch are the skins of 

 the female animal. The skins of the female seal, for instance, show the 

 marks of the breast, and the fur on the belly is thinner, and the whole 

 of the fur is also finer, lower in pile; that is, the fibers composing the 

 fur are shorter than in the case of the male seal. Another means of dis- 

 tinguishing the female skins from the skins of the male lies in the fact 

 that the skins of the female are narrower at the head and tail and pro- 

 portionately wider in the belly than the skins of the male seal. Another 

 means of distinguishing the seals of the Northwest catch from those of 

 the Copper Island and Alaska catches consists in the fact that nearly 

 all the skins of this catch have holes in them, which deponent under- 

 stands is caused by the fact that the seals from which they are taken 

 have been shot or speared in the open sea, and not as is the case with 

 the seals from which the skins of Copper Island and Alaska catches 

 are taken and killed with clubs upon land. (Walter E. Martin.) 



