214 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



Capt. Daniel HcLane (Case of the United States, Appendix, Vol. 

 II, p. 443): 



Captain McLane has been engaged in pelagic sealing for eleven years 

 as master of vessels and deposes in part as follows : 



Q. Of what sex are the seals taken by you, or usually killed by hunting vessels in 

 the North Pacific and Bering Sea? A. Females. 



Q. What percentage of them are cows? Suppose you catch 100 seals, how many 

 males would you have among them? A. About 10. 



Q. What percentage of the cows taken are with pup? A. The females are mostly 

 all with pup; that is, up until the 1st of July. 



Q. Have you noticed any decrease in the quantity of animals in the last few 

 years? A. Yes, sir. 



Q. To what do you attribute the cause? A. Killing off the females. 



Q. If sealing continues as heretofore, is there any danger of exterminating them? 

 A. Yes, sir; they will all be exterminated in three years, and there will be no more 

 sealing. 



Q. Do you think it is absolutely necessary to protect the cows in the Bering Sea? 

 A. Yes, sir. 



James Kiernan, of San Francisco, sealing captain (Case of the 

 United States, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 449) : 



My experience has been that the sex of the seals usually killed by hunters employed 

 on vessels under my command, both in the ocean and Bering Sea, were cows. I 

 should say that not less than 80 per cent of those caught each year were of that sex. 

 I have observed that those killed in the North Pacific were mostly female carrying 

 their young, and were generally caught while asleep on the water, while those taken 

 in the Bering Sea were nearly all mother seals in milk, that had left their young and 

 were in search of food. 



# * Tf 7? * # # 



The mother does not leave the rookery in search of food until she has dropped her 

 young and become pregnant again, hence when she has been slain it means the loss 

 of three, as the young pup will unquestionably die for lack of sustenance. 



Michael White, of San Francisco, sealing captain (Case of the 

 United States, Appendix, Vol. II, p. 489) : 



I am 50 years of age. I reside at East Oakland. My occupation is master mariner, 

 and I have been so engaged for twenty-seven years, off and on. I have been engaged 

 in seal hunting during the years 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1889 in the North Pacific and 

 Bering Sea. I first went out in 1885 in the schooner City of Sun Diego, chartered by 

 myself and others, and my catch for that year was between 2,300 and 2,400 seals. 

 Of that number about 1,900 were caught in Bering Sea. There were but very few ves- 

 sels sealing at that time. In 1886 I was master of the schooner Terese, sailing from San 

 Francisco on the 2d day of February, and commenced capturing seals on the coast 

 of California, and followed them from that date north into Bering Sen. AVe caught 

 them from 5 to 60 miles off the coast. I entered Bering Sea on the 6th day of June, 

 1886, and previous to that time had caught about 880 seals. Then I sealed in Ber- 

 ing Sea from that time to the 28th of August; caught about 2,200 more, the whole 

 catch being 3,000 for the year. 



In 1887 I was master of the schooner Lottie Faircltild, sailing from San Francisco 

 on or about the 17th day of March, and worked northward to Bering Sea, and cap- 

 tured 883 seals. I then entered Bering Sea about the 6th of July, cruising there 

 until the 29th day of August, and took 2,517 seals more, the whole catch being 3,400 

 for the year. 



In 1888 I took the schooner Undaunted on a fishing and sealing voyage, leaving 

 here on or about the 20th of March, and cruised in the North Pacific up to the island 

 of Kodiak, capturing 400 seals up to the 7th day of June. I did not enter Bering 

 Sea that year. I did the same in 189, my trip being the same as in 1888, and my 

 capture of seals was about the same. I then quit sealing, and I am now engaged in 

 trading with the Gilbert and Marshall islands in the South Pacific Sea. 



In my captures off the coast between here and Sitka 90 per cent of my catch were 

 females, but off the coast of Unimak Pass there was a somewhat smaller percentage 

 of females, and nearly all the females were cows heavy with pup, and, in some 

 instances, the period of gestation was so near at hand that I have frequently taken 

 the live pup from the mother's womb. 



I never paid any particular attention as to the exact number of or proportion of 

 each sex killed in Bering Sea, but I do know that the larger portion of them were 

 females and were mothers giving milk. I have never hunted within 15 miles of the 



