APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 613 



Declaratio7i of William Thomas Bragg. 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British Columbia, City of Victoria, 



I, William Thomas Bragg, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of 

 British Columbia, seal-hunter, do solemnly and sincerely state and 

 declare as follows: 



1. That I have been on sealing expeditions along the Pacific Coast in 

 the year 1885 and every year since. 



2. That during the years 1885 and 1886 I was on board the schooner 

 ''Mary Ellen;" during the year 1887 I was on board the schooner 

 "Teresa;" during the year 1888 I was on board the "Penelope" for the 



coast work, and on board the " Triumph" during the remainder 

 67 of the season; during the years 1880 and 1890 I was on board 



the schooner "Maggie Mac;" during the year 1891 I was on 

 board the schooner "Annie C. Moore," and this year I was on board 

 the schooner "Agnes Macdonald." 



3. During this and last year I kept a record of all the seals killed by 

 me. I secured during the year 1891 485 seals and only lost 10, that is, 

 I killed 10 that sank before I got to them. This year I secured 173 

 seals, and only lost 4 by sinking as aforesaid. I was not out the whole 

 of the season of 1892. 



4. In earlier years I did not lose many seals, if any more, than I did 

 the past two years. 



5. A sleeping seal seldom sinks when shot, and two-thirds of the 

 seals secured are "sleepers." 



6. The chances of getting a seal that is badly wounded are good. 



7. 1 shoot at sleeping seals when about 20 feet away from them, and 

 I get as close as possible to " travellers." 



8. Seals were seen most abundant by me this year off Mount St. Elias 

 about the end of May or beginning of June. 



9. Seals sometimes travel in bands of from thirty to forty. Males 

 and females travel together, and the yearlings are generally with them. 

 Sometimes on Portlock Bank young 2-year-old bull seals are found 

 without females among them. 



10. I can give no idea of the number of female seals that are killed 

 in proportion to the number of male seals, because when a seal is killed 

 it is skinned as quickly as possible, and are seldom examined, at least 

 by me. I have seen yt>ung 2-year-old cow seals. 



11. In the year 1887 1 went over towards Copper Island on the schooner 

 "Teresa," and I saw seals in Behring Sea all the way across. 



12. I went to the Russian side this year, and on the way home in 

 September I saw seals in the Korth Pacific Ocean about 500 miles from 

 land. I have seen them about the same place in previous years. 



In August 1888 I saw sleeping seals in the water near the Scott 

 Islands: that is within 20 miles from the said islands, and have heard 

 other seal hunters make statements that they had also seen seals there. 



14. 1 found seals as plentiful this year as on any previous year. 



15. 1 have been out seal-hunting with Indians. There were eleven 

 Indians on board the schooner "Triumph," and each one used a gun. 

 Indians are using guns for sealing at the present time more than on any 

 previous year. 



And I make this solemn declaration, conscientiously believing the 

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

 Oaths." 



(Signed) William T. Bragg. 



