262 TESTIMONY 



About three seal are secured out of every ten sliot. 

 females^^*^ pregnant rpj^^ majority of Seal are cows with pup. A few males 

 are taken, about four or five years old. In the winter 

 time some young- seal frequent the inside passage. The sex of the seal 

 can not be told in the water unless in the case of an 

 jndiscriminatekdhng.^^j^^ ^^^jj^ ^^^^.^^^ .^ ^^j^^ ^^^ .^. ^.^^^ Weuse uo discrimi- 

 nation in shooting seal. Everything- is killed that comes near tlie boat 

 regardless of sex. If a seal is shot and killed instantly he will sink 

 very quick. I think the seal are about as plentiful 

 Decrease. aloug this coast, but mucli iHore scarce farther west. 



The cause of this scarcity is too much pelagic hunting-. Never have 

 No pelagic birtii. sccu or heard of pups being born in the water or on 

 ho not haul iip on the coast outsidc of the Pribilof Ishinds. Have never 

 ^*"'^- heard of fur-seal hauling up on the land or on the coast 



elsewhere than on the Pribilof Islands. Last year I was not in Bering 

 Sea, but was on the Russian side. Have taken cow seals full of milk 

 30 miles from Copper Islands. Did not see any big bulls on Attn Is- 

 lands. I think if sealing in Bering Sea was stopped 

 and the indiscriminate killing of cows was stopped, seal 

 would again become plentiful along the coast. When I was with the 

 Eussian Comjiany I spent six years looking for rookeries, but was unable 

 to find any place where fur-seal hauled out elsewhere than on the 

 Pribilof Islands. 



Philip Kashea^aroff. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th day of April, 1802, 



A. W. Lavender, 

 United States Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of Mike Kethusduel; sealer. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



Mike Kethusduck, being duly sworn, deposes and says: Am 50 years 

 old ; was born at and reside in Sitka; am by occupation 

 ^ .j-i jjce a hunter; have hunted seals every season since I was 



xpuience. ^ small boy ; have first seen seal off Sitka Sound about 



^,^^ -^^ April 1;"). Theyall divsappearbythelastof June. When 



. .gration. j ^^^^ bcgau huutiug, spears and arrows were used 



for sealing. Now the shotgun has come into general use, and a few 

 seals are taken with a ritie. Fully one-half the seal shot with shot- 

 guns are lost, and a nnich larger proportion when the 

 M" i ority preg- ^jflj^ jg nscd. Nouc wcrc lost wlicu struck with a spear. 

 ]\Lost of the seals taken by me were females with pu^); 

 think the female is more gentle and more easily taken; have taken a 

 few male seal from one to four years old. A very few yearlings have 

 been killed by me, mostly females. The sex of the seal can not be dis- 

 tinguished in the water. Everything is sliot that comes 

 Decrease. ^^^^^, ^^^ boat, rcgardlcss of sex. Seal have decreased 



very rapidly along this coast in the last three or four years. The de- 

 crease is caused, I think, by schooners using shotguns and rifles and 

 killing niostlv female seals; have never known any 

 Ko pelagic birti,. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^ .^^ ^j^^ ^..^^^^ ^^, ^^^ ^j,^ ^^.^^^ ^^^ Alaska ; 



