RELATING TO FUR-SEALS AND SEALSlUN INDUSTRY. 353 



B.— RELATING TO FUR-SEALS AND TO SEALSKIN IN- 

 DUSTRY. 



Deposition of Moses S. Barnard, cooper. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss: 



Moses S. Barnard, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 

 That he is a resident of San Francisco, California, and is by occu- 

 pation a cooper; that during the past twenty years 

 he has been employed by the Alaska Commercial Com- Ex P enence - 

 pany in heading the casks in which are packed the fur-seal skins re- 

 ceived by said company from the Pribilof Islands; that up to 1879 such 

 sealskins were packed at the company's warehouse; that I have seen 

 such sealskins packed, and never saw but a very few opened at the 

 warehouse to examine as to their condition; that as 

 soon as the casks had been packed and headed they aii skins trans- 

 were at once placed on drays and drawn to the railroad fr m r sin Francisco. 11 

 station; that since 1879, when a vessel arrived in port 

 with a consignment of sealskins, the skins were unloaded and packed 

 in bundles in the casks at the wharf, the casks being there headed and 

 thence taken in drays to the railroad station for shipment. 



Moses S. Barnard. 



Subscribed aud sworn to before me this 17th day of November, A. 

 D. 1892. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Fublic. 



Deposition of Charles J. Behloic, furrier. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 



Charles J. Behlow, being duly sworn, deposes and says: 



I reside in San Francisco, State of California, aud am by occupation 

 a fur merchant, and have been so engaged perma- 

 nently for the last 35 years, during which time I have Ex * )erience - 

 been constantly handling large quantities of raw fur-seal skins from all 

 different locations, and can readily distinguish the respective qualities, 

 size, age, and sex. 



On the 22d instant I examined twenty fur-seal skins, ex- American 

 schooner Mary Brown, from the Bering Sea, and found 

 the same to be fresh skins taken off the animal within B SS5K Mar ' J 

 three months last past, and the same were killed in the 

 Bering Sea. 



On examination they proved to be the skins known as the North west 

 Coast seals, and belonged to the herd which have their rookeries on the 

 Pribilof Islands. The lot contained : 2 skins of the fur-seal, male (ma- 

 tured) ; 1 skins of the far-seal, gray pup about one year of age, sex 

 doubtful; 14 skins of the fur-seal cow (matured). 



Portion of the 14 cows referred to must have been very heavy with 

 pup when killed, and some few, judging by the shape of the skin and 

 123G4 2a 



