IN BERING SEA AND NORTH PACIFIC. 91 



a supposed raid, and even alleges that it must 4. Possible raids 



as a cause dis- 



have been unknown to those on the Islands cussed. 

 (Sec. 355, p. 64), and the further fact that num- 

 bers of dead pup-seals were observed by the 

 Commissioners on rookeries miles apart ne- 

 cessitates the assumption that there were sev- 

 eral distinct raids, of which no traces could be 

 found. At this time, also, when so many dead 

 pups were found, the waters about the rookeries 

 were patrolled by American and British war 

 ships. 1 On what this assumed cause of death is 

 based, it is, therefore, difficult to comprehend. 



All the bodies of pups examined by Dr. An . * ne 3 bodies 



r L J emaciated. 



Ackerly ("Acland," in the Report, Sec. 352) 

 and by Dr. Gunther (Sec. 354) were without 

 food in the stomachs, and the testimony pre- 

 sented in the Case of the United States 2 shows 

 that these bodies were all very much emaciated. 

 It seems an extraordinary circumstance that all 

 the young seals destroyed by stampedes, epidem- 

 ics, or raids, if any of these were the cause, 

 should have been starvelings. 



The reports from the Islands show an enor- < . G I oa . t flecrca ?° 



ir oi dead pups in 



mous falling off in the number of dead pups on 1892, 

 the rookeries in 1892 as compared with 1891. 

 Those who visited the Islands in 1892 make the 



1 Charts of cruises, 1891, Nos. 1, 2, and 3. 



2 Case of the United States, p. 213. 



