TAKEN m SAN FRANCISCO. 479 



Dejjosition of E. W. iSoron, sealer [master). 



pelagic sealing. 



Statu; uj^ Oalifornia, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss : 

 E. W. Soron, liaving been duly sworn, deposes and says : I am by 

 occupation a seaman. I reside in San Francisco. I 

 was in the North Pacific in 1888, on board the City of of«ro/^sa™ Diego, 

 San Diego, as mate. We left San Francisco in Feb- isss. 

 ruary and fished all the way up to Kodiak Island. ^^^^^.5^ of seals. 

 We caught about 475 seals and about 40 otters. To Mostly pregnant fe- 

 the best of my judgment the greatest portion of these '"''^^^ *''^*'°- 

 were cows heavy with young. We could see the milk running out of 

 their teats when they were skinned. I saw pups inside of the seals 

 that we cut, and we saved some of them and fed them. We hunted 

 with shotguns and riiles, and killed most of the seals 

 when they were asleep on the water, and we only got waste of ufe. 

 about one out of five killed. I can not tell the sex of ^^t^^/^°* ^^^^ ^^^ ^ 

 the seal in the water unless he is an old bull. A 

 hunter will blaze away at anytliing he sees in the water. The seals 

 are gradually being killed oft" by the hunters, and 

 something should be done to protect them and stop sa?™*"*'*'*'" °°''^^' 

 the killing of female seals or they will soon be all gone. 



E. W. SOEON. 



Subscribed and s'.v^orn to before me this Cth day of April, A. D. 1892. 

 [SEAL.J Clement Bennett, 



Notary Public. 



Dejjosition of Cyrus Stephens, sealer (boat-puller). 



pelagic sealing. 



State of California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss. 

 Cyrus Stephens, having been duly sworn, deposes and says: I am 

 working at calking vessels at the present time. I was 

 employed on sealing vessels in the Korth Pacific in Exporienoe. 

 1888 as cabin boy and boat-puller. I made two voy- iss8%%M'idt^imo. 

 ages to the North Pacific; first in the City of San 

 Diego and the next in the C. G. White, in 1890. We left here Avith the 

 City of San Diego in February of 1888 and arrived in the Bering Sea 

 in June, 1888. As soon as we got into the ocean we 

 commenced shooting seals and continued shooting all fhoow^s'ears^ ^^*' 

 the way up to the Aleutian Islands. The seals became 

 more plentiful as we Avere going north. We caught about 650 seals 

 during that voyage. We killed a portion of them in the Bering Sea. 

 We killed one large bull that I recollect, and the rest 

 Avere nearly all females A\itli pup or mothers giving ^^e,^ t4Py®^''''*'^* ^®" 

 milk. An ordinary hunter will not get more than one °^Wast«of iife. 

 seal out of four that he shoots at, and not more than ,,,^"j..''°* ^'"^'"^ ^ 

 one out of tAA^o til at he kills, and sometimes not that. 

 I have never seen any young pups in tht^ water. I do not think they 



