620 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



7. In 1888 I got between 300 and 400 skins off Kadiak, all bnlls. In 

 1889, on the 24th Jnne and 2nd July I got a little to westward of Port- 

 lock Bank, an average of fifty skins per day; seven-eighths of these 

 seals were bulls. 



8. In 1890 the seals were most plentiful in June off Middleton Island. 

 In 1891 1 made no coast catch. In all these years, except 1889, I had 

 Indian -hunters using spears. 



This year I went north two months behind time, and got 285 seals 

 off Sitka and on Fairweather Grounds, about two-thirds bulls. 



9. Previous to 1887 I did most of my sealing off the coast of Yan 

 couver Island. The seals now do not follow this part of the coast as 

 closely as they used to. I believe this is due entirely to the run of the 

 fish on wbich seals feed. I know that last year there was a great run 

 of herrings into Barclay Sound in April, and that the herrings were 

 followed by a great school of seals, which remained until the herring 

 disappeared. 



10. On the Vancouver coast, in the early part of the season, about 

 one-half of the seals got are females, about one-half of which are with 

 pup. As the season grows fewer females are got, and of those got a 

 smaller proportion are in pup. By the second week in June all females 

 in pup have left the coast as far north as Queen Charlotte Islands. 



11. Indian hunters are using guns now much more than formerly. 

 Fully one-half of the Indian hunters out this year use guns as well as 

 spears. My hunters this year lost two seals by sinking out of a total 

 catch of 524. 



12. In Behring Sea the seals got during the first half of the season 

 there are mostly all bulls; during the last half, that is, from about the 

 10th August to the close, the sexes are got in about equal proportions. 



13. This year I was over on the Copper Island grounds and got 230 

 seals. About one-third of these were females. None were in pup, and 

 I particularly noticed that none were in milk. This was from the 5th 

 August to 6th September, when I left for Victoria. 



14. On my return home I sailed south from Attn Island to between 

 the 49th and 50th parallel north latitude, then east for home. I saw 

 seals scattered all along the route home, and at the dates and places 

 given here I saw more than usual, and entered the fact in my log. The 

 entries are as follows: 



9th September.— 49° 58' north, 176° 58' west. 

 11th " 50° 4' north, 168° 32' west. 



15th " 490 44' north, 156° 4' west. 



2l8t " 490 44' north, 132° 56' west. 



On all these days at these places I saw numbers of seals, though the 

 weather was rough. 



15. The seals off Copper Island seem a shade darker than on the 

 eastern side, and are certainly not so fat. I don't think food is so 

 plentiful. Over there the seals get only squid and devil fish, largely 

 the latter. They seem tamer than the east coast seal, especially early 

 in the season. 



16. From all I have seen and learned of seals in the twelve years I 

 have been hunting I positively say that there are many more seals now 

 than twelve years ago, moving along the American coast from Febru- 

 ary to June; In my judgment the best and most effective protection of 

 seal life is to let them alone on the rookeries. The slaughter on the 

 rookeries ought to be stopped first, and the seals allowed to haul out, 

 breed, and propagate without any interference. If this were done 

 there is no danger of extermination by sealing at sea. 



