116 FUR-SEAL HERD OF ALASKA. 



Mr. Lembkey. I have attempted to Htate that in measuring a green skin it is impossi- 

 ble to find out its exact length when you lay it on the ground, because it may curl up, 

 or roll, or stretch, and it can only be measured after it has become hardened by salt. 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. Then it will not stretch? 



Mr. Lembkey. Certainly not. 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. That is the proper time to measure it, aiter it has become rigid 

 and stiff? 



Mr. Lembkey. Certaiiily. 



Mr. MoGiLLicuDDY. You can not then stretch or shrink it? 



Mr. Lembkey. No, sir. 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. With an honest measurement of that kind of skin would it not 

 determine the age? 



Mr. Lembkey. I fancy, yes. 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. Is there any doubt about it? 



Mr. Lembkey. I do not think so. I say, fancy, because I never attempted to 

 judge of age by the measurements. 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. In that way, if anybody wanted to, they could not deceive, 

 because you say they could not stretch it? 



Mr. Lembkey. You could not stretch it after it had been salted four or five days, 

 because tlie skin then is not very pliable. 



Mr. McGiLLicuDDY. Then it is your idea that measurement is reliable after a 

 certain number of days? 



Mr. Lembkey. Yes, after it has been in salt, but when the skin is green it would not 

 be a reliable test. 



EXHIBIT G. 



(■opies of official entries in the journal of the United States Treasury 

 agent's office, St. George Island, showing the impossibility and 

 the futility of getting an accurate ^' count of all the live pups on 

 a fur-seal rookeryT 



Extracts in recounting live pup seals taken from the official journal 

 of the agents of the Government in charge of St. George Island, 

 Bering Sea, Alaska. These records show the impossibility of getting 

 an accurate count of all the live fur-seal pups on any breeding rookery. 

 These entries under the respective dates, as follows, state facts, 

 to wit: 



Office United States Treasury Agent in Charge, 



St. George Island, Alaska. 



August 1, 1901. — With George and Joe Mercuhef went to Little 

 East to count last pups and to determine thereby how much resistance 

 may be expected from bulls at this early stage.. The pups were 

 podded and driven east, being carefully counted as they narrowed 

 out. Others under rocks and in coves were pulled out by hand and 

 counted separately. The number counted was 631. As the total 

 number is 434 less than we counted last year, a recount of the rookery 

 will be made to-morrow. 



In the afternoon, with George Mercuhef, Mike Lestenkof, and Rev. 

 Kashavarof, counted the pups on north rookery. The same methods 

 were used, except that from the roughness of the rookery space much 

 more trouble was experienced. Here, however, the bulls were holding 

 their positions without giving ground, and greatly hampering our 

 count. We succeeded in passing from one end of north rookery to 

 the other, finding in that stretch 1,148 pups, but in the western end 

 of the rookery we were in some places unable to get farther than the 

 edge of the rookery, because of numbers of bulls holding from one to 



