242 TESTIMONY 



No discriinmation is shown in taking seal. The object is to take 

 every one possible. Dnring- past four years have not 

 _^iiuiisciimiuate km- noticed much change in number of seal. 



'"' Pups are not born in water. In some cases females 



far advanced in pregnancy haul up on coast to give birth; but other- 

 wise seals do not stop, except at Pribiloff Islands. 

 I have been in Bering Sea ])ut a part of one season. Of the seals 

 ,, taken about one-third were males, one third females 



Proporlinns caught -j. , xi • i i i ^• 



ill Bering soa. With youug, onetlurd barren and yearhngs. 



Nursingcows taken I havc takcu iiursiug fcuialcs wlicu as much as 100 

 100 miles tvomisiauds. milcs froiu Pi'ibiloft" IsUiuds. 



From my knowledge and from conversation with 

 ^^ciose season noces- ^^j^^^, scalcrs, I bclievc that for the proper preserva- 

 tion of seal life, sealing should be absolutely prohibited 

 every two or three years. 



W. Egberts. 



Yakutat Bay, Alaska, 3Iay, 1892. 

 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 28th day of May, A. D. 

 1892. 



Giles B. Hakber, 



Lieutenant^ U. B. N. 



Deposition of Eondtus, Yalcutat Indian scaler. 



PELAGIC SEALING-. 



Eondtus, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I was born at Yaku- 

 tat, and belong to the Yakutat tribe of Indians. Am 

 Experience. about 28 ycars old, and a hunter by occupation. I 



have hunted fur-seal, otter, and bear. I use a shot- 

 gun to hunt for seal. Have lost very few seal, as I always shoot them 

 near the boat. Everything in shajje of a seal that 

 ^indiscriminate kill- coiucs near the boat is killed. I use no discrimina- 

 ""' tion. I have never seen nor heard of a fur-seal pup 



being born in the water, or on the rocks, on any part 

 No pelagic birth. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ Alaska, but have heard that seal are 

 born on the Pribilof Islands. Seal are getting very 

 Decrease. scarcc aloug the coast, caused by the indiscriminate 



slaughter of seals in the oi)en waters. Most of the seals tak^i by me 

 have been cows with pups. It would be a good thing 

 for the Indians if the schooners were prohibited from 

 sealing in the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean ; if it is continued 

 the Indians who depend on fur-seal for a living must starve. Years ago 

 a few seal pups were driven into the bays by the storms on the coast 

 daring tlie winter season. That's all I know. 



Eondtus, his x mark. 



Witness to his mark: 

 Peter CnuRCH, 



United States Interj)retcr. 

 A. W. Lavender. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18th day of April, 189.?. 



A. W. Lavender, 

 United IStates Treasury Agent. 



