338 TESTIMONY 



off at 7 o'clock ; at 8 o'clock I could see deck of the steamer bearing down 

 on us about 8 miles oft". Boats recalled. The Indians returned about 

 9 o'clock, greatly excited; went out again when the steamer sheered off 

 towards Unalaska harbor. Eesult of hunt: First boat, two seals; sec- 

 boat, one; Indian canoe, seven; total, ten seals, seven of which were 

 cows in milk. Several, as usual, reported wounded and lost by the boats. 

 The great superiority of the Indian spear evident. 



Monday, 31 August, captured by the U. S. S. Mohican 3 :30 p. m. ; no 

 hunting. 



The total catch on being analyzed shows a favorable comparison be- 

 tween the experienced and inexperienced hunters ; when the class of 

 boats and arms are taken into consideration, and the extraordinary num- 

 f lif ^^^^ reported as wounded and lost, dispels any faith 



in the oft reported assertion that only one in ten es- 

 cape from "the unerring rifle in the hands of the experienced hunter." 

 The number, two-thirds of the catch, captured by the Indians, gives 

 the verdict entirely in favor of the primitive weapon 

 dian^B^ar!*^ "^ ^ ^* *^^ aborigines as against the modern breechloader. 

 The spear used by the Vancouver Island Indians for 

 Description of spear, scal hunting is 10 fcct loug in the shaft, tapering off 

 toward the ends, and thus well balanced. At the point 

 the shaft forks off into two prongs, on which the spear-head or har- 

 poons fit easily, being attached to the shaft by a cod line, which runs 

 up to the butt, Avhere it is caught in a bight and held round the thumb 

 of the right hand. On being projected the sliaft separates from the 

 harpoons and floats on the Avater unheeded till the seal is secured. 

 But few^ are missed. Any that escape wounded only suffer from a flesh 

 wound of 2i inches in depth. Once the harpoon pierces the skin bi*yond 

 the barbs the only possibility of escape lies in the chance of the line 

 breaking. This system of capture is both economical from a business 

 standpoint, as well as that of being almost, if not entirely, less destruc- 

 tive to seal life, as compared with modern arms of pre- 

 centTcitch nursi^l cisiou. It may safely be asserted that over tbree-fonrths 

 cows. " of the catch of forty- eight were cows in milk. This, 



f edinc ^* ^ distance of 200 miles from the rookeries, shows 

 ema es ee mg. ^^^^ ^^^ uursiug COWS ramble all over the Bering Sea 

 in search of their chief foud, the codfish, which are to be found on the 

 banks along the coast of the Aleutian Islands. During the migratory 

 journey nortli in the spring the cows with young become the easiest 

 victims to the hunter, owing to being more fatigued, and consequently 

 sleep more than other class of seals. From aU information I could 

 glean from the skipper, when I pointed out the circumstance of cows 

 in milk being killed so far from the islands, leads me to understand 

 that had the cruise of the Otto been a month or six weeks earlier, the 

 proi)orti()n of nursing cows in a catch would be stiU greater than that 

 herein exhibited. 



Egbert H. McManus. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 29th day of March, 1892. 



Joseph Murray, 



Treasury Agent. 



