WHEN COWS ENTER THE WATER. 57 



3. Period at which the female seals go into the water. 



The Report, without definitely statins 1 that the , Position taken 



x J ° by the Report and 



female seals do not seek the water for from four the authorities, 

 to six weeks after the birth of their young, practi- 

 cally adopts the opinion of "Snegiloff " [Sniege- 

 rofF] , the native foreman on the Russian Islands, 

 as well as the statement once made by Capt. 

 Bryant on this subject, and supports these opin- 

 ions by reference to the Commissioners' own 

 observations as to the relative number of cows 

 and pups on the rookeries at different times in 

 the season of 1891 (Sec. 306). The "very general 

 belief among natives on the Pribilof and Com- 

 mander Islands to the effect that the females do 

 not leave the land to feed while eng-ag-ed in 

 suckling their young" (Sec. 307) can not be 

 accepted as evidence in the absence of names of 

 persons holding such belief; and the fact that two 

 females killed in September in the presence of 

 the Commissioners had no food in their stomachs 

 (Sec. 307) may be dismissed without considera- 

 tion, as at the time when these cows were killed 

 the Commissioners admit that the majority of the 

 cows were feeding (Sec. 306); and the number 

 killed is too small to establish the assertion 

 advanced in the Report. 



The information also given by Her Majesty's 

 Minister at Tokio — that "It is sometimes stated 



