TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. 447 



Q. What percentage of seals are taken compared to those you de- 

 stroy in doing so; in other words, how many do you 

 actually get out of those you shoot?— A. We get about of uforshot'""" '''"'* 

 75 per cent of them. 



Q. Is it not a fact that when you first started in the business and 

 was inexperienced in hunting, that you, like all other 



1 . ^ 1 , 1 v' 1 -^7 i- J.1 Wasted life. 



beginners, destroyed a much larger proportion than 

 you now do'? — A. Yes, sir; it is. 



Q. Are the seals you shoot at mostly asleep on the water or awake? 

 Do you shoot at thein while breeching? — A. About 50 per cent of them 

 are asleep, that is, according to what are shot at, and we also shoot at 

 them while breeching. 



Q. Have you ever seen any seals born in the water, and is it your 

 opinion that it is possible for them to be born in the 

 Avater? — A. No, sir; I have never seen any born in pogsibfe" '^"'^^ "'^' 

 the water, and I think it is impossible for them to be 

 born in the water. 



Q. Do you know of any place where seals land out- Hani up only on 

 side of the seal islands?— A. No, sir. Pnbiiof islands. 



Q. Has there been any decrease in the quantity of seals, as com- 

 pared to previous years? — A. Well, for the length of 

 time that I have been out there is not much differ- ''^rf'^se. 

 ence, 



Q. If there is a decrease, to what do you attribute it? — A. To the 

 amount of seal hunters and hunting that is actually 



'^ '' Cause. 



going on. 



Q. Do the pups perish with the cows that you kill? — A. Yes, sir; 

 they <lo. 



Q. Is it ycmr opinion if sealing continues unrestricted that they will 

 soon be exterminated? — A. Yes, sir; it is. 



Q. In your opinion, is it absolutely necessary to protect the cows in 

 Bering Sea, to prevent the herd from being extermi- 

 nated'"? If so, for what months in the year?— A. Yes, gafy!'^*^"""" "'''''*'^" 

 sir; from the 1st of June until the 1st of August, in 

 Older to protect the herd. 



Q. Do you geuerally shoot seals with a ritle or shotgun; and if the 

 hitter, with buckshot or fine shot? — A. Mostly with 

 buckshot a.nd a shotgun. shSx&yrir'^- 



Q. Judging by the direction that seals were travel- 

 ing during your experience, where do you sui)p()se was their destina- 

 tion ? — A. I couldn't say as to that; I know they traveled southward to a 

 more milder climate. 



Q. Do you tliink of anything else that is of vnlue in regard to this 

 seal question that I have not asked you; anything you would like to 

 say, you can give your opinion about? — A. No, sir; I think of nothing 

 else in regard to tliis that I have not already said. 



Andrew Jackson Hoffman. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss: 

 I, Clement Bennett, a notary public in and for said city and county of 

 San FraiK'isco, do hereby certify that the witness in the foregoing dep- 

 osition named was by me duly sworn to testify the truth, the whole 

 truth, and nothing but the truth; that said deposition was reduced to 

 writing, and wlien completed was carefully read over to said witness, 

 and by him subscribed in my presence. 



