TAKP^N AT OR NEAR SITICA. 261 



Deposition of Percy KahiJctday, sealer. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



Percy Kahiktday, being duly sworn, deposes and says: Am 48 years 

 old ; was born at iXnd reside iii Sitka. Have hunted seal 

 every suniiner since I was a small boy. Have never been Experience, 

 to Bering- Sea. The seals first make their appearance 

 about the middle of April oil' Sitka Sound, and dis- 

 ai)pear about .luly 1. They are then on their way up ^'f^"'^*^'"^. 

 the coast. The spear and arrow was used to take seal when I was a 

 boy, but now 1 use the shotgun and rifle. At least 50 per cent are lost 

 when shot with shotgun. When ritle is used a larger proportion of seal 

 are lost. Most of the seal I have taken have been 

 ])regiiant cows. When the females are with pup they cows taken ^"'''^'"""' 

 sh'cp more, are less active in the water, and more easily 

 api)i'oached than the male seal. But a very few young male seal are 

 til ken by me along the coast. If a seal is killed when its head first comes 

 above water, it sinks at once. Under tliose conditions they are hard 

 to secure. Seal are always shot in the head when possible, but never 

 miss a shot at them if only a small i)art of the body is exjiosed. Have 

 noticed that seal are decreasing very fast the last few 

 years along the coast, caused, 1 think, by i)elagic hunt- ^ocrcaso. 

 ing. Have never known of a fur-seal pup being boru no pelagic birth, 

 in the water, or along Ihis coast. Have never known 

 afui'-seal tohaulupon thi^ landanywhere on the Alaskan Do not haul up on 

 coast. Think the seals are most all killed by the pelagic *""^^*^' 

 seal hunters in the waters of the ISTorth Pacific Ocean, so far from the 

 hind that the Indian hunters have no clnince to get any in canoes, as 

 he only goes a short distance from the shore. And unless this pelagic 

 hunting is st()i)i)ed in the Xorth Pacifu; Ocean and 

 Bering Sea the seal will soon all be gone, and the Endian ™tectiou. 

 hunters will have to dig clams in order to keep from starving. 



Lis 



Percy + Kahiktday, 



^^ mark. 



Witness to his mark: 



George Kastrometinoff, 



United ^States Court Interpreter. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 0th day of April, 1892. 



A. W. I^AVENDER, 



United States Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of Pltilip K(tshevaroff^ sealer. 

 PELAGIC SEALING.— MIGRATION. 



Philip Kashevaroff, being duly sworn, deposes and says: Am 47 

 years old; born at and reside in Sitka. Am by occupation a mariner. 

 The last year J spent linnting seal on the schooner 

 AUie Alger. First seal were seen off Sitka Sound in Experience. 

 May by me. We followed tlie seals as far as Sand Point 

 on linger Island. The shotgun was used altogether for taking seal. 



