SG TESTIMONY 



De;posiiion of John M. Morton j aqcni of the lessees eind Treasury agent on 

 the PribUof Islands. 



HABITS. 



City and, County of San Franeiseo, ss: 



Joliii M. Morton, having- been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am 



United States shipping- commissioner at San Francisco. The Alaska 



Commercial Company obtained the lease of the seal islands in 1870. In 



Ex rience ^^^^ ^'^^^ ^^ t\iat year I wcnt to Alaska on the steamer 



xpenence. Consfantme as an agent of said company, arriving at St. 



Paul Island in October, where I remained until the close of the sealing 

 season in the following year. During the summer of 1872, I visited all 

 of the trading posts of the (Mtmpany, both on the mainland of Alaska 

 and the various islands, thus sixMiding the entire summer in Bering Sea. 

 This trip Avas extended to Copper and Bering islands, belonging to the 

 Eussians, and of which members of the Alaska Commercial Company 

 had control at that time, and to Petropaulovski in Kamchatka. In 

 the course of our voyage in 1872, we touched twice at the seal islands 

 of Alaska, spending there altogether, perhaps, a week or ten days. 

 During our stay at St. Paul this year, I visited (in July) most of the 

 rookeries and hauling grounds of the fur-seals. 



The summer of 1878 I spent on St. George, and while there my 

 business called me frequently to the various portions of the island 

 where the seals were accustomed to congregate. I did not go to 

 Alaska in 1874, but in 1875 and again in 1870 I went north, spending 

 both seasons on St. Paul Island. I resigned ray position with the 

 Alaska Commercial Company in the fall of 187G, but in the spring of 

 1877 I was appointed to the position of Treasury agent at the seal 

 islands (in charge), and entered upon the discharge of my official du- 

 ties in May of that year. During my residence oii the island, which, 

 so far as the sealing seasons were concerned, practically covered a 

 period of eight years (from 1870 to 1878 inclusive), I obtained a full 

 knowledge of the sealing business in its various branches, and became 

 familiar with all of the grounds occupied by the fur seals. 



I was at all times greatly interested in observing the movements and 

 habits of these animals and scarcely a day passed that I did not visit 

 one or more of the rookeries. During the seasons of 1877 and 1878, 

 while serving in the capacity of special Treasury agent, I devoted my 

 best attention and study to this subject. It may be said in the start 

 that the grounds held by the fur-seals are known at the islands as 

 "rookeries" and "hauling grounds." On the former 

 Rookeries and haiii- are fouud tliG breeding seals, viz, the full-grown males 



mg grounds, descrip- , , . , . <? i j> i <? . i 



tionof. not less than six years oi age, and females oi three 



years old and upwards. The grounds comprising the 

 rookeries slope upward from the sea in a gradual and easy manner, and 

 are characterized by hard dry surfaces of volcanic cement or basaltic 

 rock. They are readily accessible from the water and possess other 

 favorable conditions lor occupancy by the seal life. 

 The first arrivals of seals at the islands usually take place early in May. 

 Arrival of bulls. Thcsc are of the class of large bulls which o(;cupy posi- 

 tions on the rookeries. The females, as a class, begin 

 to appear in June, and by the middle of July the whole of the vast 

 Arrival of cows ^^^^d may be said to have arrived and established itself. 

 The females soon after their arrival give birth to their 



