TAKEN AT VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 341 



Pelagic sealing" in the ]S"ortli Pacific Ocean should not be permitted 

 for at least six weeks after the females have given birth „, 

 to their young. gested. 



John Morris. 



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

 1892. 

 [SEAL.] Levi W. Myers, 



United States Consul. 



Deposition of Morris 3Ioss, furrier, and vice-president Sealers^ Association 

 of Victoria. 



PELAOIO sealing. 



Province of British Columbia, 



City of Victoria, ss: 



Morris Moss, being duly sworn, deposes and says: I have resided in 

 British Columbia thirty years. Since 1880 have made 

 my home in Victoria, British Columbia. My occupa- '^venence. 

 tion is that of purchasing raw furs. Of late years raw fur-sealskins 

 have been the principal furs handled by me. I have bought from 

 10,000 to 20,000 per year, and am vice-president of the ^^^^.^ . 

 Sealers' Association of Victoria, British Columbia, ginnlng^aud devaiop' 

 The sealing induvstry, as regards British Columbia, ™*"°to'- 

 started in about 1872; at that time Indians only were employed to do 

 the killing, which was done by spearing. The fleet was small, not 

 numbering over half a dozen vessels, and the trade was inthe hands of 

 three or four men. In 1883 the American schooner 

 San Diego, of San Francisco, entered the Bering Sea, '^"'* ^''^''' ^^^^■ 

 and after taking about 2,200 sealskins brought them to Victoria and 

 sold them. This gave impetus to the trade and the following year Vic- 

 toria schooners entered the sea. l^ew vessels were subsequently added 

 to the fleet and other firms embarked in the business. 

 In 1886 three Victoria vessels were seized, since which ""^^ '° ^^^^• 



time there has been trouble over the Bering Sea sealing industry. 

 Since that time the fleet has been gradually increasing until now. Pre- 

 vious to this time (1886) but few white hunters were employed and the 

 Indian hunters used spears only. By so doing they 

 secured all the seals struck, and did not scare the by^f^ot^unaPP^'^"*®'^ 

 balance; of late years, however, all the Indians carry " 



and use sliotguns in addition to their spears. About fifty-six schooners 

 have cleared from Victoria this spring. Thirty of them carry white 

 hunters and the balance Indians. 



There are two great herds, or armies, of fur-seals that frequent the 

 North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. They are quite 

 distinct from each other and do not intermingle. The ^^^ "' 

 one army appears off the coast of California in the lat- ^^^'^t'^'^- 

 tor part of December and gradually work their way northward and 

 are joined by others coming, apparently, from mid ocean. They appe/ir 

 to travel in two columns, the outer column containing an army oidy of 

 bulls, and the inner one mostly cows and yearlings. These columns 

 are not continuous schools of seals, but rather small parties scattered 

 along. The column traveling along the British Columbia coast head 

 for the Pribilof Islands j their natural breeding ground. The other 



