212 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Victor Jaeobson, of Victoria, sealer (Case of the United States, 

 Appendix, Vol. II, p. 328) : 



He is a British subject. Has been engaged in sealing for eleven years, 

 ten years as a master. He is now master and owner of school) er Mary 

 Ellen and owner of schooner Minnie. 



The female seals go through the passes from the Pacific Ocean into Bering Sea 

 between June 25 and .July 15. Females killed previous to this time I found with 

 pup, but none with pups after that hitter date. I have killed female seals taken by 

 me that three in five are females and nearly all with pup. 



Cross-examination by the British Government (See British Counter 

 Case, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 83) : 



My experience has been that about three out of five seals taken on the coast are 

 females, and about the same in Bering Sea. 



Edwin P. Porter, of Victoria, sealer (Case of the United States, 

 Appendix, Vol. II, p. 346) : 



My experience in four years' sealing is that nearly all the seals taken along the 

 coast are pregnant females, and it is seldom tLat one of them is caught that has not 

 a young pup in her. In the fore part of the season the pup is small, but in May and 

 June, when they are taken off the Queen Charlotte and Kodiak islands, the unborn 

 pup is quite large, and we frequently take them out of the mothers alive. 1 have 

 kept some of them alive for six weeks, that were cut out of their mothers, by feeding 

 them condensed milk. The seals we capture in Bering Sea were fully 80 per cent 

 females that had given birth to their young. A fact that I often noticed was that 

 their teats would be full of milk when I skinned them, and I have seen them killed 

 from 20 to 100 miles from the seal islands. 



Charles Peterson, of Victoria, sealer (Case of the United States, 

 Appendix, Vol. II, p. 345) : 



We entered Bering Sea about the 15th of August, through the Unimak Pass, and 

 captured therein 1,404 seals, most of which were cows in milk. On that voyage we 

 caught female seals in milk over 80 miles from the rookeries where they had left 

 their young. I have seen the deck almost flooded with milk while we were skinning 

 the seals. Ninety per cent of all the seals we captured in the water were female 

 seals. 



Robert H. McManus, of Victoria, journalist (Case of the United 

 States, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 337) : 



Tuesday, August 25, rain in morning. Boats and canoe out at half past 9 o'clock ; 

 out all day (returning to dinner). Result: First boat, 2 seals reported; wounded 

 and lost 5; seals said to be shy and wary, and not so numerous as formerly; atten- 

 tion called to cow seal being skinned (which I had taken for a young bull). The 

 snow-white milk running down blood-stained deck was a sickening sight. Indian 

 canoe, 1 seal. Total, 3 seals, 2 mediums, and 1 cow. 



Wednesday, August 26, cloudy morning. Seals floating round schooner. Boats 

 and canoe out all day. Result: First boat, 1 seal ; second boat, none; Indian canoe, 

 10 seals; total, 11 seals; 8 cows in milk and 3 medium. Skipper in first boat blamed 

 the powder. Second boat said it was too heavy and clumsy for the work. Skipper 

 reported having wounded and lost 7, and the men in second boat 9 16 in all. 

 Skipper said seals not so numerous as formerly, more shy ; also blamed the powder. 

 Evidently a great deal of shooting and very few seals to correspond. 



Saturday, August 29, ship's cook brought down from deck a large cow seal at 40 

 yards rise. Boats and canoe out all day. Fine, clear, balmy weather. Akutan Island 

 in sight. Result: First boat, 3 seals; second boat, 3 seals; cook, from deck, 1; 

 Indian canoe, 10; total catch, 17 seals, greater proportion cows in milk. Horrid 

 sight; could not stay the ordeal out till all were flayed. A large number reported 

 as wounded and lost. According to appearances, slaughter and indiscriminate. 



Sunday, August 30. Result of hunt: First boat, 2 seals; second boat, 1; Indian 

 canoe, 7 ; total, 10 seals, 7 of which were cows in milk. Several, as usual, reported 

 wounded and lost by the boats. The great superiority of the Indian spear evident. 



The British commissioners, in their report, express the following 

 views with regard to pelagic sealing, which views should be specially 



