300 TESTIMONY 



Dej)osition of Thomas SJcowl, chief of Eafiaau Indians, sealer. 



PBLAOIC SCALING. 



Thomas Skowl, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I am chief of the 



Kas-aaii Indians. Was boru at Kasaan and have lived there all my life. 



Am 48 years old. Am a hunter by occupation and have hunted fur seal 



the past fifteen years. Always hunted seal in Dixons Entrance and off 



Thos. skowi chief Prince of Wales Island, and hunted them each year from 



of Kasaan ludians. March to JuuB. The scal all Icavc about June l,to go 



Sealer for 15 years. j^f^^^th and havc their pups, I think. Always used a 



Experience. Hudsou Bay guu to take seal with. A Hudson Bay 



Mi ration ^^^^ ^^ ^ singlcbarreled shotgun. Sometimes I lose 



igra ion. ^^^^ ^^^^^ sometimcs two out of ten that I shoot. Most 



of the seals taken by me are females with x)up. Never killed but one 



old bull in my life. Have killed but a few yearlings and never looked 



to see if they were male or female. The young males killed by me were 



between one and three years old. The sex of the seal can not be told 



in the water. I kill everything that comes near my 



Indiscriminate kill (^.^uoe iu shapB of a scal, and all other hunters do the 



same. Since the white man has been hunting seal with 



schooners they have become very scarce, and Indians are obliged to go 



Decrease ^^ ^^^S' ^ay and stop away from home a long time in 



order to get any, and after being away there four or 



five days they frequently return without killing one seal, they have 



become so scarce. If the schooners are not stopped 



from hunting seal they will soon all be gone. Have 



No pelagic birth. never known any pups to be born in the water or on the 



Do not haul out on land ill British Columbia or Alaska. 1 have never 



*'°''^*- known any fur seal to haul out anywhere on the coast 



of British Columbia or Alaska, wherever I have been. 



his 



Thomas x Skowl. 



inai-k. 



Witness to his mark: 

 J. M. Potter. 

 A. W. Lavender. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th day of May, 1892. 



A. W. Lavender, 

 United States Treasury Agent. 



Deposition of Billy Williams, scaler for five years. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



Billy Williams, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I Avas born at 

 Kasaan and have lived there all my life. Am 25 years 

 Experienee. old. Am a huutcr by occupation, and have hunted fur- 



seal every year for the last five years, always hunting 

 in Dixons Entrance and oft' Prince of Wales Island between March and 

 June. About the 1st of June the seal disappear from Dixons Entrance 

 and go north. I always use the shotgun for taking 

 igia ion. ^^^^^ J think I lose about five out of every ten that I 



One-half seals killed shoot. I tliiiik about ouchalf the seal killed bv me 

 pregnant females. j^.^^^^ ^^^^ femalcs with pup and the balance Vcre 

 divided up between yearlings and one and two year old males. Never 



