504 TESTIMONY 



one after the other, while a white hunter who uses firearms alarms 

 every seal in the neighborhood at the first discharge. 



The Indians lose about one-third of all they spear either from failure 

 , ^ ,. to kill when they strike or because the dead seal sinks 



Losses by Indians. ^ • i i -? ^^l x • j. 



too quickly for them to secure it. 

 The white hunters do not get one-half of all they shoot. Some hunt- 

 ers are very careful shots and will not tire uidess the 

 hJifterl^ ^^ ^^"^"^ ^^^ ^^ ^'^'^ within range, but the seal is likely to sink 

 before the boat can get to it, or, if wounded, will dive 

 like a flash to get away. A number of hunters have boasted tliat they 

 secure ninety-five seals for one hundred sliots, and some have made affi- 

 davits of even more wonderful exploits. They presume too much on 

 public ignon-ance and credulity. 



Only the head of a seal appears for them to aim at. They are shoot- 

 ing at a moving object froju a moving boat, and it is 

 seSwitfa bullet.''''* absurd to pretend that 95 per cent of their shots are 

 fatal, and that all the seals they kill are picked up 

 before sinking. It is as absurd as though a hunter on land should 

 boast of killing 95 per cent of all the birds he aimed at. There are a 

 few good seal hunters whose loss does not exceed 25 per cent, but they 

 are as well known in the North as champion baseball players in Amer- 

 ica, and form but a small proportion of the 200 seal hunters who signed 

 lor the trip this year. 



Fortunately it is not necessary to depend on the statements of the 

 seal hunters. 1 secured access to the shij) accounts of 

 ti^.ftest'Jffskin!""" several sealers, and found that in every case the con- 

 sumption of ammunition showed more than ten car- 

 tridges used for every sealskin captured. 



I sijent considerable time among the Siwash Indian sealers, and, while 

 they brag of their individual x>ro\vess, they admitted a loss of oO per 

 cent at least. On this subject I append a statement made by Captain 

 01sen,of the sealing bark Bessie Euter, of Victoria: 



Captain Olseu, of the American schooner Bessie Euter, of Astoria, 

 reached Victoria Se])tember 27, 1889. In the office ot 

 mSfiroTthljlS tli<^ American consul. Col. K. Stevens he said: "I took 

 Ruter, as to waste of 550 slvius ill the Bering. Of these 27 were pups, 520 

 ^''"' ^^'^' females, and 3 male seals, Avhich I killed off' the island of 



Kodiak. Most of the female seals were with young. I had a green crew 

 and green hunters. They used shotguns and sometimes the rifle. They 

 got about 1 seal for every .j they aimed at. Some they missed alto- 

 gether, and some of the wounded ones got away. There is great risk 

 of losing a traveling seal. The s]eei>ing seal blow up an air bladder that 

 keeps tliem from sinking, but the seal when awake sink easily. Hooks 

 are used to graj^ple them, but if the boat is some distance from the seal 

 when it is killed it does not often get it. For that reason rifle shooting 

 at long range hardly pays. I will get about $7.75 for some of my skins 

 and $8 for others. My voyage will pay because I ran the boat on the 

 cheap. I only had two men to the boat, and only paid my hunters $1 

 a skin, instead of |2, which is paid to first-class hunters. Some very 

 skillful hunters do not lose many skins. They Avill never fire unless a 

 seal is at close range, and they generally kill. Of course they lose some 

 from siidving. All the hunters brag about how few they lose, because 

 tliey want the reputation of being good hunters. The better reputation 

 they have the better chance they get. 



" If the Bering Sea was open many new men would come into the 

 business, and the loss would be greater. Only a few men make sue- 



