110 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



126 PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED OPINIONS OF UNITED 



STATES AUTHORS AND OFFICIALS ON INTER- 

 MINGrLING OF NORTH PACIFIC SEALS. 



As against the opinions thus now advanced in the United 

 States Case, some examples of published statements on 

 the same subject, derived from official documents of the 

 United States, and showing- a belief in the intermingling 

 of seals from the two groups of islands, are here given. 



Such interchange of seals between the various breeding- 

 places may be supposed to occur in two Avays: first, in 

 correspondence with natural and casual events, such as 

 winds, currents, and the pursuit of food fishes; second, in 

 consequence of the disturbance of the breeding-places by 

 man. On the latter point, Scammon, in his well-known 

 work (p. 152), sums up the result of his observations as 

 follows: 



CAPTAIN SCAMMON. 



Scammon 's ^^^ ™ay add, likewise, from our own observation, and as the 



"Marine Mam - expressed opinion of several experienced sealing' masters, that their 



malia,"p. 152. [the seals'] natural migrations extend over a great expanse of ocean; 



and if they are unduly disturbed in their favourite haunts for several 



successive seasons, they are quite sure to seek some distant and 



unknown place where thej' can congregate unmolested by man. 



British Com- Stiictly ill accordaucc with the statement made by Cap- 



™ort'"°fra8 m' *^"^ Scammou is the fact, alluded to in the Eeport of the 



423. ' ' " ' British Commissioners, that, as a result of the excessive 



slaughter and disturbance occurring on the Pribyloft" 



Islands at the time of their cession to the United States, 



unprecedented numbers of seals were found frequenting 



the shores and inlets of the coast of British Columbia. 



Ball's Alaska, -^ further reference, Avith the same meaning, is found in 



p. 496. ' the following passage from Dr. Ball's work on Alaska: 



The number of the seal had greatly increased up to 1868, but in that 

 year not less than .50,000 were killed on St. Geoige's, and 150,000 on 

 St. Paul's, by the traders. At this rate they would soon be extermi- 

 nated or driven to the Kurile or Commander Islands. 



MR. ELLIOTT. 



^ T, , Mr. Elliott, in his Eeport, after asking a question as to 



Census Report, -i i ' • -• i ^ xi ?i ^ x- 



p. 69. the possible accessions ot seals to the Commander irom 



the Pribylotf Islands, replies to his own interrogation as 

 follows : 



Certainly, if the ground on either Bering or Copper Island, in the 



Commander group, is as well suited for the wants of the breeding 



fur-seal as is that exhibited by tlie Pribilov Islands, then I say 



127 conlidently that we may at any time note a diminution here, 

 and find a corresponding augmentation there; for I have clear Ij"- 



shown, in my chapter on the habits of these animals, that they are not 

 so particularly attached to the respective places of their birth, but 

 that they rather Innd with an instinctive appreciation of the fitness 

 of that ground as a Avhole. 



44th Cong., 1st The saiue writer, in his " Report on the Condition of 

 Sess. H. k.,'kx. Affairs in Alaska," 1S75, under the heading " Thoughts 

 metseq.^^' ^^' upon possible Movements of the Fur-seals in the Future," 



