4V8 TESTIMONY 



be no more seals in these waters. I know as a fact that they are kill- 



iug- them indiscriminately, and all the hunters care 



^Indiscriminate kill- ^i^^^^^ -^ -g ^^ g.^^ ^ ^^^^^ j j.^^^ something ahoat it, 



as I have been sailing from this coast np along those 

 waters for nineteen years, and, as I said before, I paid particular atten- 

 tion to them, and I firmly believe if they allow the 

 tio^!'''^^ ^^*^'^°"°''" killing in the sea to go on as they are now doing it 

 will only be a question of a few years before there will 

 not be enough to pay anyone to hunb them. I do not know of any 

 other place on our coast where the seals haul up except 

 iam?r^ """^^ *"" ''" at the seal islands. I do not believe a seal can be born 

 in the water and live. 



James Sloan. 

 Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th day of April, A. D. 

 1892. 

 [seal]. Clement Bennett, 



If otary Public. 



Deposition of William H. Smith, sealer [master). 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



William H. Smith, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I am by 



Ex erieuce occupatioii a seamau and seal hunter. Have been en- 



^xpeueuce. gaged iu catchiug seals in the North Pacific Ocean for 



fourteen years and one season in Bering Sea. Have been mate and 



captain while sealing. First seal seen and taken by me were off the 



Columbia Eiver in January and February. The seal 



igra ion. ^^ thiit time were traveling north. Spear is mostly 



used by the Makah Indians. Farther north the shotgun is used. 



Very few are lost when struck with a spear. About OG per cent are 



lost when shotgun is used. Most of the seals taken 



females taken^""^"* ^rc fcmalcs with youug. Very few males are taken on 



the coast. I have taken 600 seals in one season 



and only 3 male seals were among them. A few yearlings are 



taken, mostly females. Sex of seal can not be distinguished in the 



water. We use no discrimination in hunting; shoot every 



_ jndiscriniiuate kill- g^^j ^j^r^^ comcs near the boat. Seal are most always 



shot in the head if it is possible; if not, they are shot in 



the body where exposed. The indiscriminate killing of female seals 



iu Bering Sea will very soon destroy the herd. Have 



No pelagic birth, jj^yei. kuowu of pup scals being born in the water, nor 



anywhere else on tlie coast outside of the Pribilof Islands. Have 



never heard of fur-seals hauling up on the coast 



ww^ta'Zl Pribilof elsewhere than on the Pribilof Islands. Have taken 



Lsiands. fciuale scals in Bering Sea about 115 miles fi^om the 



Pribilof Islands. I think that pelagic seal hunting 



in Bering Sea should be stopped. 



Wm. H. Smith. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 6th day of April, 1892. 



A. W. Lavender, 

 United States Treasury Agent. 



