262 OFFICIAL REPORTS. 



When a lmnter uses a high-priced gun it is usually his private prop- 

 erty, and is not supplied by the outfitter of the schooner. 



The Winchester repeater is the principal rifle used, in sizes as follows: 

 38-55, 40-GO, 45-60, 45-70, 45-90. The average price is from $18.50 to 

 $21. A few Marlin rifles are used and cost about $20 each. 



Numbers 8, 10, and 12 shotguns are used. A majority of the hunters 

 seem to think the No. 12 gun (the smallest bore) the most effective 

 for killing seals. 

 No muzzle-loading firearms are used. 



Levi W. Myers, 



Consul. 

 United States Consulate, 



Victoria, British Columbia, November 22, 1892. 



COST OF AMMUNITION. 



The following from an authentic source is the estimate of the amount 

 and cost of ammunition for a Canadian sealing schooner carrying six 

 sealing boats, and with a crew of 22 white men. Voyage to last the 

 entire season, Victoria prices : 



Estimate of ammunition. 



10 kegs powder (25 pounds each) at $7 per keg $70. 00 



40 sacks shot (4 sacks to 1 keg of powder) at $1.50 per sack 60. 00 



25,000 wads, at 75 cents per thousand 18. 75 



15,000 primers, at 90 cents per thousand 13. 50 



1,300 brass shells, at $7 per hundred 91. 00 



Total 253.25 



The shot used are Nos. 1 and 2 buckshot and " Four A" shot. 



Levi W. Myers, 



Consul. 

 United States Consulate, 



Victoria, British Columbia, November 22, 1892. 



DIVISION OF THE SEAL-SKIN CATCHES BY BRITISH COLUMBIA SEALERS. 



The practice of dividing the sealing season into " catches" — that is 

 the " lower coast catch," "upper coast catch," and "Bering Sea catch," 

 is of recent origin. It began, substantially, in 1889. Up to that year 

 the custom of sealing captains was to carry all the skins they took on 

 the way to the North Pacific along with them into Bering Sea and to 

 retain posession of them all through the season, returning with them 

 to Victoria at its close. All attempts, therefore, to divide the skins 

 taken in any one year prior to 1889 into "coast catches" or "Bering Sea 

 catches," are estimates, and, to an extent, unreliable. So, when it is 

 stated that 13 schooners took 30,955 skins in 1886, the statistician is 

 careful to say " in and about" Bering sea, and not that they were all 

 taken in Bering Sea. The total catch of that year, including the North 

 Pacific and Bering Sea catches, was only 24,144, as returned by the 

 custom-house records at Victoria. Other illustrations of the misleading 

 character of these reported "catches" could be given. 



The basis of a proper and accurate division of the season's work was 

 first furnished in 1889, when the schooner Wanderer was sent north to 



