352 SEAL LIFE OX THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



is "repugnant to the sense of decency and simplest instincts of true 

 manhood." He makes the following- recommendation (see p. 214) : 



That pelagic sealing in the waters of Bering Sea be prohibited and suppressed 

 throughout the breeding season, no matter how, so that it is done, and done quickly. 



This step is equ lly imperative. The immorality of that demand made by the 

 open-water sealer to ruin within a few short years and destroy forever these fur- 

 bearing interests on the Pribilof Islands the immorality of this demand can not be 

 glossed over by any sophistry. The idea of permitting such a chase to continue 

 where 5,000 females, heavy with their unborn young, are killed in order to secure 

 every 1,000 skins taken/ is repugnant to the 'sense of decency and the simplest 

 instincts of true manhood. 



I can not refrain from expressing my tirm belief that if the truth is known made 

 plain to responsible heads of the civilized powers of the world that not one of these 

 Governments will hesitate to unite with ours in closing Bering Sea and its passes of 

 the Aleutian chain to any and all pelagic fur sealing during the breeding season of 

 that animal. 



(9) That cows suckle no pups other than their own. 

 Referring to the driving of nursing cows, he says: 



Page2:*7: * * That means death or permanent disability, even if the cows 



are driven but once death to both cow and her pup left behind, since that pup will 

 not be permitted to suckle any other. 



(10) That pups learn to swim; that in the beginning of August a 

 large majority of them are wholly unused to water (p. 255), and that a 

 number of them do not " get into the water" before September 1 (p. 260). 



(11) That the seals are of a gentle disposition, are not frightened by 

 the presence of man, and should not be regarded as wild animals. 



Page 123: Docility of fur seals when driven. I was also impressed by the singular 

 docility and amiability of these animals when driven along the road; they never 

 show tight any more than a flock of sheep would do. 



Page 98 : Gentleness of the seals. Descend with me from this sand-dune elevation of 

 Tolstoi and walk into the drove of holluschickie below us; we can do it; you do not 

 notice much confusion or dismay as we go in among them; they simply open out 

 before us and close in behind our tracks, stirring, crowding to the right and left as 

 we go, 12 to 20 feet away from us on each side. Look at this small lioek of year- 

 lingssome 1, others 2, and even 3 years old, which are coughing and spitting 

 around us now, staring up at our faces in amazement as we walk ahead; they strug- 

 gle a few rods out of our reach and then come together again behind us, showing 

 no further notice of ourselves. You could not walk into a drove of hogs at Chicago 

 without exciting as much confusion and arousing an infinitely more disagreeable 

 tumult ; and as for sheep on the plains they would stampede far quicker. Wild 

 indeed ! you can now readily understand how easy it is for two or three men, early 

 in the morning, to come where we are, turn aside from this vast herd in front of us 

 und around us 2,000 or 3,000 of the best examples, and drive them back, up and over 

 to the village. 



(12) That virgin females go to the islands when 2 years old and are 

 there impregnated. 



Page 18: It must be borne in mind that perhaps 10 or 12 per cent of the entire 

 number were yearlings last season and came up onto these breeding grounds as vir- 

 gins for the first time during this season; as 2-year-old cows they of course bear 

 no young. (Ibid.) This surplus area of the males is also more than balanced and 

 equalized by the 15,000 to 20,000 virgin females which come onto the rookery for the 

 first time to meet the males. They come, rest a few days or a week, and retire, leav- 

 ing no young to show their presence on the ground. 



Page 139: Next year these yearlings which are now trooping out with the youthful 

 males on the hauling grounds will repair to the rookeries, while their male com- 

 panions will be obliged to come again to this same spot. 



V. 



Again this report not only supports all positions taken by the United 

 States on the main points, but as clearly condemns all of the special 

 assertions made on the part of Great Britain for the purpose of weak- 

 ening those positions : 



(1) Mr. Elliott holds that coition is never effected in the sea (p. 83). 



