TAKEN IN COOK'S INLET. 231 



tliem at sea. I Lave never heard of tur-seal ]mps be- 

 ing- born anywhere except on a rookery; andlhav^Mio p,,^^ i,,,,.,^ ouiymi 

 knowledge of any fur-seal rookeries in Alaska otlier niykcnrs on Piiwiof 

 than tliose on the seal islands of Bering Sea. I think '^ '""''• 

 fur-seals would increase if all hunting at sea was stopped. 



his 



Vassili X Feodor. 



mark. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 9th day of April, 1892. 



Joseph Murray, 



United States Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of A. J. Gnild^ seeder and miner, at CoolSs Inlet. 

 PELAGIC SEALING. 



A. J. Guild, being duly sworn, deposes and saith: I reside at the 

 settlement known as Soldovoi, on Cook's Inlet,. Alaska, and have lived 

 at settlements along the coast between Sitka and Cook's Inlet for the 

 past eleven years. lam a miner by occupation, but y.^,^^-^^^^.^ 

 formerly followed the sea. I w;is for two seasons ^I'^n^nce. 

 employed by parties in Port Townsend, Washington, as a sea- 

 man on board of sealing schooners clearing from that place. Their 

 hunters were all natives, who came from Neeah Bay, Washington, Far- 

 seals were first met oft' Cape Flattery as early as the ^ ^,^j. ^^ ca )o 

 first part of the month of January, and increased in Flattery first part of 

 numbers until the early part of June, diminishing again Jau^-'^'J- 

 towards the latter part of the month. Their migratory movement is 

 from the southward to the northward, following the Mi< ntion 

 general trend of the coast line. They first approach 

 the coast en masse about Cape Flattery, but I have known of stragglers 

 being seen as far south as Coos Bay. The vessels in which I sailed 

 followed the seals up the coast of Vancouver Island as far north as 

 Clayoquot Sound, at which point we left them in the latter part of July, 

 owing to their scarcity. Other and larger vessels followed them to a 

 greater distance, generally going up into Bering Sea, and keeping along 

 with the main herds. 



The native hunters used spears exclusively in hunting the seals, and 

 secured fully two-thirds of all struck. I am of the 

 opinion that with firearms not more than one-third of by^iltives wftrs*'^^^^^^ 

 the animals shot are actually secured. Of the skins oiiethird with flre- 

 taken in this region fully nine-tenths are j)regnaut and '^'^Ninety per cent 

 milking females, but I never saw a young pup in the gf^^nant or miiidug 

 water. Large bulls were never taken, their skins be- 

 ing practically valueless. Among all other fur seals at sea no distinc- 

 tion is possible and none is attempted. The killing is 

 indiscriminate, the object being to secure all the pelts .^i^d.scnmmate k.u. 

 possible. Bulls are, however, readily recognized at 

 sea by their larger size and darker fur. 



Females are most plentiful about the Vancouver coast from the mid- 

 dle of May to the end of June, very few others being secured during 

 that period, the males having mostly gone north previously. 



Pregnant female seals, being heavy and stupid, and sluggish of move- 

 ment, are more easily approached, and in consequence a greater pro- 

 portionate number of them are secured. 



