314 TESTIMONY 



Deposition of H. Andricius, sealer (hoat-stcerei'). 



PELAGIC SEALING. ' 



DoraNiON OF Canada, 



Victoria, British Columbia., ss.: 

 H. Andricius, being duly sworn, deposes and says : My age is 21 

 years; occupation, seaman; and live in Victoria, British 

 Experience. Columbia. I first sailed in 1891 in the vessel N. E. 



^ p^.^^^ ^gg^ Faint, Bisit, master, as boat-steerer. We cleared in 

 April from Victoria, British Columbia, and had six 

 boats, with three men to each boat. The hunters used shotguns. We 

 Mosti ret'naiit fe- sealed aloug the coast and captured 151 ; most all of 

 maies^. ^Lost°three- them were pregnant females ; we lost fully three out of 

 fourths. fQ^p ^jja^^ ^Q killed. We did not enter the Beriug Sea 



this year. There is no place on the coast where the seals haul up and 

 give birth to their young; they never give birth on the kelp. I re- 

 turned to Victoria and was discharged in OctoDer. On January 27,- 

 1892, I went seal hunting again as boat-puller on the 

 Lahadore, XS92. Zahadove, Whitly, master. She carried three boats, 

 three men to each boat, all white men. We commenced sealing out- 

 side of Cape Flattery and sealed to the northward up the coast. I 

 know that the seals are more scarce this year than they 

 Decrease. ^^^^^ j^^^ jeshT. I do uot think it is right to kill the 



mother seals with pups in them. It is almost impossible to distinguish 

 the male from the female at a distance in the water. 



I came back in the schooner Minnie, Tyson, master, about the 4th of 



. March; I shipped trom Clayquot, as steerer; she had 



xnme, 1 . three boats, and two men to each boat, all white men, 



who used shotguns. This year the shotguns were used more than 



rifles. We only got five seals. They are very wild this year and very 



difficult to catch on account of their having been hunted so much. The 



captain returned to Victoria with his vessel because he 



^jroUbition neces- could uot make it pay in the seal-hunting business. I 



*^^' returned to Victoria on the 20th of April. I do not 



think it is right to kill the mother seals before they have given birth to 



their young, as it is a fact that when we kill the mother seal we also 



kill her pup. The5^ should not be hunted for six weeks after giving birth 



to their young. 



H. Andricius. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me on this 22d day of April, A. D. 

 1892. 

 [SEAL.] Levi W. Myers, 



United States Consul. 



Deposition of Bernhardt Bleidner, sealer [ho at -puller). 

 pelagic sealing. 



Dominion of Canada, 



Victoria, British Columbia, ss : 



Bernhardt Bleidner, being duly sworn, deposes and 



Experience. says : I reside at Victoria, British Columbia; am 32 



years of age; my occupation, seaman. In 1887 I 



