550 TESTIMONY. 



Deposition of Maurice WinclmiUer, furrier, San Francisco. 



PELAGIC SEALING. 



State or California, 



City and County of San Francisco, ss: 

 Maurice Windiniller, liavhig been duly sworn, deposes and snys: My 



age is 46; I reside in San Francisco; my occiipatiou is 

 Experience. that of a furricr. 1 liAve been engaged in tlie fur busi- 



ness all my life, and my father was a furrier before me. 

 I am an expert in dressed and undressed, raw, and made-up furs, and 

 also a manufacturer and dealer in the same. I have bought and ex- 

 amined large numbers of fur-seal skins during the last twelve years, 

 caught by sealing schooners both on the Eussian and American side of 

 the North Pacific and Bering Sea, and I can easily distinguish one 

 from the other. 



The Russian seal is a smaller seal, and the fur is not as close as the 



fur of the Alaska seal, nor as good quality. They are 

 kanTeaiT '^"'^ ^'''^" ^^ entirely diflerent herd from" those on the American 



side, and their skins have peculiar characteristics by 

 which it is not difficult to separate them. In examining and purchas- 

 ing seal skins from the schooners in their raw state I have observed 



that 90 per cent of their catch are females. I know 

 takln'*^^ females ^|^^^ ^^ ^^ ^ f.^^,^^ bccausc the hcads of the females are 



smaller, the bellies larger, and the teats can be i)lainly 



seen. The teats show more plainly when the skin is dressed and dyed. 



In examining the skins taken by sealing schooners I have found 



most of them perforated with shot, making them much 

 shot'"* '■''^'^^®*^ ^^^^' less valuable thereby. Formerly more of them used to 



be killed with a rifle, which did not injure the skin as 



much. 



Maueice Windmiller. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of April, A. D. 1892. 

 [seal.] Clement Bennett, 



Hotary Fuhlic, 



