716 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



of tlie "Sophia Sntlierlaiul;" also of the schooner "San Jos6" when 

 she was seized on the 18th Angust, 1887, in Behring Sea; also in the 

 "Sierra;" also the "Sylvia Handy;" also the "Fanny," and many 

 others, and have sealed off the Commander Islands, along the Japanese 

 coast, and np this coast into Behring Sea, and in the Eqnatorial gronp. 



2. I have hunted always with ride and shot-gun, and 1 would not 

 lose 5 seals in 100 that I would kill or mortally wound. This year I 

 got 182 skins myself, and I only lost 2 seals. This year I saw more 

 seals in the Pacilic than I have ever seen before since I began hunting, 

 and I attribute it to the iact that the Behring Sea was closed, and the 

 killing on the Pribyloff Islands restricted. 1 believe the seals are just 

 as numerous as ever, and if the Behring Sea is closed and the killing 

 stopped on the islands, there is not the slightest danger of the seals 

 being killed off', no matter how they are hunted. 



3. I have noticed that seals are wilder now than when I began to 

 hunt, though ou the Japan coast, where I hunted this year, I found 

 them tamer than usual. Seals travel in schools, and are all mixed up 

 as to ages and sexes. When travelling in schools they are very much 

 harder to get, as they have a watch on the look-out. On this coast I 

 find about GO per cent, are females, and I think the proportion is about 

 the same in Behring Sea. About two-thirds of the cows got along the 

 coast to Behring Sea are carrying pups, and in Behring Sea the cows 

 we get are in milk, I think to about the same proportion. I have 

 killed a great many large cows that have no milk and are not carrying 

 pups. Have killed cows on entering Behring Sea about the first week 

 in July, and have found milk dry and yellow. I have taken cows off' 

 Vancouver Island, British Columbia, from which the pup when taken 

 was full-grown and strong enough to take nourishment and go all over 

 the deck of the vessel. 



4. I have not heard of any vessels having been in Behring Sea this 

 year (1892) that were not warned oft' or seized, and would have heard 

 of it if there had been any. 



5. In my opinion, the Asiatic seal, the Japanese, and the American, 

 are the same, and I don't think an expert, after they have been salted, 

 can tell them apart. I have had a large experience in all three kinds 

 of skins, and am therefore competent to speak. 



6. I have crossed from the American to the Asiatic coast about the 

 latter part of June, and from the Asiatic to the American in Septem- 

 ber, and have seen seals oft' and on almost every day, and certainly 

 every fine day, on the passages, and from seeing them no one could tell 

 to what group of islands they belong, or to which they were bound, or 

 where they were going. 



7. I have crossed to the Commander Islands, keeping south of the 

 Aleutian group, and have noticed seals going north through all the 

 passes as far westward as Attou Island, and have seen stragglers from 

 there to the Eussian coast. I sailed from here ou the 10th February 

 this year (1892) for the Japanese coast, passing the Sandwich Islands, 

 and commenced getting seals in April, and my catch over there was 

 1,334, and I Ibund the proportion of male to female run about the same 

 as on this coast and in Behring Sea, and the same percentage of females 

 are in pup. I sealed up to within about 100 miles from Commander 

 Islands, and finished sealing on the Gtli July and started for home. I 

 got no cows with milk, but in the end of June or early in July got a 

 good many barren cows. 



8. In my experience of sealing all over I find that there are very few 

 old bulls taken. 



