ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 343 



interested in sealing, and the consensus of opinion is that very few experts are al>lo 

 to determine the sex from the skins when they have heon salted and mixed, and all 

 rules as to the color of the hair and the whiskers of the animal or the condition of 

 the fur have been found to he unreliable and unsatisfactory, a seal skin being split 

 from the lower jaw to the tail, even the tail itself, which is very short, being about 

 an inch in length, is also split, and the sex can not be determined that way. 



It is positively asserted that the only time to determine the sex is while skinning 

 the animal while fresh, and that masters could then put a ticket on each skin. 



Mr. Davis, the representative here of Messrs. Joseph Ullman & Sons, fur dealers, of 

 New York and St. Paul, who resided here for a few years, since deceased, and who came 

 here with expert knowledge in the purchase of skins, particularly seal skins, went 

 north on the steamer Danube in 1891 to meet the sealing fleet which had a rendezvous 

 off Alitak Bay, to transfer their skins, previous to their departure to the Russian 

 side, from the schooners to the steamer, to be brought here, emphatically stated that 

 it was practically impossible to tell the male from the female skin by the teats or 

 otherwise, and the only sure way, in his opinion, was to see the animal skinned. It 

 might, however, in exceptional cases of very choice skins be determined by the fur 

 or whiskers, and to tell a barren female from a male was almost impossible. 



Mr. Macoun, of Ottawa, with Mr. Munsie, a shipowner, and others, in 1892 exam- 

 ined in warehouse here about 200 skins, and they could not determine in that num- 

 ber the males from the females; and they selected skins said to be males by Mr. 

 Kautzauer, an expert for Messrs. Boscowitz & Co., and they were found to have 

 teats as prominent upon them as those found on any female. 



It is known, however, that a skin off a female seal that has been killed while very- 

 heavy with young is broader in proportion to its length than the male skin, which is 

 more oblong. 



It is my opinion that an expert examination would be almost impracticable and its 

 effectiveness uncertain in establishing the sex of the seals killed, and I consider 

 would not be necessary or useful. 



The adoption of an inspection of this character would, no doubt, if reliable and 

 conducted with certainty, afford a check as to the accuracy of log entries; but this, I 

 am certain, would not be done at the time of landing without much irritation and 

 disputation regarding the sex of seals. 



I can only therefore say that it appears to me that if the sealers in addition to 

 keeping their logs accurately as to each day's fishing were compelled to label or tag 

 each skin as to sex at the time of skinning and splitting the animal, would insure 

 the most reliable evidence which could be obtained. 



I might state that 1,037 seal skins were landed here and sold from the State of 

 Washington during the year 1894, which certainly were not examined as to sex by 

 expert inspectors, and those that were landed at other Puget Sound ports you will 

 see by the inclosed letter I received from Mr. J. C. Nixon, who is largely interested 

 in the seal industry, that no such examination took place at any Puget Sound ports 

 during last year or any previous year. 



I have the honor, etc. A. R. MILNE, Collector. 



JOHN HARDIE, Esq., 



Acting Deputy Minister of Marine and Fisheries, Ottawa. 



SEPTEMBER 10, 1895. 



SIR: I have carefully considered the report of Hon. John Gostigan 

 to liis excellency the Governor- General of Canada, containing minute in 

 council dated April 2, 1895, inclosed in your letter to me of June 17. 

 Although the iuclosures purport only to give certain information asked 

 for by our Government by letter of January 23, 1895, yet certain state- 

 ments and denials are contained therein which merit careful attention 

 and reply by this Department. 



In answering in the negative the questions whether the pelagic seal 

 skins taken by British sealers were examined at the British ports of 

 entry as to sex (as was stated in our communication to have been done 

 to all American seal skins entered at United States ports), the collector 

 of customs at Victoria, British Columbia, in his letter to Mr. Gostigan 

 inclosed in said report, enters a general denial that seal skins were* 

 examined as to sex by expert inspectors at San Francisco and Puget 

 Sound ports. He further states that it is impossible to distinguish the 



