RELATING TO THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 211 



decrease in the numbers of tlie fur-seals frequenting the Pribilof Islands. 

 Years ago I used to see a great number of them in Bering Sea whilemaking 

 passage between Unalaska and the Pribilof Islands during the breeding- 

 season, but now only a few are seen, and these are observed much 

 nearer to the islands than was formerly the case. I 

 believe this decrease is owing to the large number of ^«<=r*=*^«- 

 vessels engaged in hunting the fur-seal at sea and the in- 

 discriminate methods employed by these sealing vessels .^intUscriminate km- 

 in taking skins. If this pursuit were stopped alto- 

 gether, i think the fur-seal species would increase 

 again, although very slowly. The native hunters liv- ^^ ection. 

 ing at the settlements of Chernofsky and Umnak used to hunt the fur- 

 seals in the fall each year for food, laying the flesh ^ , . , 

 away for winter use. V/hile at Chernofsky, I collected ^^^^^s'^ ^^^''^s- 

 annually from the natives about 750 skins of fur-seals killed in the 

 waters adjacent, and at Umnak, I collected on an average about 150 

 skins. These w^ere mostly the skins of gray pups taken during the 

 month of October, they being most highly prized by the natives as an 

 article of food. Fur-seals are very little known at ^^.^^ ^^^^ 

 Atka and Attn, and it is my belief that the farthestf arther westTua^n 

 west the main herd moves to and from Bering Sea is tafn pSs^"""" ^°""' 

 through the Four Mountain Islands Pass. 



Arthur ^N'ewman. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of June, 1892. 



Z. L, Tanner, 

 Lieut.-Gommander, U. S. Navy. 



Deposition of Charles T. Wagner^ agent of Alaslai Commercial Company. 



HABITS — PELAaiC SEALING. 



State of California, 



City and County o^f San Francisco, ss : 



Charles T. Wagner, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I am a citi- 

 zen of the United States, over 21 years of age, a resident of Sanak in 

 the Aleutian group, and am employed by the Alaska Commercial Com- 

 pany as their agent in the purchase of furs and in supplying the natives 

 with food and clothing. 



I was first employed by the Government as deputy _ . 

 collector of customs at Unalaska for nearly three years, ^^^ 

 li-om 1871 to 1873, since which time I have been in the employ of the 

 Company. 



During the twenty years which I have been stationed in various 

 trading posts in the Bering Sea I became conversant with the general 

 question pertaining to the fur-sealing industry in those waters, having 

 bought sealskins both from natives and from hunting vessels. I have 

 observed that by far the larger portion of skins pur- 

 chased by me were taken from female seals. Not less m^ef taS °°^°* ^^ 

 than eight out of every ten were from cows with pup 

 or in milk. I have often bought skins taken fiom c)w seals where the 

 young i)up had been cut out of the mother and Avas kept alive for sev- 

 eral days, until it became such a nuisance from constant yelping that I 



