SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 281 



could see them all around in bunches on the water, but since the white 

 man came here and commenced to kill them with the rifle and the shot- 

 gun, within the last five or six years, they have rapidly decreased in 

 number. (Moses.) 



When I was a young man seals were very plentiful off Prince of 

 Wales Island and Dixons Entrance, but since the schooners have 

 begun hunting seals they have become very scarce, and Indians now are 

 obliged to go a long ways to kill any, and sometimes they will hunt for 

 days without getting a seal. (Nash ton.) 



Since the white men with schooners began to hunt seals, the last five 

 or six years, seals have become very scarce, and it is hard for the Indiana 

 to get any now. They have to go a long way and hunt a long time in 

 order to get one or two seals. (Smith Natch.) 



The last four or five years seals have been growing scarcer every 

 year, owing, I think, to too many white men hunting seals in schooner* 

 off Queen Charlotte Islands and in Dixons. (Dan Nathlan.) 



I think the reason of the seal becoming so scarce every year is that 

 there are too many white men hunting seal in Bering Sea and the Pacific 

 Ocean and it should be stopped. (Nechantake.) 



Seals are not near as plenty as they used to be; too many hunters are 

 catching them and indiscriminately killing them. (James Neishkaitk.) 



W T hen I was a young man seals were much more plentiful than they 

 are now. The last three years, since the schooners began hunting seals, 

 they have become very scarce, and it is hard lor the Indians to g t any 

 now. This year they have killed but two. (Nikla ah.) 



The Indian fur-seal hunters of my people all tell me that the fur seal 

 are becoming very scarce; too many white men are killing them all the 

 time, and they kill cows with pup, as well as other kinds. 1 am the 

 chief of my people, and they all tell me what they know. (Peter Olsen.) 



Seal are getting very scarce along the coast; cause of the scarcity 

 is, I think, too many schooners hunting them oft' Prince of Wales Island. 



(Abel Ryan.) 



Since the schooners have hunted seal oft' the Prince of Wales Island 

 the seals have become scarce, and it is hard for the Indians to get any 

 in canoes. In former times they used to get plenty. (Jack Shnoky.) 



The disappearance of the fur seal is due to the killing by pelagic 

 seal hunters, who appear in large numbers off this part of the coast; 

 and the scarcity of the fur seals is in proportion to the number of ves- 

 sels engaged in seal hunting. (Alex. Shyha.) 



Seal have become very scarce the last few years. Too many white 

 men are engaged in killing seal. (Martin Singay.) 



Have noticed a large decrease in seal in the last three years, caused,. 

 I think, by pelagic sealing in Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. 

 (Jack Sitka.) 



Since the white men have been hunting with schooners they have 

 become very scarce, and Indians are obliged to go a long way and stop 

 away from home a long time in order to get any, and after being away 

 there four or five days they frequently return without killing one seal, 

 they have become so scarce. (Thomas Showl.) 



There are no seal left now; they are most all killed off. The last ten 



