APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 689 



106 Declaration of John Cohurn. 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British Columbia, City of Victoria. 



I, John Ooburn, 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 on the North Pacific coast for 

 five years, four seasons of which I have also been in Behring Sea. 



2. That in 1892 I was on the " Carraolite," in 1891 on the " Pioneer," 

 in 1890 on the "Annie C. Moore," in 1889 on the " E. B. Marvin," and in 

 1888 on the " Edward E. Webster." 



3. That in 1888 I got 150 seals on the coast. I did not lose any by 

 sinking. In 1889 I got 350 for the season — about 160 on the coast, the 

 rest in Behring Sea. I don't remember losing any by sinking that year ; 

 I am pretty sure I did not. In 1890 I got 140 on the coast, and 120 in 

 Behring Sea. I think I lost one that year by sinking. In 1891 I got 

 156 on the coast, and 248 in Behring Sea. I did not lose any by sink- 

 ing at all last year. This year (1892) I got 149 on the coast, and 101 

 on Copper Island grounds. I lost one by sinking on Copper Island 

 grounds. This was a big bull just from the rookery, and too poor to 

 float — nothing but skin and bone. 



4. That this year my coast catch was nearly all young bulls. It was 

 the same with all the hunters on the " Carmolite." None of the females 

 I got were with pup ; they were either young cows or barren cows. 

 For previous years 1 am not prepared to say definitely what the pro- 

 portion of females to males was, but I feel safe in saying that less than 

 half my catch every other year were females. About one-half the 

 females were young and barren cows, the other half cows in pup. 



5. In Behring Sea the bigger half of my catches were females — none 

 in pup. In the early part of the season some of the females would be 

 in milk, but later on the milk would be dried up. 



6. I shoot sleeping seals at from 10 to 20 yards, and "travellers" at 

 from 25 to 50 yards. The seals are all wilder and harder to get than 

 they used to be, especially on the coast. I have always found seals in 

 schools or bunches J they are very hard to get when in bunches. I 

 have chased bunches of seals all day, and got none at all. No hunter 

 gets one seal out of a tliousand that he sees, taking the season through. 



7. The most seals I ever saw at any one place was off Cross Sound 

 this year, but we could not get near them. They were all in schools 

 and moving about. In 1890 I saw immense numbers of seals oft' the 

 mouth of the Columbia River. 



8. That there are just as many seals on the coast now as there were 

 when I first went out; in fact, this year I saw more seals on the coast 

 than ever before. Whether the hunters get more depends on the 

 weather and how the seals are bunched. Young bulls are easier got at 

 than females. 



9. That I wound very few seals that escape. I am sure that five in 

 a season would be the outside number. 



10. That I have never found a dead seal on the water. 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the 

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

 Oaths." 



(Signed) John Coburn, his x mark. 



Witness: 

 (Signed) F. Pratt. 



B s, PT vni 44 



