392 TESTIMONY 



lumbia or Victoria catch is obtained are born neither in the water nor 

 upon the land in the vicinity where they are caught; and it appears 

 most probable from the routes upon which they are followed, and the 

 location in which they are found by pelagic hunters between March 

 and August, that they originate in, migrate from, and annually return 

 to Bering Sea. 



It has been stated in print that I said I had seen pups born on the 



kelp in the water. This is a gross misrepresentation. 



aqultTtoth 06886 ' 1 I merely said that it had been reported to me that such 



birth had been witnessed, and quoted as my authority 



Capt. B. H. McAlmoud, of the schr. Champion (p. 203, vol. 1, of U. S. 



Bish Commission's Report). 



Belagic sealing was carried on by the Indians at Neah Bay long be- 

 fore I first went among them, but they were then, and 



Damage to herd by until within a few years, provided only with their Ca- 

 nadians slight. -, ,,•' f. - -. *', ... .. 



noes, spears, and other native implements, constituting 

 the necessary outfit for an aboriginal seal-hunter. The destruction 

 wrought by them upon the seal herd was, compared with the vast num- 

 ber of which it was composed, very slight, and did little harm to any 

 one, while the result to the Indians was then and is still of great im- 

 portance. Now, pelagic seal-hunting is carried on in quite a different 

 manner. Numerous expeditions are fitted out in well-equipped vessels, 

 some of them under botli steam and sail, manned by whites and Indi- 

 ans, and armed with guns and spears. I am informed 

 Pelagic sealing aiK i believe that the herd has greatly decreased within 



must be checked. , , , , , ,, ^, ,. f . „ , ,. 



the last two or three years, and that it pelagic sealing 

 is not soon checked the herd will be driven hither and thither and so 

 decimated as to render it commercially valueless. This would be a 

 great wrong to the Indians, who are dependent in a great measure upon 

 the seals for a livelihood, as well as a needless, wanton waste, which 

 civilized nations ought not to permit. It can not be denied that the 

 natives, who have utilized the seal fisheries adjacent to their settlements 

 interests of the in ^ rom their earliest history and profited by them, deserve 

 dians should be con- some consideration. I believe that in order to preserve 

 8idered - the rookeries upon the islands and build them up to 



their former productiveness, it is only necessary to restrict pelagic seal- 

 hunting to the coast south of 51° 40' and confine it to the use of the 

 primitive methods formerly employed by the natives. 



James G. Swan. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 27th day of May, 1892. 

 | seal.] Chas. L. Bailey, 



Notary public in and for the State of Washington, residing at Port 

 Townsend. 



Deposition of Charles H. Townsend. naturalist. 



City of Washington, District of Columbia, ss: 



Charles H. Townsend, being duly sworn, deposes and says : 

 I am thirty-three years of age, and my profession is that of a natural- 

 Ex erience * s ** ^ am Cached to the U. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer Albatross, with which Commission I have been 

 connected for nine years. Occupying the position of resident naturalist 

 on that vessel, as I did, I have collected constantly during this period 



