280 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS. 



EXTRACT FROM TESTIMONY OF CHARLES BRYANT, TREASURY 

 AGENT, BEFORE A CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE, MARCH 20, 

 1876. ' 



Q. Do you observe whether there has been any diminution or increase 

 of the number of seals on these islands during the time this comijany 

 had charge? — A. There has been a steady increase in the number of 

 i'emale seals breeding - on the islands, equivalent to five percent, as near 

 as can be determined, annually. The principle upon which they are 

 killed is to take only such surplus males, they being polygamous in 

 their habits, as are not required for breeding purposes. 



Q. Your opinion, then, is that the number of 100,000 [seals] on the two 

 islands, authorized by law, can be regularly taken without diminishing 

 the crop or number of seals coming to the island? — A. I don't feel quite 

 sure of that, as will be seen in my detailed report to the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, included in the evidence which lias been laid before the 

 committee. There were indications of diminution in the number of 

 male seals. 



I gave that and another reason, which I explained at large in that 

 report. In the season of 1868, before the prohibitory law was passed 

 and enforced, numerous part es sealed on the islands at will, and took 

 about 240,000 or 250,000 seals. They killed mostly all the product of 

 1866-'67. ' 



In making our calculation for breeding seals we did not take that 

 loss into consideration, so that in 1872-'73, when the crop of 1866-'67 

 would have matured, we were a little short. These seals had been 

 killed. For that reason, to render the matter doubly sure, I recom- 

 mended in my report to the Secretary a diminution of 15,000 seals for 

 the two years ensuing. 



I do not, however, wish to be understood as saying that the seals are 

 at all decreasing — that the proportionate number of male seals of the 

 proper age to take is decreasing. 



Q. The females are increasing? — A. Yes, sir ; and consequently the 

 number of pups produced annually. 



Q. It looks, then, as if the males ought also to increase? — A. I think 

 that number of 100,000 was a little more than ought to have been begun 

 with. I think if we had begun at 85,000 there would have been no 

 necessity for diminishing. On the other hand, I think that within two 

 years from now it could be increased. 



EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF LIEUTENANT 'WASHBURN MAY- 

 NARD TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, DATED NOVEM- 

 BER 30, 1874 2 . 



The great work of the season, the taking and curing of seal-skins, be- 

 gins the first, week in June, and is pushed forward as rapidly as possible, 

 as the skins are in the best condition early in the season. This year 

 90,000 skins were taken on Saint Pauls by eighty-four men in thirty- 

 nine days. The natives do all the work ot driving, killing, and skin- 

 ning the seals and of curing and bundling the skins, under the direc- 

 tion of the company's agents and of their own chiefs. The first opera- 



1 House of Representatives, Forty-fourth Congress, first session, Report No. 623, 

 p. 99. 

 8 House Ex. Doc. No. 43, Forty-fourth Congress, first session, pp. 8-10. 



