PERCENTAGE OF COWS IN CATCH. 81 



ants. It is insisted by the United States that The Indian evi- 

 dence submitted, 

 such testimony is valueless for the purpose of 



establishing any conclusion worthy to be relied 



upon in this controversy. 



The second class of testimony presented to Testimony of 



interested parties 



sustain the position of the Report is obtained submitted, 

 from sworn statements of Canadian sealers, which 

 the Commissioners admit are not " entirely untinc- 

 tured by motives of personal interest" (Sec. 634). 

 These alleged statements of Indians, whose 

 names are not made known, and of other wit- 

 nesses, admitted to be subject to suspicion, are 

 the. sole foundation, so far as matters of fact are 

 concerned, for the defense by the British Com- 

 missioners of pelagic sealing. 



The largest percentage of females admitted „ Percentage of 



° x ° females admitted 



by these "most experienced and intelligent pe- to be taken « 

 lagic sealers" (Sec. 642) to have been taken by 

 them along the Northwest Coast is fifty out of 

 one hundred seals, and but three men make 

 this admission (Sees. 644, 645, 646). The other 

 witnesses quoted (fifteen in number) vary con- 

 siderably in their opinions as to the number of 

 females taken in a catch, the percentage alleged 

 ranging from two and a half to over forty, the 

 majority giving it as from twenty to thirty (Sees. 

 644, 645, 646). It is difficult to understand how statements 



consistent with 



£hese statements can be harmonized with the de- the Report. 

 12364 6 



