RELATING TO ST. PAUL ISLAND. 109 



It is my opinion tliat the cows are killed by tlie hunt- _ , , .,, , 



, ^ ,,i ^ • J.1 J. n ^ -I ii Females killed 



ers when they go out m the sea to leed, and the i)ups wuie feeding. 

 are left to die and do die on the island. 



I never knew of a time when there were not plenty of bulls for all the 

 cows, and I never saw a cow seal — except a two-year ^, ^ „ ^ „ 



,,'.1, 11 -n-j.! Plenty of bulls. 



old — Without a pup by her side in the proper season. 

 I never heard tell of an impotent bull seal, nor do I believe there is 

 such a thing, excepting the very old and feeble, or badly wounded ones. 

 I have seen hundreds of idle vigorous bulls upon the rookeries, and 

 there were no cows for them. I saw many such bulls last year. 



The pups do not learn to swim until they are 6 to 8 weeks old, and 

 after learning they seem to prefer to be on the land ; 

 and I think they would not leave the islands only for J^_^ ^"^'""^ ^ 

 the cold weather, or it may be they follow the cows to 

 sea after being weaned. 



If the seal were let alone in the water we could manage them so as to 

 again build up the rookeries. We are so familiar with 

 their habits and they are so accustomed to us that there s Jy.*'*"''*'"'' neces- 

 is no difficulty in managing them so as to make them 

 increase. They are eavsy to handle, the little pups are not shy of us, and 

 even whea they are older in the fall they can be handled much easier 

 than sheep. I can manage seals better than I cau some of the sheep 

 brought on the islands and which I have been sent to catch. 



John Fratis. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me, an officer empowered to adminis- 

 ter oaths under section 1976, Revised Statutes of the United States, 

 this 10th of June, 1892, at St. Paul Island, Alaska. 



Wm. H. Williams, 

 Treasury Agent in charge of Seal Islands. 



Deposition of Henry A. Glidden, Treasury agent on St. Paul Island. 



HABITS. MANAGEMENT. PELAGIC SEALING. 



District of Columbia, 



City of Washington, ss: 

 Henry A. Glidden, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I reside at 

 Albion, in the State of New York, am 61 years of age, 



1 ' 1 <? • J J. • J.1 1 !• Experience. 



a lawyer by profession, and am not m the employ o± 

 the United States Government. I was appointed special Treasury 

 agent in charge of the seal islands under Secretary Folger. On May 

 31, 1882, I arrived on St. Paul Island, and remained there until June 

 8, 1885, only returning once to the States to pass the winter of 1883-'84. 

 I was located the entire time on St. Paul Island. During my expe- 

 rience there I examined carefully the rookeries on the island, as was 

 necessary in connection with my duties as special Treasury agent, 

 and incidentally studied seal life on the islands. I am unable to 

 state whether the seals increased or not during mv 

 residence on St. Paul, but they certainly did not de- ceptpivhav^'i^usT 

 crease, except perhaps there was a sHgiit decrease in 

 1884. In all my conversations with the natives, which were, of course, 

 a great many, they never spoke of the seals being on the decrease, as 

 they certainly would have done if such had been the . ->, . 

 case. During these years there was always a sufficiency *" ciencyo 



