136 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Chapter VII. — As regards tlie allegations of fact put forward by the 

 United States in counection with Point 5 of Article VI, it is sub- 

 mitted — 



Section I. — That no grounds exist to justify the api)lication 

 158 to the fur-seal of the designation of land-animal, when admittedly 

 it derives its entire sustenance from the ocean, and passes there 

 two-thirds, if not more, of its existence. 



Section II. — That there is no just ground for the contention that the 

 seal is domestic in its habits. 



Section III. — That the assertion that the fur-seals resorting to the 

 Commander and Pribyloff Islands form two entirely and rigidly sep- 

 arated "herds" has been shown to be erroneous. 



That, on the contrary, the facts ascertained from a large body of tes- 

 timony establish that the fur-seals which breed u^wn the islands on both 

 sides of Behriug Sea intermingle. 



Section IV. — That there is no just ground for regarding the Priby- 

 loff Islands as the sole home or habitat of the fur-seals which generally 

 resort there for breeding purposes. That, having regard to the large pro- 

 portion of the year during which they frequent other coasts and other 

 waters, and the fact that the whole of their food is obtained from the 

 open sea, no claim to treat them as property or as a " natural product 

 of the soil " can be supported on the ground that for a limited por 

 tion of the year they frequent the shores and territorial waters of the 

 Pribyloff Islands for breeding purposes. 



conclusion. 



The above propositions, which are supplemental to those stated in 

 Chapter X of the British Case, demonstrate, in the submission of Her 

 JNIajesty's Government, that the five points stated in Article VI of the 

 Treaty of Arbitration must be decided in favour of the contention of 

 Great Britain, and that the United States have wholly failed to estab- 

 lish any exclusive right of protection or property in the fur-seals fre- 

 quenting the islands of the United States in Behring Sea, when found 

 outside the ordinary 3-mile limit; that the subjects of Great Britain 

 have, in common with those of all other Powers, the right to navigate 

 on, and fish in, the non-territorial waters of Behring Sea; and that any 

 restrictions upon these rights can only be imposed with the consent 

 and concurrence of Great Britain. 



