FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 77 



and to extend the limit of driving said seals to any time in the said seasor s he saw 

 fit. 



In 1896 Dr. Jordan reports (Nov. 7, p. 21, Treasury Document No. 1913) "30,000 

 killable seals were taken. 22,000 of these, to the best of our information, beino- 3-vear- 

 olds." ' '^ y 



Not quite 7,500 of that 30,000 were 3-year-old skirs; 8,000 of them were 4* to 5 

 pound skins or yearlings or "eye plaster" skins_L 



The driving in 1896 was prosecuted with vigor up to the 28th of July. It was 

 impossible to drive those seals after the 17th of July, as they were found on the islands 

 without driving, adult females and yearhngs, males and "females, commingled, and 

 it was equally impossil)le to separate the sexes on the kilKng grounds before killino- 

 them, so a large number of tliis forbidden class of seals were so killed and their skins 

 sold in London as 2 and 1 year-old males. 



Again, in 1897, Dr. Jordan reports (Nov. 1, p. 18, Treasury Document No. 1994): 

 "* * * The quota of the year (20,890) is made up practically of 3-year-old bach- 

 elors. Some 2-year-olds are killed and some 4-year-olds, but the majority taken 

 are 3-year-olds." 



Not quite 7,000 of the 20,890 were 3-year-olds, and in spite of the most desperate 

 driving, kept up to the 7th of Acgust on St. Paul, and the 11th cf August on St. George 

 Island. 



The Chairman. What is the significance of that? I ask because you seem to 

 place so much emphasis upon it. 



Mr. Elliott. That is because the "official" kilhng season is closed on the "1st of 

 August. ' ' Have you not heard them say that the ' ' season closed on the 1st of Augi: st " ? 



The Chairman. What is the harm in killing until the 7th of August? 



Mr. Elliott. Because after July 20, annually, you are driving yearlings, and you 

 can not separate the males from the females in that class. That is the reason why 

 they should rot kill after the 1st of Augrst, and they "officially" say they do not 

 kill. It was impossible for the lessees to have so driven and failed to have killed 

 adult female mother seals in any one and all of these drives after the 17th of July. 

 They were killed and their skins sold in London as 6-pound or 2-year-old male skins. 



They were doing it under my eyes. I saw them doing it, and I stopped them. 

 The lessees refused to take the yearling or "eye-plaster" skins this year, becaitse 

 the price for them in 1896 barely paid expenses. Otherwise the yearling, 4h to 5 

 pound skins, would have been taken. 



Here we have the official declaration of Dr. Jordan that no yearlings and females 

 were killed in 1896 and 1897, when the kilhng was all do.ie under his eyes and con- 

 trol. 



Nc Lembkey there, no Bowers there, but Dr. Jordan, the "great naturalist," was 

 there, "branding" seal pups to put the pelagic hunters out of business, and not put- 

 ting an end to tliis illegal business on the islands. [Reading:] 



"The London sale catalogues of 1896 and 1897 indict and convict Dr. Jordan of 

 making a wholly erroneous and improper report to the Government. It is chari- 

 table to assume that he was ignorant of the facts, and did not realize the gravity of 

 his error or its far-reaching and injurious effect. 



" Therefore this initial responsibility of naturalists with regard to the matter of 

 driving and killing of yearling male and female seals on the seal islands of Alaska, 

 and as permitted by the Treasury- Department and Department of Commerce and 

 Labor since 1896, is authoritatively summed up as follows: 



"July 20, 1890. Elliott stopped the work of the lessees on the seal islands to-day; 

 he did so because they were killing mother seals along with 2-year-old males for 

 their skins; they had been doing so since the 17th of July: the lessees claimed tluit 

 they had not intentionally violated the law. since it was impossible to distinguish 

 the adult females from the 2-year-old male seals in the 'pods ' when clubbed ; it became 

 imperatJA'e to stop the work, therefore, on their own admission. 



"November 19, 1890. Elliott describes in his report on page 86 (H. Doc. No. 175, 

 54th Cong., 1st sess.) with detail the manner in which the seal drives after July 17 

 sweep up female seals, which are at once hustled into the killings; he sets the date 

 of July 20. annually, as the 'latest day' on which seal driving can be permitted, 



_ Note: i Dr. Jordan himself knew that the yearling females hauled out with the yeiirling males, and 

 never on the rookeries with the breeding seals. Yet he shut his eyes deliberately to the violation of the 

 Carlisle Rules of 1.S96. Observe the followint; proof of hLs knowledge as to what the yearling female does: 

 The following official entry is made in the Treasury agent's journal, St. Paul Island, on \t. ■Ki.S, under date 

 of "Saturdav, August 1, 1896": " Dr. Jordan, assisted by the natives, drove up three small liarems from 

 Garbotch Rookerv, and upon investigation found that there were a number of two-year-old virgin cows 

 among them. Pod of 1 and 2 vear-old seals was driven from the Reef Rookery and was examined with a 

 view to determining whether or not vearling seals were to be found among these young bachelors. It is 

 now conceded that veirling females (!o not haul out en the rookeries but anung the holluschickie." 



