76 TESTIMONY 



fur-seals on tliese islands. Aside from the evidences of deserted rook- 

 eries and hauling grounds shown by the grounds tiieinselves, I was 

 shown by native inhabitants of each island the grounds occupied in 

 foinier years now deserted and grass-grown. The silent witness of the 

 deserted rookeries bears out the testimony of the resi- 

 .00 -eries tser e . ^j^^^^ agcnts of the Icssccs of the Islunds, and of the na- 

 tive inhabitants of the islands, that the number of seals on the islands 

 l)egan to decrease with the advent of i)elagic sealing, and that the 

 yearly decrease has been in proportion with the yearly increase in the 

 number of vessels engaged in that enterprise. 

 The result of my observations of the methods of driving the seals 

 from the hauling grounds to the killing grounds is that 

 Driving. ^ ^^j^y small fraction of 1 per cent of the seals die 



from being overdriven or from being overheated in driving. From 

 my personal knowledge of the number of seals killed upon the Pribilof 

 . Islands by raids upon the rookeries during my resi- 



imimpor an . ^^^^^ thcrc, aud fVom information gained through other 

 sources, I conclude that the number of fur-seals killed is infinitely sma/1 

 compared with the number killed in pelagic sealing; so small, in fact, 

 as to have no appreciable effect upon seal life upon the islands. 

 As one result of my study of seal life on the islands I have come to 

 the conclusion that if pelagic sealing in Bering Sea 

 Extemiuatioii from j^,^(j IS'orth Paciflc sliould coutiuue for a period of five 

 pe agio sea mg. years to tlic Same extent as now practiced, seal life 



upon the Pribilof Islands will have become extinct. 



S. E. Nettleton. 



On this 9th day of July, 1892, before me, A. T. McCargar, a notary 

 public in and for the State of Washington, personally appeared S. it. 

 Nettleton, to me personally known to be the individual who signed and 

 sealed the above instrument as his voluntary act and deed. 

 Subscribed and sworn to before me on the date above mentioned. 

 [SEAL.] A. T. McCargak, 



Notary Public in and for the tState of 



. Washington, residing at Seattle. 



Deposition ofGnstave Wiehaum^ formerly an employe of the Russian Amer- 

 ican Compa7iy^ and vice-president of the Alaska Commercial Company, 

 etc. 



manageivient on pribilof and russian islands. 



State of California, 



City and Co^mty of San Francisco, ss: 

 Gustave Niebaum, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am 

 50 years old, a resident of San Francisco, and a mer- 

 Expenence. chant aud ship owner. I was born in Helsingfors, 



Finland, and became an American citizen by the transfer of Alaslca to 

 the United States. I entered tJie service of the Eussian American Com- 

 mercial Company in 1858, and was in command of one of their vessels 

 from 1860 until the cession of Alaska to the United States. I am, aud 

 have been for several years past, vice-president and a director of the 

 Alaska Commercial Company, and a- member of the firm of Hutchinsoji, 

 Kohl & Co., the former lessees, respectively, of the iJaska and Sibe 

 riau sealeries. 



