618 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



60 Declaration of Alfred B. Bissett. 



Canada, Province of British Columbia^ City of Victoria^ 



I, Alfred E. Bissett, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British 

 Columbia, master mariner, do solemnly declare as follows: 



1. That I have been engaged in sealing-vessels for three years. Tn 

 1889 I was on the "Mary Ellen" as hunter until about the 1st May, 

 when I went on board the "Teresa" as mate and hunter. In 1890 I 

 was not out. In 1891 and 1892 I was master of the "Annie E. Paint." 



2. That I have always hunted seals in the stern-boat whenever my 

 duties as master and mate would allow, and in the last two years have 

 got in this way about 70 seals. I don't think I lost more than 3 in get- 

 ting the 70. 



3. That in 1889 the "Mary Ellen" sealed as far south as the Faralone 

 Islands. In the "Annie E. Paint" I have not been south of the Colum- 

 bia Eiver. From off Grey's Harbour northward along Vancouver Island 

 coast to off Cape St. Elias I have during the last two years seen seals in 

 schools or bands at scores of places, such as Hesquit Head, Vancouver 

 Island ; Cape Cook, Cape Scott, Triangle Island ; Cai>e St. James, Cape 

 Addington, Alaska; Sitka Bay, Cross Sound, Pamplona Rocks, includ- 

 ing the Fairweather Grounds. This year, about the 20th February, off 

 Barclay Sound, from 5 to 18 miles, for over a week I was in one of the 

 largest schools of seals I ever saw. My six hunters got only 20 seals 

 in that time, because the seals were so wild we could not reach them. 

 The best sealing is always among scattered seals, which are mostly 

 "sleepers." 



4. Some of these schools consist of small bands. Frequently the 

 bands are all cows or all bulls; sometimes the seals seem to band 

 together according to age, but in any large school there are to be found 

 both sexes of all ages. I have known my hunters to come in from a 

 day's hunt, one having got all bulls, another nearly all cows, and others 

 cows and bulls. A hunter's largest score for a day is nearly always 

 among young bulls. This is because the bulls are easier got at. All 

 along the coast the cows are wilder than the bulls. 



5. Last year over 80 per cent, of my catch were young bulls. I was 

 late going up the coast, and did not overtake the older seals; at least 

 that is how I account for it. I got very few females. This year my 

 catch was about half females on the coast. My hunters got 568 seals 

 on the coast. They saved about all the skins of the pups that were 

 taken from the cows killed and brought on board, and had about 30 of 

 them. Out of the 568 seals I am sure there were not more than 70 or 

 80 cows in pup. 



6. I was over to the Copper Island grounds this year. My hunters 

 got 421 seals there. The only difference between the seals over there 

 and on this side that I can see is that the Copper Island seal is a little 

 darker in colour. The seals there are not so fat as on this side. 



7. I left the other side 21st September last, and arrived home 14th 

 October instant. I sailed southerly to the 49th parallel, and thence 

 easterly to Victoria. I saw seals nearly every day until we got within 

 500 or 600 miles of Vancouver Island. We here entered very bad 

 weather and I did not notice the seals. There was scarcely a watch 

 that did not report seeing seals. On two days I saw seals enough to 

 justify lowering a boat had the weather not been so heavy. This was 

 about the 173rd meridian west on the 49th parallel. 



8. That I saw more seals this year than I ever saw before, and the 

 vessels that kept up with the seals made the largest coast catches on 

 record. 



