counter-(;ase of great Britain. 103 



vidual can lie established witli certainty, and that at all times, whetbfer dur- 

 ing its short excursions from the islands in search of food or its longer winter 

 migration, it has a fixed intention, or instinct, which induces it to return 

 thereto." 



Summary of British Reply. 



The word "herd" is applicable to seals (if at all) only when on the islands, and 

 then only to each rookery separately, or to bodies of seals driven together. It is 

 entirely incorrect and misleading when applied, as in the United States Case, to 

 an indefinite portion of the fur-seals of the North Pacific, there entitled "the 

 Alaskan seal herd." 



No distinction, as between the fur-seals resorting to the two sides of.the North Pacific, 

 has heretofore been known to naturalists; and the distinction now for the first 

 time endeavoured to l)e established in the Case of the United States is wholly 

 unsupported by naturalists. 



The alleged distinction is based on the classing of skins by fur-dealers; but such 

 classing and the difference of price resulting, are no evidence of difference of 

 kind in the fur-seal or in other animals. 



The criteria employed by fur-dealers in classing the skins, though important in the 

 trade, are in themselves slight and difficult of definition, and the evidence given 

 in the Case of the United States on this point is contlicting. In the particular 

 case of skins from the Pribyloflf and Commander Islands, experienced dealers 

 actually observe a large jjercentage of skins from each source which would be 

 classed according to quality as coming from the other. 



The intermingling of fur-seals frequenting the two sides of the North Pacific is 

 jjer se probable. It must at one time have occurred, and no reason can be assigned 

 for its alleged cessation. 



119 Such intermingling is either admitted to be probable, or is asserted to occur, 



by many of the officials on the Pribylolt Islands during twenty years past. 



It has not been denied till now in the Case of the United States. Intermingling 



is shown by actual experiment to have occurred as between the Islands of St. 



Paul and St. George. 



The evidence quoted in the Case of the United States is alone sufficient to show that 

 fur-seals from both sides of the Pacific intermingle, during the summer, in the 

 vicinity of the Aleutian Islands. 



Further evidence, now adduced, shows that intermingling occurs between the seals 

 of the North Pacific generally, both to the north anil to the south of the Aleu- 

 tian Islands. 



The proposition that the identity of individual seals can be established when at sea, 

 is absolutely unsupported by evidence. 



MEANING AND OBJECT OF CONTENTION OF UNITED STATES. 



Takiug the statements made in the above quotations from 

 the United States Case, it would appear that the position 

 sought to be maintained in this matter may be outlined as 

 follows : — That there is a distinctivel}^ "Alaskan seal herd" 

 which never mingles with other fur-seals. That the identity 

 of each animal can at all times be established with certainty 

 in the water. That the course of the "Alaskan herd" is 

 uniform when absent from the breeding-islands, and is 

 confined principally to waters adjacent to the coasts of the 

 United States, and that at all times the seals have a flxed 

 intention of returning to the Pribyloft' Islands. 



The burden of proof of these general ])ropositions de- 

 volves upon the United States. The position indicated is 

 assumed in order to support the theory of an exclusive 

 property in fur-seals. Great importance is apparently 

 attached to it, for it is not only advanced in the opening 

 pages of the lengthened discussion on the conditions of 

 seal life, but is frei^uenily reiterated. 



