414 TESTIMONY 



Deposition of Washington G. CoulsoUj Captain U. S. B. M., in command 

 of the Bush. 



PELAGIC SEALING AND PEIBILOF EOOKERIES. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 

 Washington C. Coulson, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: 



I am captain in the United States Revenue-Cutter serv- 

 iSM^/t'TnTiinco^n? ice. At preseut I am in command of the United States 

 1870. ' revenue cutter Bush. I was attached to the United 



States revenue cutter Lincoln, under the command of 

 Capt. C. M. Scammon, during the year 1870, from June until the close 

 of the year, as a third lieutenant, and have been an officer in the rev- 

 st Paul and St ^^^^ scrvicc cvcr siuce. In the month of that year I 

 George islands in was in the Bering Sea and at the seal islands of St. 

 ^®^"' Paul and St. George. I went on shore at both islands 



and observed the seals and seal life, the method of kill- 

 in i87o°' '^""'^ ° ^^^^ ing, etc. I noticed particularly the great number of 



seal, which were estimated by those competent to judge 

 that at least 5,000,000, and possibly 6,000,000, were in sight on the dif- 

 ferent rookeries. To me it seemed as though the hillsides and hauling 

 grounds were literally alive, so great was the number of seals. At St. 

 George Island, though the seals were never in as great numbers, nor 

 were there so many hauling x^laces, the seals were very plentiful. At 

 this time and for several years thereafter pelagic sealing did not take 

 Mana.^ement place to any cxtcut and the animals were not diverted 



' '" ' from their usual paths of travel. All firearms were for- 



bidden and never have been used on these islands in the killing and 

 taking of seals. In fact, unusual noise even on the ships at anchor near 

 these islands is avoided. 



Visiting the rookeries is not permitted only on certain conditions, and 

 anything that might frighten the seals avoided. The seals are never 

 killed in or near the rookeries, but are driven a short distance inland, 

 to grounds especially set apart for this work. I do not see how it is 

 ])ossible to conduct the sealing process with greater care or judgment. 

 Under the direction of Mr. Redpath on St. Paul, and Mr. Webster on 

 St. George islands, men who have superintended this work for many 



years, the natives do the driving and the killing is per- 

 _^r)riving and kill- formed uuder the supcrvisiou offhc Government agciits. 



The natives understand just how much fatigue can be 

 endured by the seals, and the kind of weather suitable for driving and 

 killing, no greater precaution in that regard can be taken. The evi- 

 dence of this is in the small percentage of animals injured or overheated 

 in these drives. I do not believe the animals are much frightened or 

 disturbed by the process of selecting the drives from the rookeries, nor 

 do I think it has a tendency to scare the animals away from the islands. 

 During the seasons of 1800 and 1891 I was in command of the rev- 

 Bush i89o-'9i enue cutter Bush in Bering Sea and cruised exten- 



sively in those waiters around the seal islands and 

 the Aleutian group. In the season of 1890 I visited the islands of St. 

 Paul and St. George in the months of July, August, and September, 

 and had ample and frequent opportunities of observing the seal life as 

 Decrease coni])ared with 1870. I was astonished at the reduced 



numbers of seals and the extent of bare ground on the 

 rookeries m 1890 as compared with that of 1870, and which in that 



