APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 801 



4. That we went; from the Agent's office to the village, and into the 

 store where Chestoqua Peterson was. Mr. Belyea began talking to 

 Peterson, and asked him, if the Agent had given permission, whether 

 the Indians wonld give evidence. Peterson replied that he thought 

 the most of them would, but they were afraid of the Agent. He also 

 said that Indians believed that the English wanted to stop the coast 

 sealing. A few minutes after we went into the store an Indian police- 

 man and three other Indians came hurriedly into the store. Peterson 

 at once ceased talking to Mr. Belyea, and we left. 



5. That when we got back to the '^ Quadra" an Indian was on board 

 selling baskets and other Indian articles. At Mr. Belyea's request, I 

 began to talk with him in Chinook, which he understood perfectly. 

 After talking awhile with him I reported what he said to Mr. Belyea, 

 who told me to ask the Indian if he was willing to have taken down in 

 writing what he had told me, and sign it. The Indian said he was, 

 and we then went to the chart-room, where I interpreted what the 

 Indian then said to Mr. Belyea, who wrote it down. After it was all 

 written, I explained fully in Chinook to the Indian, who called himself 

 General Jackson, what was written, and he clearly understood every- 

 thing before he made his mark. Mr. Belyea and William Owens, first 

 officer of the " Quadra," who understands Chinook, were present when 

 the statement was read over and explained to the Indian, and he made 

 his mark to it in the presence of all of us, I and Owens signing it as 

 witnesses. 



6. That I knew the American schooner "Signet" mentioned by the 

 Indian in question, and was personally acquainted with Captain Kim- 

 berly, her owner and master. He came to this coast sealing about 

 1872, and followed it until, I think, 1876, when the " Signet" was lost, 

 and he and all the crew perished. 



7. That it was a notorious fact — known among all sealing men at 

 that time — that the "Signet" went into Behring Sea every summer 

 and raided the islands. I remember the time distinctly Boscowitz 

 bought the catch of the "Signet" from Kimberly at Neah Bay. It 

 was in 1874 or 1875, I am not certain which, but at the time it was 

 generally known among sealing men that the catch had come off the 

 Pribyloft" Islands by raiding. 



8. That the first time I was at Neah Bay was in 1866. There were 

 four or five times as many Indians there then as now. I began trading 

 with the Indians for furs on the west coast of Vancouver Island at Bar- 

 clay Sound in 1871. At that time the hunters in a tribe of 400 or 500 



Indians, all told, would get 500 or 700 skins in a season. Now the 

 178 same number of hunters get from 1,000 to 2,000 skins in a season. 

 The seals are just as plentiful as ever on the coast, but most years 

 keep a little farther off" shore, coming in close only when the fish they live 

 on run in close. The reason the IsTeah Bay tribe don't get as many seals 

 as formerly is because there are so many less hunters to catch them. 



And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same' 

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



(Signed) A. D. Laing. 



Subscribed and declared before me, the Undersigned, a Notary Pub- 

 lic duly commissioned, and residing and practising at the city of Vic- 

 toria, in the Province of British Columbia, this 3rd day of December, 

 A. D. 1892. 

 [SEAL.] (Signed) Francis B. Gregory, 



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

 B S, PT VIII 51 



