94 TESTIMONY RELATING TO PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



In one instance a hunter claimed that he secured nearly all that he 

 killed, and in another instance it was said that only one out of fifteen 

 was secured. A great majority of the hunters when closely questioned 

 admitted the losing- of a large proportion shot at, and I am of the opin- 

 ion that the wide ditterence in tlieir statement was due to two facts: 

 First, some hunters are more skillful tlian others, and, Second, some 

 base their estimate on what they know to have been actually killed, 

 while others estimate from the number shot at; that the mother seals, 

 while rearing- their young on tlie Pribilof Islands during the months of 

 July, August, September, and October of each year, leave the islands 

 Females feediim. ^^^ ^^^ ^^"^' ^'* ^^^' ^^* ^^^'*^? returuir.g at intervals to give 

 nourishment to their young. That they traveled long 

 distances in i)ursuit of food at these times is a well-known fact and 

 substantiated by the statements of reputable persons who have been 

 on sealing vessels and seen them killed two hundred miles or more from 

 the islands, and who say they have seen the decks of vessels slippery 

 with milk llowing from the carcasses of the dead females. 



That thousands of the female seals were caj^tured by tlie pelagic 

 hunters in Bering Sea during the season of 1891, the most of which 

 had to be secured quite a distance from the rookeries, owing to the 

 presence of armed vessels patrolling the sea for miles around the 

 islands, and that the slaughter of the seals was mostly of females, was 

 Dead pups confirmed by the thousands of dead pups lying on the 



lookerics starved to death by the destruction of tlieir 

 mothers. 



, It is a fact that none but male seals are ever driven and killed on the 

 islands, and great care is taken to preserve a sufficient 

 kiuedon^shuids'!''^* number each year to supply the breeding rookeries. 



During the season ol" 1891 nearly every mature 

 female coming ui)on the rookeries ga\'e birth to a young seal, and there 

 was great abundance of males of sutUcieut age to again go uiion the 

 ^ „ . ,, , breeding grounds that vear, as was shown bv the ina- 

 sufflcioncy of bulls. Vilify of large iinmbers^f them to secure more than 

 one to five cows each, while quite a number could secure none at all. 

 My investigation confirms what has been so often said by others who 

 have reported upon this subject, and that is that the Pribilof Islands 

 are the great breeding grounds of the fur-seals, and 

 ciJa^e ^with ^proper *^^'^* ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ reared in great numbers on said islands, 

 nianagemcnt and pro- aiid at the saiue time, uiidcr wise and judicdous re- 

 siaung" "*' ^°^''^'" strictions, a certain number of male seals can be killed 

 from year to year without injury to the breeding herds, 

 and their skins disposed of for commercial purposes, thereby building 

 uj) and perpetuating this great industry indefinitely, and thus adding 

 to the wealth, happiness, and comfort of the civilized world, while, on 

 Extermination if ^^^^ othcr hand, if tlic pclagic hunting of this animal 

 peia'I.ncsoaifng°i8not is to coutiuue, aud the barbarous practice of killing the 

 prohibited. mother seal with her unborn young, or Avhen she is 



rearing it, is to go on, it will be but a very short time before the fur- 

 seal will practically become extinct and this valuable industry will 

 pass out of existence. 



Wm. H. Williams. 

 District of Columbia, 



City of Washinf/ton: 

 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 19th day of March, 1892. 

 [seal.] Chas. L. Hughes, 



Notary Fublie. 



