336 . TESTIMONY 



to gain by personal observation all tliat could be learned of the seal 

 hunting- question, which I would be enabled to tiu"u to pecuniary ac- 

 count as a newsi)aper correspondent, determined my acceptance of the 

 proposal, although the pecuniary offer of Mr. Borns was merely trivial. 

 I was very weak and feeble, and had to be assisted on board the ves- 

 sel. Mr. F. King-Hall, correspondent of the New York Herald, was, 

 with my consent, taken on board as a passenger. 

 The Otto cleared from the Victoria custom-house on the 23d June, 

 ^gj^^ 1891, but owing to the difficulty experienced in obtain- 



ing a crew of Indian hunters, did not sail from the 

 harbor till the 2d July, and then without any Indians; and set sail 

 finally for the west coast, Yancouver Island, on the 5th July. At the 

 last moment the owner, Mr. Borns, was prevented by some business 

 engagement from accompanying the vessel, and before leaving requested 

 me to ''keep my eye opened" about his interests. 



We set sail for the Bering Sea from the northwest coast of Yancouver 

 Island on Thursday, the 30th July last. When off the coast of Queen 

 Charlotte Islands, some seals were observed, which the captain informed 

 me were fur-seals; the one seen by me belonged to the hair-seal species, 

 as I knew by the bronze color as it floated i)astthe vessel. It is said 

 that the fur-seals have some undiscovered breeding grounds in the 

 vicinity of the Prince of Wales Islands group; again, that the fur-seals 

 bring forth and rear their young on the large floating beds of kelp 

 found in those waters; another theory is that the seals migrate in the 

 spring from the coast of California to the Bering Sea in herds, each 

 herd, like the bees, having a recognized leader; should this leader 

 happen to fall a victim to the hunter, the herd becomes disorganized 

 and disperses over the waters of the North Pacific Ocean. However, 

 be the theory correct or otherwise, the presence of fur-seals outside of 

 Bering Sea at that time of year was rather remarkable, i. e., if the seal 

 observed by the crew were of the fur-seal species. 



Twenty-five miles ofl' Kadiak Island, Gulf of Alaska, when going on 

 deck after breakfast, on the morning of the 14th August, I observed 

 some dark object in front of the schooner, and called the attention of 

 the captain to it, who said it was a log or a piece of kelp. I maintained 

 it was a seal, and so it proved. The Indian- hunter went out in his 

 canoe in pursuit and killed the seal with his spear, in sight of the ves- 

 sel. It was a medium or half-grown seal. 



On the evening of Saturday, the 22d August, we 

 en?erin''o" ^'''''' ^™® °^ entered the Uuimak Pass ; weather, mist and rain, and 

 on Sunday morning, the 23d, were in the proscribed 

 waters. 

 Thc! hunting outfit of the Otto was rather limited: Ojie seal-hunting 

 boat, which I will designate the first boat; one pleasure 

 aufw^a^'iJa.' ^°^^^ ^O'^t? heavy and clumsy, the second boat; and one In- 

 dian hunter and one canceman in a canoe. Thefirstboat 

 was manned by the skipper as hunter, an acknowledged expert of 

 twelve years' experience, armed with a No. 12-bore double-barreled shot- 

 gun by Greener, of Birmingham, and one Winchester repeating rifle, 

 and a crew of two white men as pullers and steerers. The second boat 

 was manned by two Swedish seamen, one as hunter and the other as 

 puller, of no ex])erience whatever in the business, armed with a No. 10 bore 

 double-barreled shotgun. The canoe, one Indian hunter, and one canoe- 

 man, armed with the Yancouver Island west coast spear and a single- 

 barrel muzzle-loader shotgun, this latter, I was informed, merely 

 to give the quietus to the harpooned seal should occasion require. The 



