100 CHAPTER VII. 



Consideration of Allegations of Fact put forward by the 

 United States in connection with Point 5 of Article VI. 



Section I. — The Fur-seal is a Marine Animal, and Pelagic in its Hahits. 



Thk United States Contentions. 



(1.) Conclusions, United States Case, p. 295 — 



''That the Alaskan fur-seal .... is essentially a land animal, wliich resorts 

 to the water only for food and to avoid the rigour of winter." 

 (2.) United States Case, p. 300— 



"That in view of the facts .... it [the United States] has such a property 

 in the Alaskan seal herd as the natural product of its soil .... as entitles 

 it to preserve the herd . . . ." 

 (3.) United States Case, p. 90 — 

 "From May to Xovember inclusive (the period when the majority of the seals are 

 on laud), the mean temperature is 41° and 42° F." 

 (4.) United States Case, p. 122— 

 "An examination of the table showing the annual killing of seals on St. Paul 

 Island for several years proves conclusively the presence of seals on the islands 

 for at least eiglit months of the year." 

 (5.) United States Case, p. 123— ' 



"The seals evidently consider these islands their sole home, and only leave them 

 from being forced so to do." 



SuMMAiiY OF British Reply. 



The statement that the fur seal is a land animal is wholly unwarranted; in truth, it 

 is not only marine, but pelagic in habit. 



The statements of witnesses cited in the Case of the United States are alone suffi- 

 cient to show that the fur-seal is a marine animal, and no naturalist is found to 

 hold an opinion to the contrary. 



The time in each year during which the fur-seals (or some considerable portion of 

 them) remain ou or about the Pribylolf Islands for purposes of reproduction is, in 

 the United States Case, very greatly exaggerated. This is done by means of sub- 

 stituting extreme and exceptional dates for average ones, and by means of com- 

 bining in a single period the several times of stay about the islands of dilferent 

 ages and sexes of seals. 



Statements contained in the Case itself of the United St.ates, with respect to the 

 arrival and departure of A'arious classes of seals, show that these may spend 

 respectively from three to live and a-half months on or about the breeding- 

 islands. But individual seals (with the exception of the old bulls) freqiient the 

 adjacent waters for much of the time of their resort to the islands, and many 

 young males and virgin females probably do not land at all. Professor J. A. 

 Allen gives the a\erage length of stay ashore of the Utaridw generally, as about 

 one-third of the year. 



101 The industry growing out of the taking of fur-seals is described as a "fishery" 



in official documents and acts. 



The food of the fur-seal is entirely derived from the sea, and little, if any, of it is 

 obtained even iu the vicinity of the Pribyloft' Islands. 



87 



