690 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Subscribed and declared by the said John Coburn, the same having 

 first been read over and exphiined to him, and he fully understanding 

 the same, before me, a Notary Public duly commissioned, and residing 

 and practising at the city of Victoria, in the Province of British 

 Columbia, this 26th day of November, A. D. 1892. 



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



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



Declaration of George Wells. 



Dominion of Canada, 



Province of British Columbia, City of Victoria. 



I, George Wells, of the city of Victoria, In the Province of British 

 Columbia, Canada, fur seal hunter, do solemnly declare as follows: 



1. That I have been three years hunting fur-seals in the North Pacific 

 Ocean ; two seasons 1 was in Behring Sea. 



2. That in 1890 I was on the " Annie C. Moore." That was my first 

 year. I got 134: skiiis on the coast and 100, in Behring Sea. More than 

 half of my coast catch that year were bulls, and about one-half the 

 females were with pup. I got that year a larger number of young and 

 barren cows than usual. In Behring Sea that year about two-thirds I 

 got were females, none of them with pup. A few were in milk, but 

 most of them were dried up. Tliey had pupped and finished nursing 

 their young. Tlie." Annie C. Moore" sealed most of the time 40 to 45 



miles from the Priby loft" Islands all around them. 

 107 3. That in 1891 1 was a hunter on tlie "Pioneer." I got 169 



seals on the coast, and 253 in Behring Sea. My coast catcb was 

 about half females, and half of these were with pup. In the Sea I got 

 about the same proportion of females as the year before; a few were in 

 milk, but the most of them were dried up. After July all the cows are 

 dry of milk. It is only in the first three or four weeks in July that 

 cows with milk in any noticeable quantity are got. 



4. That in 1892 I hunted on the "Carmolite." I got 164 skins on the 

 coast, and 134 on the Asiatic side. My coast catch this year was four- 

 fifths bulls. Of the females not more than half were in pup. The other 

 hunters on the " Carmolite" had about the same average of females. 

 On tbe Asiatic side I got more females than males; there were no pups 

 in them arid no milk; they were dried up. This was after 1st August. 

 . 5. That up to this year I had never lost a seal by sinking. This year 

 I lost two, both on the Asiatic side. I shot them at too great a distance, 

 and they went down before the boat reached them. The number of 

 seals lost by sinking among good average hunters is very small; a good 

 deal depends on the boat puller and boat-steerer and the condition of 

 the sea. 



6. That I noticed no difference between the seals on the two sides of 

 the Pacific. I often get seals on the American coast diflering slightly 

 in colour from the general run, and the same is true on the Asiatic side. 



7. That I saw more seals on the coast this year than in either of the 

 previous two years. The most I saw at one time and place was off 

 Cross Sound in May this year. I saw far more there than I ever saw 

 in Behring Sea. They were in schools, large and small, and very wild. 



8. That I have never picked up dead seals, except those I shot 

 myself. I never knew any of the hunters I was with to find any. 



