APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 685 



ren cows. This fact was particularly noticed when the seals were 

 brought ou board and skinned. Neither myself nor any person on the 

 " Geneva " had ever seen so many barren cows before. 



5. That in Behring Sea, in each season 1 was there, about half the 

 catch were females; none in pup. Most of the females, probably two- 

 thirds, were breeding cows showing milk — sometimes only a trace, nearly 

 dried up — others with a good supply. 



6. That I saw more seals in 1891 than in any other year I have been 

 out. The most I saw at any one place was off Cross Sound in the lat- 

 ter part of May. I saw just as many seals this year on the coast as 

 in the first two years I was out, and I think many more, especially on 

 the southern coast, where the seals were twice as numerous as then. 



7. This year the " Geneva " was on the Asiatic side and got 600 seals. 

 These were nearly all males; no cows in pup; a few in milk, not more 

 than 15. I did not notice any difference between those seals and what 

 we got on this side. As mate I had charge of the skins as soon as they 

 came on board on all the vessels I have mentioned, and am familiar 

 with the diflerent classes of skins. 



8. That in the five years I have been out I have known of only three 

 dead seals being found by the hunters; one of these, in fact, I got 

 myself; none of these had been dead long; all had been shot; one was 

 found in 1888, one in 1891, and one in 1889. 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the 

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

 Oaths." 



(Signed) James Siteman. 



Subscribed and declared by the said James Siteman before me, a 

 Notary Public in and for the Province of British Columbia duly com- 

 missioned, and residing and practising at the city of Victoria, in said 

 province, this 25th day of November, a. d. 1892. 



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



Notary Puhlio. 



Declaration of Charles Otis Burns, 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British GolumMa^ City of Victoria. 



I, Charles Otis Burns, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of 

 British Columbia, Canada, fur-seal hunter, do solemnly declare: 



1. That I have been fur-seal hunting in the North Pacific Ocean two 

 years: in 1891 on the "Viva," and in 1892 on the "Carmolite." 



2. That in 1891 I was boat-steerer for a hunter named Scott 

 104 from San Francisco. He got, I think, 250 skins on the coast and 

 149 on the Asiatic side. He did not lose more than 4 at the out- 

 side on both the coast and Asiatic side. His catch was, I think, about 

 half females at the most; certainly not more. About two-thirds of the 

 cows were with pup on the coast; there were also a number of barren 

 cows and young ones. 



3. That this season, 1892, I hunted myself. I got 141 skins on the 

 coast. I lost by sinking 3 or 4, 1 am not sure which. I lost 5 altogether 

 for the season, including a catch of 103 on the Asiatic side. I got nearly 

 all the seals I wounded — not more than 10 altogether. Those that got 

 away were slightly wounded, and got off to windward at a lively pace. 



