SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 267 



ments made to me by many engaged in pelagic sealing whom I met and 

 conversed with at Uualaska. (T. F. Kyan.) 



\\ e caught 707 seals in Bering Sea that year (1884) from 30 to 150 

 miles off the seal islands. The most of them were females, for the 

 reason that they are not as cute as males. A great many of the females 

 had their breasts full of milk, which would run out on the deck when 

 we skinned them. * * * My third voyage was in 1889. I sailed 

 from Yokohama on the Arctic, about the latter part of January. We 

 cleared under the American flag. * * We entered Bering Sea 

 about the 17th of May and caught about 900 seals, the most of them 

 around the fishing banks just north of the Aleutian Islands. The 

 majority of them were mother seals. (James Sloan.) 



The majority of seals taken in Bering Sea are cows with milk. But 

 a very few yearlings are taken, and once in a while an old bull is taken. 

 The male seals taken are between 2 and 4 years old. * * * I have 

 taken female seals 80 miles oil' the Pribilof Islands that were full of 

 milk. (Fred Smith.) 



Have killed cow seals that were full of milk over 40 miles from the 

 Pribilof Islands. (Joshua Sticklaud.) 



I have never captured any cows in milk along the coast, but when 

 in Bering Sea in 1889 I sealed off about 1)0 miles from the seal islands 

 and caught cows in milk there. (John Tysum.) 



The majority of seals killed in the water are females, and all the 

 females killed in Bering Sea are mothers who have left their pups on 

 the rookeries and gone some distance from the island in search of food. 

 (Daniel Webster.) 



Ninety-five per cent of all the seals killed in Bering Sea are females. 

 (Theo. T. Williams.) 



Thousands of the female seals were captured by the pelagic hunters 

 in Bering Sea during the season of 1891, the most of which had to be 

 secured quite a distance from the rookeries, owing to the presence of 

 armed vessels patrolling the sea for miles around the islands. That the 

 slaughter of the seals was mostly of females was confirmed by the 

 thousands of dead pups lying on the rookeries, starved to death by the 

 destruction of their mothers. (W. H. Williams.) 



We caught a few seals in there (Bering Sea). When we first went in 

 we did not see many, but alter we were there awhile we saw plenty of 

 them that had large breasts that were full of milk, and our catch were 

 most all females. The average would be about one male to ten females. 

 We killed cows in milk 150 miles from the seal islands. (John 

 Woodruff.) 



DESTRUCTION OF FEMALE SEALS. 



Testimony of pelagic sealers. 



My experience in seal hunting is that a much greater number of 

 females are taken at sea than males of the fur seal species; and of the 

 females the majority are pregnant or milking. (Andrew, Anderson.) 



(,>. Do you know of what sex the seals were that you have taken in 

 the Pacific and Bering Sea? A. Yes; I have taken both male and female 

 seals, but I suppose the greater per cent that I have taken would be 

 about 90 per cent, or even more. 



