APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 199 
Thus you can see that as these watery paths of the fur-seal converge in Belring’s 
Sea they, in so doing, rapidly and solidly mass together thousands and tens of thou- 
sands of widely scattered animals (as they travel) at points 50 and even 100 miles dis- 
tant from the rookeries of the Seal Islands, 
Here is the location and the opportunity of the pelagic sealer. Here is his chance 
to lie at anchor over the shallow bed of Behring’s Sea, 50 and 100 miles distant from 
the Pribyloff group, where be has the best holding ground known tosailors, and where 
he can ride at any weather safely swinging to his cable and in no danger from a lee 
shore if it should slip. The immediate vicinity, however, of the Aleutian passes is 
dangerous in the extreme to him. There he encounters terrible tide-rips, swift cur- 
rents, and furious gales formed through the entrances, with the very worst of rough, 
rocky, holding ground. 
But up here, anywhere from 3 to 100 miles south of the Seal Islands, in Behring’s 
Sea, in that watery road of the returning fur-seal millions, he has a safe and fine loca- 
tion from which to shoot, to spear, and to net these fur-bearing amphibians, and 
where he can work the most complete ruin in a very short time. 
His power for destruction is still further augmented by the tact that those seals 
which are most liable to meet his eye and aim are female fur-seals, which, heavy 
with young, are here slowly nearing the land, reluctant to haul out of the cool water 
until the day and hour arrives that limits the period of their gestation. 
The pelagic sealer employs three agencies with which to secure his quarry, viz.: 
He sends out Indians with canoes and spears from his vessel; he uses rifle and ball, 
shot-gunsand buck-shot; and last, but most deadly and destructive of all, he spreads 
the ‘‘ gill-net” in favourable weather. 
180 With gill-nets, under run by a fleet of sealers in Behring’s Sea, across these 
converging paths of the fur-seal, anywhere from 3 to 100 miles southerly from 
the Seal Islands, I am extremely moderate in saying that such a fleet could and 
would utterly ruin the fur-seal rookeries of the Pribyloff Islands in less time than 
three or four short seasons. If these men were unchecked every foot of that watery 
area of fur-seal travel in Behring’s Sea above indicated could and would be traversed 
by these deadly nets, and a seal would scarcely have one chance in ten to safely pass 
such a cordon in attempting to go and return from its breeding haunts. 
Open these waters of Behring’s Sea to unchecked pelagic sealing, then a fleet of 
hundreds of vessels—steamers, ships, schooners, and what not—would immediately 
venture into them, bent upon the most vigorous and indiscriminate slaughter of 
these animals. A few seasons then of the greediest rapine, then nothing left of 
those wonderful and valuable interests of the public which are now so handsomely 
embodied on the Seal Islands. Guarded and conserved as they are to-day, they will 
last for an indefinite time to come, objects of the highest commercial value and good 
to the world, and subjects for the most fascinating biological study. 
It is also well to note the fact that not an eligible acre of land is barred out from 
settlement or any other fit use by our people, and not a league of water is closed to 
any legitimate trade or commerce in all Alaska by this action of our Government in 
thus protecting the fur-bearing rookeries of the Pribyloff group. 
Such are the facts in this connection. They are indisputable. No intelligent 
unselfish man will advocate for a moment the policy of destruction in this instance ; 
he never will if fully aware of the facts bearing on the question. 
There are only two parties in this controversy. The party of destruction demands 
the full right to unchecked pelagic sealing in Behring’s Sea, while the party of pres- 
ervation demands the suppression of that sealing. Comment is unnecessary, 
Very truly, &c. 
(Signed) HENRY W,. ELLIOTT, 
No. 94. 
Sir L. West to the Marquis of Salisbury.—( Received February 21.) 
WASHINGTON, February 10, 1888. 
My Lorp: I have the honour to inclose to your Lordship herewith 
an article from the “New York Herald” on the Behring’s Sea seizures 
and closed seas. 
I have, &e. 
(Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST, 
