TAKEN AT VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 343 



ter Rich, Gapt. Cooper, master. Left Victoria in Jan- y^aiter Rich i89o 



ua-ry and went off the coast of Lower California and 



commenced sealing, working our way up the coast, following the herd 



towards Bering Sea. I left the vessel at Victoria in 



April, because she changed her flag from American to ^^ngeo apr. 



British. She carried six boats and a stern boat. The hunters were all 



half-breeds except myself. We had caught but very few seals, and 



when I left her we had only about fifty skins. We got 



a little too far down the California coast and got out of "^st^a 



the run of seals, and for twenty-one days saw none whatever. 



In 1889 I sailed as hunter in the British steamer Ariel, Buckner, 

 master. Left Victoria the latter part of January and ^^^^ ^ggg 

 commenced sealing about 30 miles off the Columbia "^' 

 River and sealed along the coast towards Bering Sea, en?er^|.^^'^' **™®°*^ 

 arriving there about tlie middle of July. We were all 

 wliite hunters and used shotguns and rifles and caught ^°^^* '"'*''^- 

 about 500 before entering Bering Sea. In the Bering Sea we hunted 

 around the fishing banks and so far oft' the seal islands that we seldom 

 saw land. We caught a great many seals on what is called Southwest 

 Bank about 100 miles from Unalaska, and I think it 

 is more than 100 miles fi'om the Pribilof Islands. We „^^*^^ in Bering 

 caught about 1,100 in the Bering Sea, and our whole isunds. ™^ ^* '^"™ 

 catch for that season was about 1,700. 



In 1888 I sailed as hunter and interpreter in the British schooner 

 Alfred Adams, Worth, master. She had Indian hun-q. 

 ers and carried ten canoes of 2 men each. They used ^V'-ed Adams, im. 

 spears and shotguns. I joined down the coast, at San Juan, in May. 

 Hunted off Cape Flattery for about a month, and when it was stormy 

 we would run to harbor, for Indians do not like to stay 

 out when it blows. We caught about 300 seals off the ^ B^eri^g sea°'''* ^'"'^ 

 coast, and landed them at Victoria in June, and then 

 started direct for Bering Sea; ran into a school of seals at Portlock 

 Bank, off" coast of Alaska, and caught between 300 and 

 400. We went through Unamak Pass the 4th of July en^erlnf.^'"''' ^^^"^ 

 and sealed in those waters until about the 14th of Au- 

 gust, at which time we left the sea and came to Victoria. Caught only 

 about 700 seals while in the sea, for it was a stormy, Mostofcatchinthe 

 bad season. We caught most of the seals that were seafromsotoeoraiies 

 taken by our vessel in Bering Sea from 30 to 60 miles fto^ the islands. 

 off to the southwest of St. Paul Island. 



In 1887 I sailed from Victoria as hunter and interpreter in the British 

 schooner Ada, Gordon, master. She carried seven ca- 

 noes and one boat, and Indian hunters, who used spears. '^'^'^' ^^^^' 

 She left Victoria the latter part of Ajiril and made one trip out for 

 three days, when a storm drove us back into harbor. 

 We caught 395 seals in the two days and a half that coast catch. 

 we were out; caught them about 35 miles west of Cape Flattery. Fit- 

 ted out and left the coast for Bering Sea the 2Gth of June and went 

 direct to Unamak Pass. The weather was bad and we did not stop to 

 seal, and only saw a very few seals. We entered Ber- Bering soa- time of 

 ing Sea the 16th of July and sealed off Akatan Pass enterin|; vesseTand 

 until we were seized by a revenue cutter on the 25th '^■'^'■s° ^e'^®*^- 

 of August with 1,897 skins on board, and all caught in Bering Sea. 



In 1886 and 1885 I did not go hunting. In 1884 and 1883 I sailed as 

 cook on the British schooner Thornton, Kelse, master. Thornton, isss and 

 She carried Indian hunters and did not go into Bering i884. 



