APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 657 



Declaration of James W. Todd. 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British Golnmbia, City of Victoria, 

 I, James W. Todd, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of British 

 Columbia, Canada, master mariner, do solemnly declare: 



1. That I have been master of sealiug-schooners every year except 

 one since 1886, and hunted fur-seals all along the American coast of 

 the North Pacific, in Behring Sea, and on the Copper Island grounds. 



2. In 1886 I was master of the "Rustler," of Victoria; in 1887 in the 

 "Lily L.," of San Francisco; in 1889 in the "City of San Diego," of 

 San Francisco; in 1890 on the " ," of San Francisco; in 1891 

 on the "Penelo])e," of Victoria; and in 1892 on the "Enterprise," of 

 Victoria. 



3. That I generally hunt myself when the weather permits my leav- 

 ing the vessel. I usually get from 20 to 50 seals in this way. I am 

 sure that I never lost more than 2 in any one year by sinking, and 

 remember some years I did not lose any in that way. 



4. That my experience with hunters has invariably been that good 

 average hunters lose by sinking very few seals, not more than 4 in 100. 

 Poor hunters often attribute their poor catch to the seals sinking after 

 being shot, but I know that it is much oftener the case that they miss 

 the seal shot at. 



5. That last year, 1891, 1 saw more seals on the coast from off Colum- 

 bia River right up to Kadiak Island than I ever saw before in one sea- 

 son. This year I was late going up, and sealed only on Copper Island 

 side. 



6. That in September last on my voyage home from the Asiatic side 

 I saw seals in mid-ocean 200 miles east-south-east of Atu Island. 



7. That I have seen every year the seals in schools all along the coast. 

 When in schools and even in bands of two and three the seals are diffi- 

 cult to get, some one or more of the band being always on the look-out. 



8. That, generally, I have taken more males than females on the 

 coast; in fact, I remember no year in which I got on the coast more 

 females than males. Most of the females would be in pup; a number 

 barren, that is, a cow having neither pup nor milk in her, the balance 

 being young females. 



9. In Behring Sea I got more than rather half females; now and then 

 one in pup. A majority of the females taken in the sea were in milk. 

 I have only been in Behring Sea two seasons. In 1887 I was seized 

 with 197 iskins, and in 1891 I was ordered out without having taken 

 any skins. 



10. When ordered out in 1891 I was about 30 miles northward of 

 Unimak Pass. I at once sailed across the sea westward to the Copper 

 Island grounds, following a course along the 55th parallel north lati- 

 tude. I saw seals all the way across to the Commander Islands; some 

 of the seals were sleeping, others travelling, some east, some west — 

 most of them going east. 



11. That male seals have teats, and that it is impossible to tell the 

 skins of males from those of females by the teats. In 1887, after seiz- 

 ure, my vessel was taken to Unalaska. I had on deck a number of 

 male seals uuskinned. At Unalaska they were taken ashore, and the 

 expert there, employed by the Alaska Commercial Company, pro- 

 nounced them females. It was not till the sexual organs were exam- 

 ined that this expert would admit that the seals were males. 



B S, FT VIII 42 



