614 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN, 



Si^ed and declared by the said William Thomas Bragg before me, 

 the Undersigned, a Notary Public duly commissioned, and residing and 

 practising at the city of Victoria, in the Province of JBritish Columbia, 

 this 19th day of October, A. D. 1892. 



[seal.] (Signed) A. L. Bel ye A, 



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



Declaration of George Dishoiv. 



Canada, Province of British Golvmhia, City of Victoria, 



I, George Dishow, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British 

 Columbia, seal-hunter, do solemnly declare as follows: 



1. That 1 have been sealing six years as a hunter on the schooners 

 "Favorite," 1887; the "Penelope" in 1888, the "Penelope" in 1889, the 

 "Walter L. Kich" in 1890; the "Urabrina" in 1891 and 1892. 



2. In 1887 I got 300 seals, and lost 3. In 1888 I got 300, and lost 4 or 

 5 at most. In 1889 I got 401, and lost not more than 4 or 5. In 1890 I 

 got 364, and lost not more than 5. In 1891 1 got 223, and lost not more 

 than 6. In 1892 I got 303, and lost more than usual — I think, 9 — not 

 more than 10 anyway. I mean by "lost" that I killed them, and they 

 sank before I could reach them. 



I am a fair average hunter, and lose about as many seals in this way 

 as the average hunter. 



3. This year I got more males than in any year before; more than 

 half were males. All the hunters this year on the " Umbriua" got more 

 males than females. In previous years I got a little over half of my 

 catch in females, but very little over, and the other hunters on the ves- 

 sels I was on about the same proportion. 



4. I have sealed in Behring Sea, on the eastern side, three years. 

 Sometimes I got more males than females, and sometimes more females 

 than males. 



Taking the years together, I think the catch was about half-and-half. 



5. The greater number of females caught on the coast are with young, 

 but in Behring Sea I never got any cows with young. A few cows there 

 would be in milk. 



6. I have seen big schools of seals south of the Columbia Eiver in 

 March, and also all along the coast right up to Portlock Bank. Gen- 

 erally the schools were of all kinds of seals except the 1-year and 2-year 

 olds, which are generally by themselves either ahead or behind. When 

 in schools the seals are hard to get at — one can hardly get near them 



at all. Our best sealing is among scattered " sleepers." 

 58 7. Cow seals in young are very uneasy, and hard to get; in 



fact, all kinds of seal are wilder and harder to get than in former 

 years. 



8. This year the " IJmbrina " returned from the Commander Islands 

 between the 10th September and 1st October. I saw seals in large 

 numbers all the way over about 200 miles south of the Aleutian Islands 

 to within 200 miles of Queen Charlotte Islands. The year before, 1891, 

 I saw seals along the same course a couple of weeks earlier, but not in 

 so large a number. 



9. I don't know that seals haul out anywhere except on the Pribyloflf 

 Islands. I have never been ashore at any place excejit one to find out, 

 and only say so from what others have told me. 



10. I have also heard other hunters say that pups were born in the 

 water, but I have no experience of that myself. 



