470 TESTIMONY 



off. The principal portion of the cruising was between the Aleutian 

 Islands and the Pribilof Islands. One of tlie principal sealing grounds 

 is off Bogoslof. We first discover seals on their way to the breeding 



grounds in January and February oft' Cape Kace. Most 

 coast.^*^'^'^"*'^ "^ every female that has arrived at the age of maturity 



is pregnant. We follow them on from there into the 

 Bering Sea, and most all of the females taken are pregnant. 



We find i)ups in the cow seals up to the time they get to the Pribi- 

 lof Islands in June, but when they come oft" the Pribilof Islands they 

 have bred, and are in milk for the remainder of the killing season. 

 They sometimes go out from 100 to 200 miles oft' the islands, while the 

 young ones still remain on the islands. After they have been on the 

 islands they contain no pup, so the hunter can see if the seal has been 

 Kiiiincr of ursiDo^ ^^ ^'^® islauds or not. I have killed, and seen killed, 

 cows/°^ " nursing jj^^^^jj^pg j^^ milk 100 or uiorc miles from the islands. 



Seals were not as plentiful in 1886 as they w^ere in 

 Decrease. 1885. I think the princii:>al cause of that decrease is 



on account of killing the females in the water, and also 

 through their getting shy by being chased by the boats. I have 



Peiagicbirthimpos- ^^^'^^^' ^<^^" '^ P^^l^ "^ *^*^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ "^^ bclievc they 



sibie. can be born in the water. If they are born in the water 



they would drown. I know of no places that the 



. seals haul up in the Bering Sea or North Pacific for 



isianda.'^^""^"^ ""^ breeding purposcs except St. George, St. Paul, Otter 



Island, Bering Island, Eobben Island, and Copi)er 



gjjy''*®''"*"' neces- Island. If something is not done to protect seals in 



the North Pacific and Bering Sea, they will become 



exterminated in a very few years. 



Ntles Nelson. 



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

 [L.S.] Clement Bennett, 



Notary Fublic. 



Deposition of John O^Brien, sealer (boat-puller.) 



pelagic sealing. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss: 

 John O'Brien, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am 40 

 Ex erience ycars of age; I reside in San Francisco; I am by occu- 



xpenence. patiou a'longshorcmau ; I made a sealing voyage to the 



Aiexand<'r 1885 North Pacific and Bering Sea on the schooner Alex- 

 ander, which sailed from Victoria in the latter part of 

 January, 1885. I was a boat-puller. We sailed south as far as Blanco, 

 sealing around there for two or three months, when we headed north 

 Sixty per cent of ii^^t) the Bering Sea, having caught 250 or 300 seals 

 coast catch females, before entering the sea, of which GO per cent of them 

 mostly pregnant. ^erc fcmalcs, mostly all of them having pups in them. 

 enter'in^ ^*'*' ^'""^ °^ ^c entered the Bering Sea the latter end of May, and 

 en ermg. caught about 700 scals in the Bering Sea, mostly all 



of them being females in milk. I saw the milk flowing 

 mStJy\u^8ing cows^ OH the dcck whcu they were skinned. We had 6 boats, 

 each boat having 3 men, a boat-puller, steerer, and 



