RELATING TO ST. PAUL ISLAND. 141 



Q. How do you account for it? — A. From tlie fact of their mothers 

 haviiiii' beeu killed by marauders. It is a well-known 

 fact tluxt the mothers suckle none but their own pups ; 

 consequently the motherless die from want of nourishment. 



Q. What is the general condition of a healthy pup seal receiving 

 constant attention from its mother? — A. I know him to be comi)letely 

 gorged Avith milk and his body to be enveloped in fat. 



Q. What effect, in your opinion, does the increase in the number of 

 poaching vessels in Bering Sea have upon seal life? — 

 A. Since the number ot sealing vessels has increased, poffw^'"*''"'^'"'"^ 

 the number of seals coming to the islands has corre- 

 spondingly decreased. 



J. C. Eedpath, 



Agent. 



Also C. L. Fowler, who, being duly sworn by me as hereinafter cer- 

 tified, testified as follows : 



I have been a resident of the seal islands for the past ten years; 

 formerly ass't agent of the Alaska Commercial Co., ^^ . 

 now agent of the North American Company, and dur- -^renence. 

 ing that time have been engaged in the taking of seals. I have lis- 

 tened to the testimony of J. C. Eedpath as above and corroborates Mr. 

 fully concur in all that he has said concerning seal life, Kertpath except as to 

 witii the exception that the number of seals on the '^•'''i'''^*''- 

 islands this season are in my judgment not more than one-fourth of 

 what they were in 1887. 



C. L. FOWLEK. 



Also J. C. S. Akerly, who being duly sworn by me, as hereinafter 

 certified, testified as follows : 



Q. State your age, place of residence, and occupation. — A. I am thirty- 

 one (31) years of age, reside in Oakland, California, and . 

 am physician on St. Paul Island, in the em^jloy of the ^ipeiiuice. 

 North American Commercial Company. 



Q. Did you see any dead pups on the rookeries this season? — A. 

 Yes; my attention was called to the matter by J. Stan- ^^^^^ 

 ley Brown, who requested me to examine them with a **'" ^"^'^' 

 view to determining the cause of their death. I examined a number 

 which had apparently recently died. Their bodies were entirely desti- 

 tute of fat and no food to be found in their stomachs. After a careful 

 examination, I found no evidence of disease. 



Q. What do you assign as the cause of their ^^^^^^ ^^ 

 death ? — A. I believe them to have died of starvation. 



Q. Why do you think they died of starvation? — A. From the fact 

 that nearly all the dead on the rookery were pups, and from absence 

 of all signs of disease, emaciated condition of their bodies, and ab- 

 sence of food fi'om their stimiachs. 



J. C. S. Akerly, M. D., Ph. B. 



Sworn and subscribed to before me this twenty-fourth day of Novem- 

 ber, 1891, at 8c. Paul Island, Pribilof Group, Bering Sea. 



FiJANK H. Newcomb, 

 First Lieutenant U. S. E. M. 

 WitncKees: 



Milton Barnes. 

 ■ Johnstone H. Quinan, 



S^^cond Lieutenant U. 8. E. M, 



