446 TESTIMONY 



and tlie North Pacific. I use a shotgiiii wlien I am liunting seal and 



Usesfirearms ^ ^^^^ ^^^^ otter hunting-. I huut with a No. 8 bore shot- 



rearms. ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ shot. Many seals are wounded and 



lost, depending largely on the sliill of the hunter. I 



Waste of hfe. ^^.^^j, j ^^^ pretty nearly all that I kill, but other 



hunters have been with me that I know lost a greater portion of those 



they shot at. Probably a fair average would be, taking all the hunters 



Most! r crnant or together, ouc scal secured to two lost. Nearly all the 



mUking'^cows^"'^" °^ seals killed in the water before the middle of June are 



cows in pup, and after that, mothers giving milk. After 



Fciuaie feeding. the youug is a few days old the mother travels out to 



the fishing banks to feed. It is difficult to tell the sex 



Sex undistiuguish- of a scal which you shoot at in the water, but you can 



tell a young seal from an old seal. Seals are not as 



Be.reT^o plentiful uow as they were a few years ago. I think 



they are decreasing on account of their being hunted 



so much. 



W. Hermann. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 1st day of April, A. D. 1892. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Public. 



Deposifmi of Andretc J. Hoffman {sealer). 



PELAGIC sealing. 



Be it remenil)ered, that on the 24th day of February, 1892, at my 

 ofticc, 434 California street, in the city and county of San Francisco, 

 State of California, before me, Clement Bennett, a notary public in and 

 for said city and county of San Francisco, State of California, duly 

 appointed and commissioned to administer oaths, etc., x)ersonally ap- 

 peared Andrew J. Hoffman, who being first by me duly SAvorn, testified 

 as follows : 



Andrew J. Hoffman, having been duly sworn, testified as follows : 

 The Notary: 



Q. What is your name, age, residence, and occupation'? — A. My 

 name is Andrew J. Hofiman; age, 24; residence, San Francisco; occu- 

 pation, seal hunter. 



Q. Are you a citizen of the United States? — A. I am. 



Q. What State are you a resident of! — A. The State of California. 



Q. Have you been engaged in catching seals in the Pacific and Bering 

 Sea, and for how long? — A. I have been engaged in 



xpenence. sealing tlicrc for three years last past. 



Q. Do you know of what sex the seals were that you have taken in 

 the Pacific and Bering Sea? — A. The seals that I have taken were 

 principally females. 



Q. What percentage of the skins you have taken were cows? — A. 

 About 95 per cent of them were cows. 



Q. What percentage of the cows you have taken were with pup? — 

 five ercent ^' ^^^out the sauic anu)unt wcrc witli pup. 

 of catci^ were'^yreg- Q. Wlicu docs Sealing commeucc in the Pacific, and 

 nantcows. wlicu docs it cud? — A. Sealing commences there about 



the 1st of January and ends about the 1st of June. 



