SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIB1LOF ISLANDS. 211 



Of the following year, he says : 



We captured between 900 and 1,000 on the coast, most nil of which were females 

 with pups. We entered the sea July 12 through Uuimak Pass and captured about 800 

 seals in those waters, about 90 per cent of which were females in milk from 20 to 100 

 miles from the rookeries. 



James Harrison, of Victoria, sealer (Case of the United States, 

 Appendix, Vol. II, p. 326) : 



We commenced sealing right off the coast; went as far south as the California 

 Coast, and then hunted north to the west coast of Vancouver Islands. Caught 500 

 skins during the season ; almost all of them were pregnant females. Out of 100 seals 

 taken about 90 per cent would be females with young pups in them. I can't tell a male 

 from a female while in the water at a distance. On an average, I think the hunters 

 will save about one out of three that they kill, but they wound many more that 

 escape and die afterwards. We entered Bering Sea about the 1st of June, and 

 caught about 200 seals in those waters. They were mostly mothers that had given 

 birth to their young and were around the fishing banks feeding. The hunters used 

 shotguns and rifles. In Bering Sea we killed both males and females, but I do not 

 know the proportion of one to the other. 



James Hayward, of Victoria, sealer (Case of the United States, 

 Appendix, Vol. II, p. 327): 



He went out sealing in 1887, 1888, 1890, and 1891. His vessels 

 appear to have made large catches. He makes the following statement : 



Most of the seals killed on the coast are pregnant females, while those we killed in 

 Bering Sea after the 1st of July were females that had given birth to their young on 

 the seal islands and come out into the sea to feed. Have caught them 150 miles off 

 from the shore of the seal islands, and have skinned them when their breasts were 

 full of milk. Seals travel and go a long way to feed. 



Alfred Dardean, of Victoria, sealer (Case of United States, Appen- 

 dix, Vol. II, p. 322) : 

 He went sealing in 1890. 



We caught over 900 skins before entering the sea and our whole catch that year 

 was 2,159 skins. Of the seals that were caught off the coast fully 90 per cent out of 

 every hundred had young pups in them. The boats would bring the seals killed on 

 board the vessel and we would take the young pups out and skin them. If the pup 

 is a good, nice one we would skin it and keep it for ourselves. I had 8 such skins 

 myself. Four out of five, if caught in May or June, would be alive when we cut 

 them out of the mothers. One of them we kept for pretty near three weeks alive 

 on deck by feeding it on condensed milk. One of the men finally killed it because 

 it cried so pitifully. We only got 3 seals with pups in them in Bering Sea. Most 

 all of them were females and had given birth to their young on the islands, and the 

 milk would run out of the teats on the deck when we would skin them. We caught 

 female seals in milk more than 100 miles off the Pribilof Islands. 



Morris Moss, furrier, and vice-president Sealers' Association of Vic- 

 toria (Case of United States, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 341): 

 He has bought from 10,000 to 20,000 seal skins per annum. 



I believe the majority of seals captured by white hunters in Bering Sea are females 

 in search of food. 



J. Johnson, of Victoria, sealer and sailing master (Case of the United 

 States, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 331): 



Has spent six years of his life sealing, and been captain of four dif- 

 ferent schooners. 



A large majority of the seals taken on the coast are cows with pup. A few young 

 males are taken, the ages ranging from 1 to 5 years. Once in a while an old bull is 

 taken in the North Pacific Ocean. I use no discrimination in killing seals, but kill 

 everything that comes near the boat in the shape of a seal. The majority of the 

 seals killed in Bering Sea are females. I have killed female seals 75 miles from the 

 islands that were full of milk. 



