APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 921 



dollars a-inonth, and 25 cents, or even 50 cents, on every skin taken 

 by the scliooner; and the mate as a rule has 40 dollars or 50 dollars 

 a-month, and a lay on every skin taken by the stern boat, which is 

 specially in his charge. Where no lay is given, a captain will get higher 

 wages, in some cases as much as 100 dollars amonth. In a few cases 

 the seamen liave a lay of a few cents a skin besides their wages. 



A captain often commands the same schooner year after year, and I 

 have seen cases in which the crew and hunters re engage in the same 

 vessel in consecutive years; but, as a general rule, the end of the voy- 

 age is the end of the man's connection with the ship, and if he goes 

 sealing again it is far more likely that he will go in another schooner 

 than in the old. 



In many cases, the enforcement of the modus vivencU deprived the 

 hunters of their only means of livelihood, and I cannot but fear, from 

 what I heard from the Indian Agent at Victoria, that very great distress 

 resulted in many of the Indian villages up the coast from the prohibi- 

 tion. The number of Indians employed in the industry is considerable, 

 being less than one-third of the whole. 



I found widespread dissatisfaction among all engaged in the sealing 

 industry at the enforcement of the modus vivendi. The schooner- 

 owners went indeed so far as to propose and enter into some preliminary 

 negotiations for the transfer of the whole Canadian sealing fleet to the 

 German or Italian flag. 



