TESTIMONY TAKEN IN PEINCE WILLIAM SOUND. 235 



1 hereby certify that I liave interpreted the subject matter to tliose 

 persons whose signatures are hereto affixed and that they truly under- 

 stand its contents. 



Neepoli Gregoroff. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 16th day of April, 1892. 



Joseph Murray, 

 United iStates Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of Frank Korth, agent for far trading company at Port Etclies. 

 decrease. 



Frank Korth, being duly sworn, deposes and saith: I reside at Port 

 Etches, Prince William Sound, Alaska, and have lived in the Territory 

 for the last eight years. I am the agent for a fur trading company at 

 this place, but never had any personal experience in fnr-seal hunting. 

 I am, however, well acquainted with the coast of 

 Alaska from Prince William Sound to Uuimak Pass. ^peneuce. 

 Pur-seals usually first appear in Prince William Sound 

 in large schools, early in the month of April. They seaif^u^iMnce^wfi- 

 were formerly much more plentiful than of late years. 'J^i" sound. 

 In the early part of the season the males are most nu- 

 merous, a few females being taken towards its close in 

 the latter part of May. Firearms (rifles and shotguns) 

 are used almost exclusively. All seals sink quickly, capons. 

 but those shot through the head and killed remain 

 on the surface longest. I have no knowledge of fnr- ^^ter orTn kS™ *° 

 seal pups being born in the water, or on patches of on ep. 



floating kelp, and do not believe they could be successfully raised under 

 such conditions. Neither do I know of any fur-seal rookeries other than 

 those on the s«al islands ol Bering Sea. Owing to the 

 steady decrease in fur-seal life of late years, due to the PrfbUof isfand"^^ °° 

 large number of vessels hunting them at sea, it is my 

 opinion that in order to save the species from extermina- 

 tion all pelagic hunting of fur-seals should be prohibited sa^.'''"''^"*'" '""'^^' 

 and stopped absolutely. 



Frank C. Korth, 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 16th day of April, 1892. 



Joseph Murray, 

 United States Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of OJaf Kvam, sealer. 



habits. 



Olaf Kvan, being duly sworn, deposes and saith : I reside on Green 

 Island, in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and have 

 lived in the territory for the last ten years. I am ^p®"''"°'^- 

 a mariner by occupation, but of late years have beeu engaged in hunt- 



