152 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



UNITED STATES ESTIMATE OF THE AMOUNT OF 



DECREASE. 



As to the amount of the decrease, no agreement appears 

 to have been arrived at by the Commissioners. In the 

 Case of the United States, the " extermination " of the seals 

 is spoken of as being a certainty in the near future under 

 the present conditions, so that it may be assumed that the 

 decrease is believed to be very great. This is, in 

 174 fact, elsewhere relerred to in the Case as '' the enor- 

 mous decrease." The United States Commissioners 

 write : 



United States It may therefore be accepted as an undisputed fact that the seal 

 Case, p. 338. population of the islands is greatly below what it was for many years, 



and likewise speak of proximate "commercial extinction" 

 under the present conditions. It is proper to remark, how- 

 ever, that the United States Commissioners state their 

 belief that — 



NUMERICAI- r>ATA UNTRUSTWORTHY. 



r'^ ft ^^^*mo8t, if not all, of the published estimates of the number of seals 



Ex" iJocf 450,*^ p'. hitherto found on these islands are exaf;gerated In short, 



41. Also H. R., one can say with much more certainty tliat there are fewer seals here 

 50ili Cong., 2ii(l now than live years ago tlian he could attempt a comparison by means. 

 Qo-ri^' ^^..Q.V qq'/ of an actual or rather an assumed census. 



OOtiO, PP< OOZf ooo. 



EXPLAINING THE EXAGGERATED ESTIMATES OF 



DECREASE. 



The numerical statements thus repudiated by the United 

 States Commissioners are those of the accredited Agents 

 of their own Government on the Pribyloft" Islands; but in 

 distrusting these figures, as well as in attributing exag- 

 geration to the former estimates of number, they are in 

 niRsiiVm'rs'^"™- ''<'<'<^i'fl witli the Biitisli Commissioners, wiio, writing of the 

 i)ort, paras. 52, islauds alouc, aud without considering the number of seals 



;J57, 368, ami es- , .,, , ' ° 



peciaiiy 365. met With at sca, say : 



ibid., paras. 90, A study of the available published data, made in connection with a 

 ^^- personal examination of tlie various breeding-grouuds themselves, 



has convinced us, however, tliat some, if not all, the estimates of the 

 total number of seals made in the earlier years of the term of the 

 Alaska Conunercial Company ha\e been greatly exaggerated, while 

 reports made iu 1890, liow(3vcr accurate in themselves, have, because 

 compared with these overdrawn estimates, exaggerated the amount 

 of the decrease. Tlie alarming forecasts as to ihe condition of the 

 breeding islands, based upon reports made in 1890, have, fortunately, 

 not been verified by the facts in 1891, as personally observed by us. 



IMPROVEMENT IN 189L\ 



It is important to note that in 1892, so ftir from there 

 being any continued deterioration of the condition of the 

 "rookeries" on the Pribylolf Islands, the observations of 

 _ Appendix, vol. Mr. Macoun show a substantial improvement and an in- 

 ' ^' "^ ' crease in thenumbers, particularly of young males, which 



had during the \ears 1890 and 1891 been granted a partial 

 immunity from the enormous draft hitherto annually made 

 U})on them to till the " (j[UOta." 



