422 TESTIMONY 



March I saw a herd of seals of from 500 to 600 just above Cape Men- 

 docino, I liavc also often met large numbers scattered along the 

 coast of Cape Flattery, generally from 10 to 20 miles offshore. I have 

 never been around the coast from Sitka to Prince William Sound. 

 From what I have seen and heard I believe seals are found from Cape 

 Mendocino up to Cape Flattery in the winter mouths. In December, 

 January, February, and March of the years 1890 and 1891 1 was run- 

 ning on the regular passenger tri^js from here to Puget Sound. I fre- 

 quently saw both seals and hunters. I think the seals 

 M^ch^ud ApriL^ "" commence to leave the coast working their way north 

 in March and April. Two years ago this spring, within 

 20 or 30 miles otf Cape Flattery, west of the coast of Vancouver, I 

 sighted one trip 5 or 6 sealing schooners. 



While there is some difference in the appearance of the female and 

 old male seals, I do not think it would be possible for the hunters to 

 tell that difference in the sea at any great distance. I have noticed 

 that the seals gather in large herds at the passes about the time they 

 are ready to go into the Bering Sea, and that they are more scattered 

 cc t o>of ^l^^^i tie.en along the coast. I saw one schooner's catch 

 females t;[ken" "'"'^" examined at Unalaska in 1889, and there were found a 

 Appear in Beimix lai'g'e per ccntagc of female seals among them. The 

 Sea lattei part ot scals generally appear in the Bering Sea about the 

 ^^'"^' latter part of April. I think, however, their arrival 



depends a great deal upon the season. The large bachelor seals and 

 the old bulls are the first to enter the sea about April or May, and the 

 cows generally commence to arrive and are seen by thousands in the 

 middle of June. For many years prior to 1890 I have observed the 

 rookeries from my sliip and also from the islands. The 

 iookeries'\n*'i88r '° first dccreasc in the numl)er appearing on the rookeries 

 and in the surrounding sea. that I particularly noticed 

 was in the summer of 1884, and it has become more marked from year 

 to year since. For the last three or four years their disappearance has 

 been very marked. In October, 1890, I made a trip from Unalaska to 

 St. Michaels. When about 2i) miles south of St. George we commenced 

 to watch for seals passing the Zapandie rookery close in shore, along 

 the west end of St. George Island to Otter Island and Seal Island rock; 

 thence to Northeast Point about a mile and a half off shore. 



When we started I requested the officers to keep a sharp lookout and 



to report if they saw any seals in the water. I was on deck most of the 



time myself, also, and we only saw 2 seals in the whole run, whereas, 



ten years ago, when on a similar voyage, seals were so plentiful that it 



was impossible to count them. From my long observa- 



^^Deweased to one- ^j^^^ j ^|q j-^q^ ^|j|,^], ^|jpj,g .^^^ .^^^ jjj.^^,y ggj^fg ^y ^^^q, 



thirds now annually arriving on the islands or in those 

 waters as there were ten years ago, when I first commenced to notice 

 that they were decreasing. By this statement I meam to say that only 

 one-third as many are now to be seen as formerly. I have often ob- 

 served the driving and killing of the seal on the islands 

 in^ardl^imng. ^'''^' ^Y ^^^^ formcr lessees, the Alaska Commercial Company, 

 and I know the company required the seals to be handled 

 with great care, and that the instructions from the company were to that 

 effect and rigidly enforced. Until hunting and killing was comuu'uced 

 by hunters in the ojien sea I observed no appreciable decrease in the 

 number arriving, which was about 1884. In my opinion the chasing of 

 the seals and the shooting of them luis a tendency to frighten them and 

 disturb them antl in^events their increasing as they would if they were 



