78 TESTIMONY 



at the expiration of our lease in better condition than when we received 

 it. But a force was already ftaiiiin.e,' inomentuni long' before we noticed 

 any serious disturbance of the herd on the islands that was destined to 

 disappoint our expectations, and, if not checked, to utterly destroy the 

 commercial value of the sealeries. 

 The practice of pelagic seal hunting Avas followed by the northwest 

 Results of leiaWe ^oast ludiaus tVoiu tlicir earliest history, but amounted 

 seaiiMg bv northwfst to SO little as to be inapi)reeiable on the islands. Even 

 preciawe w^iliaMs!"" '^^^^^' wliite huutcrs engaged in it in a limited way our 

 losses from this source were attributed to the marine 

 enemies of the seals, and was so far overcome by the good management 

 on the islands as to permit the growth of the herd to continue so long- 

 as it was limited to a few vessels and confined to the vicinity of the 

 Oregon, Washington, and British Columbian coasts. But even before 

 any considerable slaughter had taken place in the waters of Bering- 

 Sea, as earlv as 1882, it was noticed that the rookeries 

 erSsceaSun^issI!''' l^^d stoppccl expanding, though they were treated in 

 every way as they always had been. An examination 

 of the London Catalogue of sealskin sales shows that the "Victoria 

 catch" already aggregated a very considerable number of skins and 

 now brings home the conviction that pelagic sealing, when confined 

 almost whollj^ to the Pacific, is still a very dangerous enemy of seal 

 life on the islands. 

 After 188G the force of pelagic hunters was greatly augmented, and 

 Increase in pelagic ^ccame uiore aud luorc aggressivc, and their field of 

 «p»'jng^after 1886 and operations widcly extended, until they appeared in 

 alarming numbers in Bering Sea in 1884 and 1885. In 

 1887 we were forced to commence taking smaller skins in order to obtain 

 our quota and preserve enough breeding bulls. In 1888 they were still 

 smaller, while in 1889 more than half of them were such as we would 

 not have killed in former years, and we called the attention of the 

 Treasury Department to the evident diminution of seal life, and recom- 

 mended that fewer seals be killed in fnture. There can be no question 

 as to the cause of the diminution. It is the direct result of pelagic 

 sealing, and the same destruc'oion, if continued a few years longer, will 

 entirely dissipate any commercial value in the rookeries, if it does not, 

 indeed, annihilate them. 



I was formerly, as I have stated, interested in the Commander seal 

 Eussian and Alas ^'"^^'^i^fl^? ^^ ^^"^^^^ ^s thosc of Alaska. The two herds are 

 kan iieids distinct Separate and distinct, the fur being of different quality 

 qualities."* <ii«'«^rent ,^^j^| appcaraiicc. The two classes of skins have always 

 been held at different values in the London market, 

 the Alaskas bringing invariably a higher price than the Siberias of the 

 same weight and size of skins. I think each herd keeps upon its own 

 feeding grounds along the respective coasts they inhabit. 



I am told that the diminution of seal life has been attributed to raids 

 jj^^g by poachers upon the seal islands. Very few of these 



have occurred, and the number of skins obtained by 

 the poachers has been comparatively infinitesimally small. I think 

 the whole number obtained by them in this way does not exceed 3,000 

 or 4,000 skins. We were accustomed always to maintain a patrol and 

 guard upon the rookeries whenever the weather wjvs such that poachers 

 could laud upon them, and upon the least suspicitnis circumstances 

 measures were taken to forestall any attempts to steal the seals. The 

 sea is usually rough in the fall Avhen poachers try to get in their work; 

 the shores are, at most places, inaccessible from boats, aud the natives 



