COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 109 



on the catalogues, and since that time also a separate cata- 

 logue is produced by Messrs. Larapsou for each description. 

 Prior to that date, in March each year, "Alaskas" and 

 "Coppers" were sold in the same catalogues without any 

 distinction being made on the face of the catalogues. 



125 OPINIONS OF PELAGIC SEALERS. 



The testimony of the more experienced sealers, who have Appendix, vol. 

 hunted on both sides of the North Pacific, is also generally "' ''^'^ ^^"''^' 

 to the effect that the seals and seal-skins are undistiuguish- 

 able; while, when any difference is referred to, it is in regard 

 to depth of colour of fur only; some claiming that seals on 

 the Asiatic side are darker, while others say lighter, than 

 those on the American side. iSuch differences met with in 

 individual catches might very well depend on the different 

 seasons of the year in which these were made. 



CAUSES ASSIGNED FOR DIFFERENCES OF SKINS. 



Sneigeroff, already quoted, attributed the differences British Com- 

 which he has noted solely to the longer residence ashore port.'para^ 455.^ 

 of the Pribyloff" seals, and added that the seals of Eobben 

 Island, in Okhotsk Sea, have even longer hair and wool 

 than those of the Comiuauder Islands. 



That the Alaska Commercial Company, which, for many 

 years, was the lessee of both the Commander and Pribyloff 

 Islands, believed the lower prices obtained for the skins 

 from the former was due to inferior methods of treatment, 

 is shown by the fact that they at one time sent their most 

 experienced foreman (Webster) frorn the Pribyloff to the 

 Commander Islands to improve the method of handling the 

 skins there. 



INDEFINITE AND NOVEL OPINIONS AS TO SEPARATION 

 OF SEALS OF TWO SIDES OF PACIFIC, RELIED ON IN 

 UNITED STATES CASE. 



The passages in the United States Case above noted, 

 are all those which profess to give direct evidence, based 

 on differences in character of the skins, as to the alleged 

 complete distinctness of the seals resorting for breeding- 

 purposes to the Commander and Pribyloff" Islands respec- 

 tively. The opinions of a number of i^ersons are subse- 

 quently quoted, but on referring to these, as given in the ' 

 Appendix to the United States Case, it will be found that 

 such opinions are not the result of any personal investiga- 

 tion of the actual facts, and are, indeed, chietly based on 

 the different market values quoted for the two classes of 

 skins, a circumstance which has just been explained. 



It will further be noted that all the opinions in (piestion 

 have appeared for the first time in connection with the 

 present Case, and date from a very late period in the dis- 

 cussion of tlie ]^)ehring Sea question, being subsequent to 

 the assertion of a claim to a right of ]HO])erty in seals; and 

 that no such separation of the fur-seals frequenting the 

 two sides of the ^tforth Pacific has heretofore been asserted. 



