18 TESTIMONY 



II. The seal hemg polygamons iu habit, each male being able to pro- 

 vide for a harem averaging twenty or thirty members, and the propor- 

 tion of male to female born being equal, there must inevitably be left a 

 reserve of young immature males the death of a certain proportion of 

 which could not in any way affect the annual supi^ly coming from the 

 breeding grounds. These conditions existing, the Government has per- 

 mitted the taking with three exceptions up to 1890 of a quota of about 

 100,000 of these young male seals annually. When the abundance of 

 seal life, as evidenced by the areas formerly occupied by seals, is consid- 

 ered I do not believe that this could account for or i)lay any appreci- 

 able part in the diminution of the herd. 



III. The statistics which I have examined, as well as all the inquiries 



made, show that in the raids uptm tlie rookeries them- 

 inj^^yfrom*!* ^'"^® selvcs by maraudcrs the loss of seal life has been too 



unimportant to play any part in the destruction of the 

 breeding grounds. The inhospitable shores, the exposure of the islands 

 to surf, the unfavorable climatic conditions, as well as the presence of 

 the natives and white men, will always prevent raids upon the islands 

 from ever being frequent or effective. 



IV. For some years past the natives were permitted to kill in the 



fall a few thousand male pups for food. Such kilhng 

 ups 1 c( 01 00 . ^^^ \)^^ii prohibited. It is not apparent how the kill- 

 ing of male pups could have decreased the number of females on the 

 breeding grounds. 



V. From my knowledge of the vitality of seals I do not believe any 

 . . ^ injury ever occurred to the reproductive powers of the 



^e living. male seals from redriving that would retard the in- 



crease of the herd, and that the driving of 1890 necessary to secure 

 about 22,000 skins could not have caused nor played any important 

 -part in tlie decrease that was apparent on every hand last year. 



VI. From my observations and my inquiries of the natives, under 

 conditions which were calculated to elicit only truthful replies, I ascer- 



^^ ^ tained that there had been no change save for the 



auageuien . better hi the methods of driving or the handling of 



vseals; that salt houses had been established at the more distant rooker- 

 ies; that boats, horses, mules, and wagons had been employed to trans- 

 port the skins; that by these im])iT)vements the length of the drives 

 had been materially lessened, and that the time for taking the quota 

 had been reduced from the Russian killing season of three or four 

 months to about thirty days, thereby causing the minimum of disturb- 

 ance even to the haubng grounds. 



VII. I ascertained by questioning those who had had years of cou- 



. ,.oo tiuuous experience with the seals that up to the year 



Increase ui> to 1882. ., ooc^ xi i • x^ j.i i j • 



1882 there was an annual expansnm oi the boundarn^s 

 of the breeding grounds; that this was followed by a period of stag- 

 Decrease siucc nation, which in turn was followed by a marked de- 

 i885-'86. cadence from about 1885-'8G down to the present 



time. 



VIII. In the latter part o± July, 1891, my attention was called to a 

 source of waste, the efficiency of which was most startlingly illustrated. 

 In my conversations with the natives I had learned that dead puyts had 

 been seen upon the rookeries in the past few years in such numbers as 



to cause much concern. By the middle of July they 



eac pups. pointed out to me here and there dead pups and others 



so weak and emaciated that theii- death was but a matter of a few days. 



