360 TESTIMONY 



up and lield close to the liead. Tliey always lay witli tlie bead toward 

 the wind, the flippers being spread out and acting as sails to keep them 

 steady in the water, making it hard for a boat to approach them when 

 they are awake, because the noise of the oars is carried to them. If a 

 boat comes upon them from the windward they will take the scent and 

 dive, and if from leeward, they readily see it, and do the same. 



On the United States Pacific coast and Vancouver's Island, in fine 



weather, they are found, as I have said, 40 or 50 miles 

 •w^r^^*^ ^'^""'^ "" ^^'^ offshore ; but during bad weather they approach nearer 



the coast. On the Japan coast, about November or 

 earlier, depending on the weather, they are seen in great numbers among 

 the islands off the Nemoro group, and I have also seen several off In- 

 neboi-Saki, but do not know whether they are to be found off that coast 

 in the spring or not. Steamers and schooners going north keep close 

 inshore, and in returning too far off to see seals, provided they travel 

 that coast, as T believe they do, many having been shot off the Kurile 

 Islands in the spring and summer months. 



Seven or eight years ago, when seals were hunted almost wholly by 

 Indians with spears, a vessel hunting in the vicinity of Cape Flattery 

 was sure of getting several hundred skins in about three months, from 

 March to the end of May, but at the present time a vessel is doing well 

 if she gets a much smaller number, because the skins bring much 



higher prices. Therecordsof" catches "in the last three 



or four years will confirm any j^erson who examines them 

 in the belief that the seals are decreasing in the Pacific Ocean on the 

 American side. I have no reason to doubt that it is the same on the 

 Eussian side. At present they are hunted vigorously, and with better 

 methods than formerly. The hunters have had more experience and 

 understand their habits better, but notwithstanding this the catches 

 are decreasing off the coast. If a vessel hunts seals from January to 

 May along the coast and pays expenses it does well at the present 



time, and very few do it. Nearly all would lose money 

 cificdoefno°tpa.y.^"''' if the hunting was confined to the Pacific Ocean, but 



they depend on the Bering Sea catch, where the seals 



are more plentiful and occupy a more limited space as a feeding ground. 



It is not easy to tell a bull seal from a cow, or either from a year-old 



^^ ^ pup, when they are in the water, and the hunters must 



shoot at all the seals they see. If they get them they 

 are fortunate, for at the best many are lost. Some hunters rarely miss 

 a seal they fire at, but many are wounded, and a seal with a charge of 

 bullets and buckshot in him must be in very vigorous health to recover. 

 Some hunters never miss a seal during the season, but if others get one 

 out of four they wound they are doing well. 



The work of seal hunting iscarried on about asfollows : The hunter and 



boat's crew leave the vessel at daylight, usually carry- 

 H^w cllried ra'.'''^' ^^S 0^6 rifle and a shotgun, though some of them have 



two shotguns with about fifty rounds of ammunition 

 for each gun. If a breeze is blowing they go under sail, or, if it is 

 calm, the boat is rowed. The hunter has charge of the boat, no mat- 

 ter if he is not an expert boatman. 



If a sleeping seal is seen, the boat is run within about 100 yards of 

 Sleeping seals ^^' ^^^^ ^^^ ®^^^ ^^^*^ mast are lowered witli the least 



possible noise, as the seals are easily awakened. The 

 boat steerer cautiously paddles toward him, being careful to keep to 

 the leeward, and Avith ordinary care the boat can come within a few 

 feet of him before he is aware of it; then, if the hunter is cool, the seal 



