466 TESTIMONY 



ber. I noticed in the seals that we caught along the coast that a great 

 Mn.jority caujrht fe- nii^iVY of thcui WCFC femalcs aud had pups. I think 

 males, and in Bering most of them Were femalcs. I know that in my boat 

 Sea niuvsing. ^^^ catch was uiost all females and they had pups in 



them. They Avere usually shot when sleeping on the water. About ' 

 two-thirds of those caught in the Bering Sea were females that had big 

 teats and were giving milk. We could tell that when we were skin- 

 nil! g them, because the milk would run out on the 

 decks. Our hunter was a good one. His name was 

 Joe Williams. I think he got one out of every three on an average. 

 He used a rifle a good deal and was a fine shot; some of the hunters 

 in the other boats would shoot at the seal and not get any at all, and 

 come in at night without any, or maybe one or two. There was one 

 hunter from Nova Scotia that did not kill any scarcely. The hunter in 

 my boat last year got $7 a skin. This year they only 

 Wages of sealers. ^^^^^^ ^^ p^y ^^^ |13 ^ mouth and 25 ccuts a skiu, and 

 only wanted to give the hunters one skin out of every six. The hun- 

 ters say the seals are getting scarcer all the time, and 

 Decrease. ^j^^^ |^ ^^^^^ uotpay to gouulcss they get morefor a skiu. 



William Mason. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this IGth day of April A. D. 1892. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary. 



Deposition of G. E. Miner, sealer {hunter). 

 pelagic sealing. 



G. E. Miner, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I am a seal hunter 

 . by occupation; have been engaged for the past five 



xpeiience. years in sealing, always as hunter. Shotgun and rifle 



have been used by me for taking seal. Am at i^resent hunter on the 

 schooner Henry Dennis. First hunted seals off the Faralone Islands 

 Mi ration ^^ February, and followed them up the coast into 



igra ion. Bering Sea, which they enter about the 10th of July. 



I think the seals are constantly on the move up the coast. 1 think 

 about 33 iDer cent of the seals shot with a shotgun are lost. I use 

 Indiscriminate kill ^^ discrimination in shootiug scals ; shoot everything 

 ing" iRcrimina a ^^^^^ coincs ucar tlic boat, and all other hunters do the 

 same. A large majority of the seals killed in the ]S"orth 

 Large majority of Pacific are COWS with pup, aud in Bering Sea, cows 

 and nurii'ug.^"'"""'"'"* ^Ith milk. Fcw yearliugs are killed every year by me. 

 Of the male seals killed a majority are 4-year-olds. I 

 have killed but a few old bulls. If a seal is killed instantly when he 

 first puts his head above water he will sink at 'once. I think seals are 

 Decrease "^^ ^^ plentiful as they used to be, caused, I think, by 



the indiscriminate killing of females with pup. Have 

 No pelagic births nGvcr kuowu of pu^js being borii in the water, or any- 

 where else on the coast of Alaska outside of the Pribi- 

 Do not haul up on lof Islauds. Havc ncvcr known seals to haul up on the 

 Alaskan coast. ^^^st of Alaska outsidc of the Pribilof Islauds. Have 



