TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. 465 



of April, and sealed along the coast up to Akutan Pass. We caught 



about 300 seals in that vicinity. Mostly all were 



females and a great many of them had pups in them, takenf *'*' *'^™'^^*'^ 



We cut the seals open and saw the young inside. We 



caught a few seals in the Bering Sea and then were i^g seT'^ °"* "^ ^*''^" 



ordered out and sent back to Victoria. Those that 



were caught in the Bering Sea were mostly females and had had 



pups and were in milk. In 1890 I went sealing in the 



schooner Argonaut. She sailed from Victoria about '■s"»'«« • 



the 8th of April, and sealed along the coast up to the pass in the Bering 



Sea. We caught about 350 seals that year. 



Most all the seals we caught in the North Pacific 

 were females. A good many of them also had pui)s taifen!'*'"^ ^*""''^*'^ 

 inside. Then we went into the Bering Sea sometime Bering sea, time of 

 in July or August. We caught about one-half of our '^'^**^"°s- 

 catch in the Bering Sea. I did not pay particular attention to the sex 

 of the seals we caught in the Bering Sea. We hunted with shotguns 

 and shot them mostly when they were asleep on the water, or any chance 

 we could get. I was a boat-puller and the hunters shot 

 at everything in sight. I do not think they would get .^indiscrinunate kiii- 

 more than one seal out of every six or seven they shot, 

 and sometimes only one out of ten. When the seals were shot they would 

 sink to the bottom. You have got to hurry up and g^^j^ ^.^^^.^ 

 pull to them quickly after shooting, or they will sink. ' '" '°^' 

 A great many were shot that we could not get, as they sunk before we 

 got to them. 



H. Mason. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of April, A. D. 1892. 



[seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Noiary Public, 



Deposition of William Mason, sealer (boat-puller). 



pelagic sealing. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 

 William Mason, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am a 

 seaman by occupation, and I reside in Victoria, British 

 Columbia. I made a sealing cruise in the British Experience. 

 schooner 3[aybelle, Capt. Hanson, during the season of j^^ j^^^^^ ^gg^ 

 1891, leaving Victoria in the latter part of January, 

 I was a boat-puller and got $30 a month and 25 cents a skin. We com- 

 menced sealing on the coast of Oregon, and followed the herd along 

 the coast up to the Bering Sea. We got about 275 

 seals along the coast and then went into the Bering g„^^^°f ^^^' "™*' "' 

 Sea in the latter part of May or fore part of June, and ^" "^ ™°' 

 sailed around in the American waters. We cruised around the Pribi- 

 lof Islands from 5 to 100 miles off. We caught about 300 seals in the 

 sea, and was then ordered out by a revenue cutter catchinsea. 

 which I believe was tlie liush, in the latter part of 

 August, but we did not go. We sealed around for sev- ^'•'^^''^'^ ""*• 

 eral days and caught about 250 more, and arrived at Victoria in Octo- 

 2716— vol ii 30 



