596 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



milk, without pups. I never saw this before. I have not killed more 

 than thirty females. I don't notice any difference in the proportion of 

 males to females along the coast, but we get more females in Behring 

 Sea than we do outside, I think. I have opened seals' stomachs, and 

 have found in them several different kinds of fish and squid. Last year, 

 in September, we saw seals outside Behring Sea as we returned to 

 Yictoria, and a few the year before. When seals are in bunches of four 

 or more it is very hard to get any of them, as one is generally on the 

 watch. 



(Signed) Peter Jolibis. 



Port Etches, June 17, 1892. 



Declaration of Thomas O'Leary, 



I, Thomas O'Leary, of the city of Victoria, now captain of the seal- 

 ing-schooner "Ocean Belle," declare: 



That this is the second year I have been engaged in sealing. I was 

 in the "Ocean Belle" last year as a hunter. Out of 240 seals I killed 

 last year 10 sank and were lost. This year, out of 139 seals I killed, I 

 lost o. Last year not over 15 were wounded that got away, this year 

 not more than 7. When a sleeping seal is killed iustautly he will float 

 an indefiuite time. When a seal is standing straight in the water, and 

 is killed at once, he is apt to sink quickly. We never shoot unless we 

 are pretty sure of gettiug them. A good many seals each season are 

 shot from the schooner, but they are never shot at unless we are almost 

 certain of getting them, and one is seldom lost. I shoot at a sleeping 

 seal when from 6 to 10 yards from it. I would not shoot at a travelling 

 seal when more than 50 yards from it. I think that there were more 

 females than males in my catch, both this year and last year. I have 

 not noticed barren cows amongst those I have taken. 



We left Victoria 27th January, and cruized as far south as Cape 

 Mendicino. We found a few seals there about the 10th of February. 

 We then cruized to the north to Cape Cook, not finding many seals. 

 The most I saw was off Barclay Sound. I reached Cape Cook about 

 1st March. I then went back to Clayoquot, sealing on the way. 

 Eeached there 21st March, having seen only a few seals. I cruized 

 north from there, keeping from 20 to 80 miles from shore. I first found 

 the seals plentiful off Sitka, 29th April. I sealed there for a week, and 

 then went north to Cross Sound, getting some seals all the time. Off 

 Mount Fairweather the seals were very jDlentiful, but they were in bands 

 of from five to twenty, and it was hard to get any of them. This was 

 in the middle of May. I worked then to Portlock Bank, which was 

 the furthest west I Avas. No seals were found there. I then came 

 towards Middleton Island, and found the seals pretty plentiful about 

 60 miles south-west of that place. I then came here. I have taken 

 815 seals so far. I did not find seals in bunches except at the place 

 mentioned above. I found seals of all ages and sexes mixed up together. 

 Squid is the principal food of the seals we take, but they eat all kinds of 

 fish they can get. 



I went across to the Russian side of Behring Sea last year. We 

 found a few seals nearly all the way across. We saw no seals on the 

 return trip to Victoria across the North Pacific. 



Seals are more plentiful this year than last, as far -as I have seen. 



(Signed) Thomas O'Leary. 



Port Etches, June 18^ 1892, 



