COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 221 



Clahajnsum, Havaisum, and CJahouto say tLat four out of six females 

 taken by thera would be cariyiug youug. 



Walter Watt: "llirce out of six ieiiiales taken nlonq; tlie coast are 

 barren cow.s and ])U]is. (iet quite a few barren cows." 



Ckileta : Has taken "plenty of them" [old cows] " carry ing no pup 

 and having no milk." 



Oqiiaf/lia : " Fully half the rows we get have pups in them ; the rest 

 are young I'emales or cows without pups." 



Click- la-houto : ''Along the coast have sonietinies got large cows not 

 having pnY)s and not in milk." Of Behriiig 8ca lio says: "Of the 

 cows I killed many did not have milk, and were not in i)up." 



Keshiiqua and Clatclter, who heard what Click-hi-houto said, say 

 that their experience has been the same as liis. 

 257 Claivnck says: "I did not get any old cows this year that did 



not have pups in them, but hav(j seen plenty.'' 



J'.'heuelicssul has taken a few old cows without j)U\)s in them. 



Afelii and Ahnah-yook have often killed old white whiskered cows 

 that have no pups in them. 



Qui-an-ali says that he gets old cows not carrying pup. 



Knocio gets " quite a few old cows not carrying pups, and not hav- 

 ing milk." Eleven otlier Indians who were ])resent when Enocto was 

 examined testify to the truth of his statement. 



HUjh-eit-lick-^heel sometimes takes old cows that are not carrying 

 pups and are not in milk. 



Charlie Qiiisto says that some of the large cow.s have no i)up8 in 

 them. 



See-ah-sum and Wech-tin corroborate what Quisto says. 



Santv, Charlie, Giis, Doiu/las, Joe, TuijJor, and Tommie all took barren 

 females in 1892, but kept no count of their number. 



SKINS OF FEMALES INCREASING IN PRIBYLOFF CATCH. 



No less than eight of the Loudon fur Dierchants, in state- ..Appendix, vol. 

 ments made by theui, explain that, while formerly the "' ^^' ^'*^^^'*' 

 consignments from the Pribyioff Islands were exclusively 

 composed of male skiris, for tlie ])ast six years a marked 

 and increasing number of female skins has become uoti(;ea- 

 ble, the presence of wliich they attribute to the fact that 

 the lessees have been exiierioncing a difKculty in obtaining iwd., p. 24g. 

 their quota of males, and have been compelled to resort to 

 the female seals to make up their fiill number. Such skins 

 were first noted by ]Mr. Rice as early as 1878, and in later 

 years have continually increased. 



TABLE SHOWING SIZES OF V/HOLE PRIBYLOFF CATCH 

 FOR TWENTY YEARS. 



In this connection, particular attention is drawn to the iwa., p. 255. 

 Analytical Table, prepared by Messrs. P. K. Poland and 

 Son, of all catalogues relating to the sale of skins from the 

 Pribyloft' Islands from the year 187;3 to 1892, from which it 

 appears that, from 1877 to 1890, the proportion of small 

 skins in each year's consignments had been rapidly increas- 

 ing each year, the ])ro])ortion in 1873 being 3!>.71, and in 

 1889 as much as 79.59, showing conclusively tliat the Com- 

 pany were compelled by the dearth of male ki liable seals 

 to resort exclusively to youn,ger and smaller seals not for- 

 merly regarded as killable. (See Diagram.) 



SHOWS NEARLY CONTINUOUS DIMINUTION IN SIZE OF 



SKINS TAKEN. 



The facts disclosed by this Table and the diagram based 

 thereon are of considerable importance, iuasnnich as it 

 affords a complete record of the nature of the killiug in 



