324 TESTIMONY 



Bcposition of E. M. Greenleaf, sealer [master). 



TELAGIC SEALING. 



Province of Bkitish Columbia, Victoria, ss: 

 E. M. Gieeiileaf, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I liave resided 



in Victoria, British Columbia, since 1884. My occupa- 

 Expeiicnce. tion is tliat of a seafaring man and liave a commission 



as master mariner. Was sliippiiig agent in tliis port 

 for tbree years. In 1891 I went on a sealing cruise as master of the 



schooner Mountain Chief, leaving Victoria on May 12. 

 ^j\[ouniai}i Chief, J -^yent to the uiouth of San Juan River, on the coast 



of Vancouver Island, opposite Neah Bay, and contin- 

 ued sealing along up the const almost as far north as Kodiak Island. 

 ]My vessel then si)rung a leak and I was comiielled to return to this 



port, whicli I reached about July 1. We captured G3 

 Je-niau/''"''*^*'^' ^" seals,all of which were females, and all were pregnant. 

 preguau . With regard to pregnancy I may note that the seals 



taken ofl" the coast of Vancouver Island were not as far advanced as 

 those taken farther north. I had six canoes, with Indian hunters, who 

 used both spears and shotguns. Indians lose a less number of the seals 

 shot at and wounded or killed than white hunters. When they use 



spears they get nearly all they wound. When they use 

 ci.^ift* struck. °"' "^ shotguns they do not get more than one out of eight 



killed or wounded. 

 I Avas interested in tlie schooner Sarah W. Hunt that made a voyage 

 from New York to the South Atlantic in 1882-83, leaving in Sei^tember 

 of 1882, 0)1 a sealing venture. The intention was to visit the Georgian 

 and South Shetland Islands, Since then I have been interested in the 

 sealing business, and am well ac(puiinted with it and the men engaged 

 in it and the methods they employ. I am acquainted with the hunters 

 and masters who sail from this port, and board all incoming and out- 

 uti-enoff ^^^^» vessels of that class. These men all acknowl- 

 Pacificioast pregnant edge that nearly all the seals taken oft' the Pacitic 

 females. coast are females, and that they are nearly all with 



young. The seals are found oft' the coast of California in January of 

 each year, and the sealing lleet goes along Avith them as they proceed 



northward, never losing track of them and fishing every 

 ifoSfu JanufrJ^''^■ S'^^^d day. By the latter part of June fleet and seals 



have arrived in the vicinity of the Aleutian Island 

 grasses. Pregnancy is now far advanced and young ones taken from 

 their dead mother's womb have lived several days on the decks of the 

 ships. Those that I caught last year — the pups, I meau — were thrown 

 OAcrboard. 



In conversation with boat-steerers and boat-pullers I have frequently 

 hoard them state that hunters would sometimes fire from 75 to 100 

 shots without bringing in a single seal. The hunters would claim 

 they secured nearly all they fired at or killed, but it is known that this 

 is not true. It is impossible to say what proportion of the seals fired 

 at are killed or wouiuled,but taking the run of hunters, good and poor, 

 „ , , , , ,:„ I should say that the best get about 50 i)er cent of 



Best sliots get 50 , , , , *, -i •, ^i ^ j_ ^ j_ 1 .^ 



pir cent and poorest tliosc shot at, wlidc the poorcst do uot get morc than 



1 out of 15. Qj^Q Q^^^ Qf fifteen fired at. I have also learned by con- 



Miiking cows killed versatiou with Bering Sea hunters that they kill seal 



rookeries '""'''^ ^"'"' *^^^^'^ ^^ ^^' -^*^- "'^^*^^ ^^'*^"^ ^^'^ breeding grounds and that 

 these cows had recently given birth to ycuug. I have 



