SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 259 



A good many are wounded and escape, only to die afterwards. (Alfred 

 Dardean.) 



When I get seals now a great many have shot in them, a thing I never 

 saw before until about six or seven years ago. (Frank Davis.) 



Some that I shoot are wounded and get away, and probably die. I 

 have caught a good many seals that had shot in them. (Kllabush.) 



They kill and wound a great many that they do not get. I have 

 speared a great many seals that had shot in them. (Selwish Johnson.) 



I know that a great many must be lost by the white hunters, for a 

 great many that I catch have shot in them, and some are badly wounded. 

 (James Lighthouse.) 



During the killing season on the Commander Islands we frequently 

 find in the bodies both bullets and shot. (John Malowowansky.) 



I have captured a great many seals with the spear and found shot in 

 them. (John Tysum.) 



When they were wounded we had to chase them, and then sometimes 

 would not get them. (Patrick Maroney.) 



While out seal hunting last year I captured a few seals that the white 

 hunters had wounded and lost, and found a good many shot in their 

 >odies. I have captured a good many seals lately that had buckshot 

 n them. (Charley White.) 



At the times when the male seals are on the rookeries the large 

 catches are made. A traveling seal is alert, cautious, quick of hearing, 

 and easily disturbed. A sleeping seal is at the mercy of anyone. The 

 arge proportion of traveling seals shot at and lost is due to the timidity 

 of the animal ; in fact, all the hunters admit that when there is much 

 shooting going on the seals are very difficult to get. The loss of sleep- 

 ng seals, which I estimate as two lost for one saved, is due to the fact 

 that unless the bullet or shot kills the animal instantly it will immedi- 

 ately dive, and it is not easy to kill a seal instantly. The head of the 

 seal affords but a small mark. Even in the case of a sleeper, the 

 motion of the water keeps it moving. The boat from which the hunter 

 shoots is also moving, and while there are men who at a distance of 50 

 or 60 yards can shoot a small object under such circumstances, they 

 are extremely rare. They are famous as experts and they are highly 

 rewarded for their skill. Certainly not one in ten of all the seal hunters 

 can truthfully assert, nor do they attempt to do so when in a confiden- 

 tial humor, that they kill 50 per cent of their seals dead. I was in the 

 company of a number of them in Victoria, in 1889, and heard them 

 balking among themselves of their prowess. Some put forward claims 

 which the others derided. Any estimate in excess of the one I have 

 already given called forth uncomplimentary remarks and charges of 

 boastfulness. The disinclination of these men to state the absolute 

 facts, and they alone know what the facts are, in relation to the num- 

 ber of seals shot and lost, has been intensified lately by the feeling 

 that it is necessary for them to make a good showing to back up the 

 claim that pelagic sealing is not absolutely of the seal herd. (Thomas 

 T. Williams.) 



Many of the seals I have speared had shot and bullets in them. 

 This was never seen before until about eight years ago, and now it is 

 a frequent occurrence. (Wispoo.) 



A great many that I have caught in the last three or four years have 

 shot in them, and many have been badly wounded. (Thomas Zolnoks.) 



