APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 609 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the 

 same to be true, and by virtue of "The Act respecting Extra- Judicial 

 Oaths." 



(Signed) M. Ryan. 



Subscribed and declared by the said Matthew Ryan before me, a 

 Notary Public duly commissioned, and residing and practising at the 

 city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, this 20th day of 

 October, a. d. 1892. 



[sEAx,.j (Signed) Arthur L. Belyea, 



A Notary Public in and for the Province of British Columhia. 



Declaration of JR. 0. Lavender, 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British Columhia^ City of Victoria^ 



I, R. O. Lavender, of the city of Victoria, and Province of British 

 Columbia, do solemnly declare as follows : 



1. That I am a citizen of the United States, though at present my 

 home and interests are at Victoria. 



2. 1 have been sealing five seasons — four as master of a sealing- 

 schooner, and the other year 1 went as a hunter, in order to see what 

 there was in the business (that was the first year). I was on the 

 " Mollie Adams," then, the next two years the " Henry Dennis," last 

 year the "Pioneer," and this year the "Viva." 



3. When off" Cross Sound last April my vessel was boarded by an 

 officer of the "Corwin," who asked me to go to that vessel and tell 

 them what I thought about seals. 



4. I have hunted every year myself, and have lost not more than one 

 out of twenty. 



5. I explained to the people on the "Corwin" that the reason some 

 hunters were reported to lose more seals than others, was that a hunter 

 was paid according to the number of skins he got, and that killing seals 

 was like killing birds or other animals, the poor hunter excused his 

 lack of skill by saying that he killed the animal, and that it had sunk. 

 The boat-puller knows better than that. 



6. I do not know Brown who was a hunter on the " Corwin." They 

 thought then that the Indian hunter was very much better, and would 

 get three times as many skins as the white man, but a good white 

 hunter with his gun will get more seals than an Indian with his spear. 

 I know that Indians all carry guns as well as spears in their canoes 

 now, and that formerly they did not do so. 



7. This season on the coast I got over one-third of my catch in 

 females, less one-half among them were barren cows. It was the same 

 other years, but three years ago, on Fairweatlier Grounds, I got among 

 young bulls about the size of a good sized cow. We took about 300 in 

 four days. 



8. I have been three seasons in Behring Sea. When on the sealing 

 grounds nearest the islands I got mostly females, but farther out they 

 were mostly males of the kind mentioned above. 



9. I have never been to the Asiatic side. I have every year seen 

 seals in schools, south as well as north. They are much harder to get 

 when several are together. They are getting educated, and there is no 

 doubt that they keep a look-out. I have been going toward two sleep- 



B s, PT VIII 39 



