38 TESTIMONY 



1887, on St. Paul Island. Spent the season of 1888 and 1889 on St. 

 George Island, returning in the fall of 1889 to the States. In 1889 I 

 spent some time in the fall on St. Paul Island. On whichever island I 

 was located I always kept careful watch, and made frequent examina- 



Decrease of breed- *^^'^ ^^ *^^ roolvcries during this entire period. During 

 ing grounds from 1885 the time from 1885 to 1889 there was a very marked de- 

 *o ^^^^- crease in the size of the breeding grounds on St. Paul 



Island, and from 1887 to 1889 I also noticed a great decrease in the 

 areas covered by the rookeries on St. George Island. 



In his reports of 1886 and 1887 George R. Tingle, special Treasury 

 . , agent in charge of the seal islands, reported having 

 Agen*t'*'Tingie'r'^re- mcasurcd the rookcrics on the islands, and that the 

 ports of an iucreiise. geals had largely iucreascd iu number, giving the in- 

 crease at about 2,000,000. From this report I dissented at the time, as 

 I was unable to see any increase, but on the contrary a perceptible de- 

 crease, in the rookeries. I expressed my views to many on the islands, 

 and all agreed that there had been no increase in seal life. I do not 

 think that there was a single person on the island except Mr. Tingle 



Mr Tingle's meth- ^^^^ thought there had been -an increase, or, in fact, 

 od of "measuring. that there had not been a decrease in seal life. The 

 measurements of the rookeries on which Mr. Tingle relied were made 

 with a common rope, by ignorant natives, while tlie seals were absent 

 from the islands, the grounds covered by them being designated by Mr. 

 Tino'le fi'om memory. Even if these measurements had been correct, 

 ^ ■ -y which was impossible, I do not believe it is possible to 



certeinfng^mimber''of calculatc cvcu approximately the number of seals upon 

 seals. t]ie rookeries, because of the broken nature of the 



ground and the irregular outlines of the breeding grounds. While I 



Driving and over- was ou the islauds I attended nearly every " driv^e" of 

 driving. tlic bachclor seals from the hauling grounds to the 



killing grounds, and these '^drives" were conducted by the natives 

 with great care, and no seals were killed by overdriving, plenty of time 

 being always given them to rest and cool off. A few were smothered 

 by the seals climbing over each other when wet, but the number was 

 very inconsiderable, being a fraction of 1 per cent of those driven, and 

 did not to any extent affect the seal life on the islands. The greatest 

 care was always taken to avoid overdriving both by the Government 

 officers and employes of the lessees. 



During my experience (and I was on the killing ground at every 

 killing that took place while I was on the islands) 1 never saw a male 

 seal which had been injured by being redriven several times from the 

 same hauling ground. I am convinced that while I was there there 



Virility of seals not ^^^^ uot a siuglc casc in which the virility of a male 

 impaired by driving, scal was destroyed OF impaired m the slightest degree 

 *'^''- by driving, redriving, or overdriving, and I took par- 



ticular notice of tlie condition of the males during each drive. The 

 males old enough for service on the breeding grounds were always 

 allowed to return to the hauling ground from a " drive," and I am 

 satisfied a sufficient number of males was always reserved for future 

 breeding purposes. A suggestion was made to the Secretary of the 

 Treasury in the fall of 1885 that some old bulls should be killed, but 

 .^ ,. the Secretary declined to ijermit such animals to be 



Decrease, cause ot. , . , £ • i j^i . / 1 i • j.i 



destroyed. I am convinced that the decrease m the 



rookeries was caused entirely by open-sea sealing. As I was not pres- 



^^^^ ^ ^ eiit on the islands in tlie fall of 1885, I am unable to 



pups. ],iake a statement as to the number of dead pups on 



the rookeries in that year, but iu 1880 I saw a large number of dead 



