812 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



5 o'clock in the afternoon we saw one man on shore, and we steamed 

 away. We spent some weeks among the Aleutian Islands, and were in 

 January seized by the Custom-house officer at Unalaska, and in April 

 were sent down to Sitka, where we were sentenced to one month in gaol. 



While there we were sent for by an Agent of the United States Gov- 

 ernment — Captain Lavender, I think his name was. He asked me how 

 far seals were away when shot at, and I told him just what I have said 

 above. 



I told him too that we lost only one seal during the season in our 

 boat. He asked also if rifles were not better than shot-guns, but I told 

 him no. 



I told him also that if a seal is not too badly wounded to be caught, 

 that there is no danger of them dying afterwards. If a seal is badly 

 wounded we are surer of getting it than if it is killed at once. 



Most of those examined had never been sealing before. 



(Signed) Egbert Hope, his x mark. 



Sworn before me at the city of Victoria, in the Province of British 

 Columbia, this 3rd day of June, 1892. 



(Signed) A. E. Mllne. 



Victoria, June 3, 1892. 



185 Declaration of Robert John Morton, 



Dominion of Canada, 



Frovince of British Columbia^ City of Victoria. 



I, Eobert John Horton, of the city of Victoria, in the Province of 

 British Columbia, furrier, do solemnly declare: 



1. That I have been in the employment of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany at Victoria for the last thirty-two years. 



2. That since 1886 I have had the charge of the purchasing and 

 packing of furs of all kinds for the Company, and since 1871 had full 

 charge of the fur department. 



3. That every year I have handled fur-seal skins brought in by 

 Indians from the west coast and from points as far north as Wrangel, 

 in Alaska. In some years — especially between 1870 and 1875 — I bought 

 quantities from sealing-schooners caught on the west coast of Van- 

 couver Island. 



4. That I have never seen the seals before skinning, and I cannot 

 tell. the skin of a male from that of a female for that reason. I think 

 it almost impossible for any one to do so, especially when the skins are 

 about the same average size. Of course, old bulls and grey pups can 

 be distinguished from the others, but the sex of a grey pup cannot be 

 told from the skin. 



5. That for the last eight or ten years, since the schooners began 

 sealing, the average size of the seal-skins I have bought has been 

 larger than in former years, and of better quality. 



6. That the fur-seal skins taken from Queen Charlotte Island north- 

 ward, both along the coast and in Behring Sea, are of better quality 

 than those of the west coast. The finest quality of seal-skins we get 

 come from the coast about the north of Queen Charlotte's Island and 

 Fort Simpson, in British Columbia. 



7. That all the seals belong to the same herd, and the difference in 

 the fur is due to the season, quantity and quality of food, and temper- 

 ature of the water. 



