TAKEN IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. 371 



Deposition of Thomas Lowe, half-breed Indian sealer. 



pelagic sealing. 



State of Washington, 



County of Clallam, ss : 

 Thomas Lowe, being- duly sworn, deposes and says: I speak tlie 

 Eiiglisli language fairly wt'11, and can interpret the Chi- 

 nook and Indian languages. I am a half-breed Indian Experience. 

 and belong to the Cliallani tribe, and am 30 years of 

 age. I reside on Whidby Island, and am by occupation a hunter and 

 have been engaged in hunting seals for the last eight years. I went 

 to the Bering Sea in 1889, on the schooner James G. 

 Sivan, and again in 1891 on the schooner Lottie. These i^Qj^^oufc iloi "" ' 

 two seasons are the only ones in which I have been in 

 the Bering Sea. During the other seasons I sealed in the Strait of 

 San Juan de Fnca and along the coast between the Columbia Eiver 

 and the northern end of Vancouver Island. During 

 the first seven years I used the spear in hunting seals. capons. 

 This year I have used the shotgun part of the time. On my last trip 

 this year, when hunting seals oif the cape, I caught 10 seals, 5 of 

 which had pups in them; the rest of them were from 1 to 2 years 

 old, part male and part female. I think that fully ^ , ,^ , 



1 1^ y ii 1 1 1. 1 ii ^ ,^ n One-half of coast 



one-half of the seals caught along the coast are full- catch fuiigrowupreg- 

 grown females with pups in them. We sometimes ^antcows. 

 catch a few medium-sized males, the rest being younger ones, both 

 male and female. I have never killed nor saw a cow "in milk, along 

 the coast, nor one that had recently given birth to her young. I know 

 of no place on the coast where they haul out upon the do not haul up on 

 land and breed, nor do I believe they give birth to ^"^P^: ^ . ' ' 



, 1 • • ii J. XT 1 1 Not bom in water 



their young m the water, or on the kelp. or on keip. 



In i889 I hunted in the Bering Sea from 80 to 100 miles oft thePribv- 

 lov Islands. Two-thirds of our catch were cows iu ^.^^^^ .^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ 

 milk. In 1891 I again went to Bering Sea. I think I from^so'to^ioo miles 

 noticed fewer seals that year than I did in 1889. Seals f'""™'^!""*!^. 

 along the coast are not near as plentiful now as they were when I lirst 

 began to hunt them. I used to catch 9 or 10 seals 

 in one day; but they are so shy, and so scarce now, ^^'^''^^''^■ 

 that a canoe does not get that many in a month. White hunters in 

 numbers, commenced to hunt them around Cape Flattery, with guns 

 about six years ago, and since that time the seals have decreased'Very 

 rapidly. 



Thomas Lowe. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me on this 27th day of April A D 

 1892. I , ' ' 



[L. s.] Clap.ence p. Brown, 



Notary FuMic in and for the State of Washington, 



Residing at Fort Angeles, Wash. 



De;position of N. B. Miller, assistant scientist on board the Albatross. 



HABITS. 



N". B. Miller, being duly sworn, deposes and saith: I am an assistant 

 in the scientific department of the U. S. Fish Commis- 

 sion steamer Albatross. I have made five cruises iu EKpericuce. 

 Alaskan waters, viz : In the year 1888, along the coast 



