156 COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



British co^m- to tlic metliods practised on the islands; of wliicli evidence 

 port, paras. 427- Is Quotcd bv the British Commissioners, and it is said 

 446- that— 



Ibid.,para. 445. the geDeral effect of these changes in habits of tlie seals is to mini- 

 mize the number to be seen at any one time on the breeding islands, 

 while the average number to be seen at sea is at least proportiouately, 

 though, perhaps, in face of a general decrease in total number of 

 seals, not absolutely, increased. 



LATE EVIDENCE SHOWS INCREASE (OR NO DECREASE) 



AT SEA. 



It wi]l,in addition, be fonnd, that in the large mass of 

 testimony collected in 1892, and jnesented in the Appendix 

 to this Connter-Case, in reply to United States contentions, 

 both whites and Indians are almost nuauimons in denying 

 the existence of a decrease of seals at sea; and that many 

 experienced men affirm their greater abundance. That, 

 while the Indians sealing from the coast believe the seals 

 to be less numerous in i^roximity to the shores, they attrib- 

 ute this in part to a change in habits resulting from persist- 

 ent hunting, in part to the absence of large runs of small 

 fish, such as herrings. When small fish are abundant on 

 the coast, the seals are more numerous, and are found even 

 to enter the inlets and bays in pursuit of such fish. 



GENERAL, CONCLUSIONS ON DATE AND AMOUNT OF 

 DECREASE OF SEALS. 



Finally, in reviewing the whole of the facts and evidence 

 collected by them on the nature and amount of the decrease 

 in the fur-seals of the North Pacific, the British Commis- 

 sioners write that they are led to believe — 



Ibid., para. 94. 179 that there has been, in the main, a gradual reduction in the 

 total volume of seal life in the North Pacitic, dating back to a 

 period approximately coincident with the excessive and irregular 

 killing on the Pribyloff Islands in 1867 to 1869, but that this reduction 

 in total volume has not in late years been nearly so rapid as the 

 observed decrease in numbers upon the Pribyloff breeding islands in 

 the corresponding yeass. 



So large a part of the Eeportof the British Commission- 

 ers is devoted to the subjects included under the conten- 

 tions in the Case of the United States, which stand at the 

 head of this chapter, that it is not here considered neces- 

 sary to give more than a brief abstract, in which the 

 conclusions arrived at occupy the jjrincipal place. An 

 examination of the Eeport itself is respectfully invited. 



The facts observed by Mr. Macoun in 181)2, together with 

 the evidence obtained from a large number of practical and 

 exjierienced sealers, further tend to bear out the conclusions 

 arrived at by the British Commissioners in every respect. 



It is submitted that the facts above stated demonstrate 

 that the commencement of the decrease of seals on the 

 Pribylotf Islands had been distinctly observed upon these 

 islands for some years before pelagic sealing developed to 

 any substantial degree, and many years before it could 

 have had any practical effect on the number of killable 

 males on the islands. 



