1^37 CHAPTER XI II. 



MiHUKjement o/the rribjilotf Itihnuls b;,/ Hu.ssia and by the rnitecl 



States — (coil tinned). 



EXCESSIVE KILLING OF MALE SEALS. 



Thk United States Coxtextions. 



(l.> United States Case, p. 153— 

 "The number of seals allowed to be killed annually by the lessees was. from 1871 

 to 18S9 inclusive. KXXOOO. but this number is variable, and entirely within the 

 control of the Treasury I>epartnient of the United s^tates. hi 188i*. Charles J. 

 Golf, then tht? Government Agent ou the islands, reported to the Department 

 that he considered it necessary to reduce the quota of skins to be taken in 1890." 



(2.) United States Case, p. 154— 



"The killinsi of a portion of the surplus male life is undoubtedly a benetit to the 

 herd, as it is with other domestic and polysramous animals. For it has always 

 been found that sueh au act increases the number of the progeny. The Ameri- 

 can Counuissioners also demonstrate by the diagrams attached to their rejiort, 

 which are exjdained in the body of the document, that a large portion of the 

 young male seals can be killed without reducing or affecting the normal birth- 

 rate." 



(3.) United States Case, p. 172— 

 "Xor was this marked decrease chargeable to the fi^ct that there were not sufficient 

 males lo serve tb.e females resorting to the islands.'' 



(4.) United States Case. p. 174 — 

 "It has also been shown that the decrease iu the seals took place primarily among 

 the female portion of the herd.'' 



Summary of British Keply. 



Though several causes have contributed to the reduction in number of fur-seals on 

 the Pribylotf Islands, the scarcity of virile males, due to the continued and 

 excessive killing of male seals thi're. is one of the most important of such cau-es; 

 and, with other results of mode of management, mainly accounts for the observed 

 decrease. 



The contention, now for the first time advanced, that the scarcity of seals on the 

 Pribyloff Islands is chietlyin resjiect to females, and that there has been no want 

 of virile males, is contradicted by the published Reports of the otiicers of the 

 United States on the islnnds. 



The retrospective statements of the few witnesses, quoted to support this new posi- 

 tion, are in several cases directly negatived by previous otUcial Keports of the 

 same gentlemen. 



238 Mr. H. W Elliott, who had investigated the factsof seal life on the islands 



in 1872-74. was in 181'0 sent to renew his investigations, in pursuance of a spe- 

 cial Act of Couijress. The Report made by him ou his return was not published 

 by the United States; but in portions y^f this Report jmblished by himself, and 

 iu other j>ublished accounts of his inquiries, he strongly condemns the u'auage- 

 nient of the islands, laying stress ou the insufllcient number of virile male seals 

 there. 



206 



