650 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Subscribed and declared by the said David Laing before me, a I^otnry 

 Public duly commissioned, and residing and practising at the city of 

 Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, this 25th day of October, 

 A. D. 1892. 



[SEAL.J (Signed) Arthur L. Belyea, 



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



Declaration of August Reppen. 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British Columbia, City of Victoria, 



I, August Reppen, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British 

 Columbia, master mariner, do solemnly declare as follows: 



1. That I have been captain or mate on schooners engaged in the 

 sealing business for the past nine years. 



2. I have been engaged on the steam schooner "Grace," and the 

 schooners "Kate," "Mary Taylor," "Viva," "Pathfinder" — now called 

 the "Pioneer" — and this year I Avas on the "Fawn." 



3. While I was engaged as mate on the different schooners I was also 

 engaged a portion of the time in seal-hunting. 



4. During the entire time in which I have been seal-hunting I have 

 not lost more than three seals by sinking. 



5. I notice no difference in the seals now and nine years ago, with 

 the exception that they are wilder. 



6. I saw more seals during the year 1892 than I ever saw on any 

 previous year, and I am informed by my hunters to the same effect. 



7. When a seal is wounded the chances are 10 to 1 that it is secured 

 by the hunters. 



8. If a seal is wounded it is chased until it is secured. I have chased 

 a seal for half-an-hour after I wounded it before I secured it. 



9. I have seen seals travelling in schools, and at such times they are 

 much more difticult to secure. 



10. The males and females travel together. 



11. I have opened seals and know that they eat fish, but they also 

 eat shrimps and insects. 



12. I have never been on the Russian side of Behring Sea. 



13. I have seen seals cohabiting in the water; they do this in the 

 same manner that cats and dogs do on land, 



14. I have been hunting with Indians; in calm weather they prefer 

 the spear, but as a rule they now prefer the gun for sealing. 



15. Quite a number of barren females are killed on the coast. 



16. Very few old bulls are taken. 



17. The only protection necessary for the seals in my opinion, is to 

 protect them on the islands. 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the 

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

 Oaths." 



(Signed) August Reppen. 



81 Subscribed and declared by the said August Reppen before 



me, a IsTotary Public duly commissioned, and residing and prac- 

 tising at the city of Victoria, in the Province of British Columbia, this 

 27th day of October, A. d. 1892. 



[SEAi..] (Signed) Arthur L. Belyea, 



A Notary Public in and for the Province of British Columbia, 



