TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. 419 



nary, «iikI went south to Cape Blanco, sealing around there two or 



three mouths, when we started north to the Bering Sea, sealing all the 



way up. We had between 200 and 300 seals before entering the sea, a 



great many of them being females with ])ups in them. We entered the 



Bei-ing Se;i about the latter part of April, and got over 



800 seals in there, most of them being females in milk, „,^[,^"y '""^'"^ i^- 



aud we killed them from 20 to 100 mdes off the seal 



islands. I saw the milk rnujiing on the deck when we were skinning 



them; that was the only way I could tell they were females. We had 



six boats on board, each boat having a boat-puller, hunter, and steerer. 



We used shotguns. We also had riHes, but oidy used them to shoot at 



long range. On an average all the hunters will get one 



out of every three or four seals that they killed or 



wounded. There were plenty of seals in the water at that time. 



RiCHAED DOLAN. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of April, A. D. 1892. 

 [l. s.] Clement Bennett, 



Rotary Public. 



Bejtosition of James Henry Douglass, pUot on the Bush and Cor win, 1882 



' to 1888. 



pelagic sealing and pribilof rookeries. 



State of California, 



City and County of iSan Francisco, ss: 



James Henry Douglass, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I am a 

 citizen of the United States. I am by occupation a master and pilot 

 of vessels. My resideuce is Alameda, Cal. I have had 

 a long experience sailing in the North Paciflc and Ber- Experieiue. 

 ing Sea. I went to the seal islands in Bering Sea over 

 twenty years ago, and have been there many times subsequeutly while 

 in the' employment of the Coverument. From 1882 to 1888 I cruised 

 consecutively in Bering Sea as pilot on the revenue cutters Bush and 

 Cor win, and was often on the seal islands, our vessel being frequently 

 anchored offshore in the adjacent waters. I had abundant opportunity 

 and leisure to watch the habits of the fur-seals, both on the Pribilof 

 Islands and in the waters of the Northwest Pacific Ocean and Bering 

 Sea. During my last visits to the islands I observed pg^re^ge 

 a very marked diminution in the number of seals 

 thereon as contrasted with the herd seen on the rookeries five or six 

 years previously. I am familiar with the area and topography of the 

 various rookeries on the islands, and have observed that spaces for- 

 merly occupied by seal herds are now vacant and parts ^^ ^ ^^^ rookeries 

 of theju covered with grass. This diminutiou was par- 

 ticularly noticeable in 1887 and 1888, the last two years of my visits to 

 the ivslands. 



The cause of this decrease I believe to be due to the promiscuous kill- 

 ing of the seals by hunters on the open sea and the dis- ^^^^ 

 turbance caused by theii' presence in destroying the 

 mother seals and scattering the herds. 1 have conversed with a great 

 many persons who have been engaged in sealing in the Northern 

 waters, and their uniform testimony is to the effect that the open-sea 



