390 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
September, except this year, when the “Triumph” left the sea on the 11th July, 
under threat of seizure, after searched by the United States cutter ‘‘Rush.” In 1887 
the hunters I was with were partly Indians and partly whites. In the two last years 
the hunters were all whites, using shot-guns and rifles. The rifles were used by the 
more experienced hunters and better shots for long-range shooting, up to 100 yards, 
but few hunters attempted that range. The general range for rifles is not over fifty 
yards, and most shots are made at a less range. 
A few hunters used the rifle for all distances. I use either rifle or shot-gun, 
according to the distance and position of the seal and the condition of the water. 
My first year I got about 400 seals. In getting this number, I failed to capture 
about twenty-five shot at, or killed, or wounded, but which escaped. In my second 
year I got over 500 and lost about thirty. This year I got 140, and lost only one. I 
have frequently shot from two to five seal in a bunch, and got them all. One day 
in 1887 I got two bunches of five each and another of four, and got the whole 
fourteen. 
Indian hunters use spears, and either get every seal they throw at or it escapes 
unhurt, or but slightly wounded. Indians, it can be safely said, get every seal they 
kill. 
Oscar Scarr, a hunter on the “Viva” in 1888, got over 600 seals, and lost only 
about twenty. The average number lost by white hunters does not exceed six in 
100, and by the Indians not six in 1,000. I have never shot nor have I ever seen a 
female seal with a young one beside or with her. It is very seldom a female is killed 
in Behring’s Sea, carrying her young with her, and out of 1,000 killed on the coast 
earlier in the season less than one-third are females carrying their young. 
(Signed) Wm. FEWINGS. 
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, August 9, 1889. 
Captain J. D. Warren. 
I am amaster mariner, and have been actively engaged in the deep-sea sealing 
business for twenty years. I have owned and commanded sealing-vessels on voyages 
along the Pacitic Coast from 47° or 48° north latitude to 56° or 57° north latitude 
within Behring’s Sea. I have generally employed Indians, except in 1886 and 1887, 
the last years I was’ out, when I had white hunters as well. White hunters use 
rifles and shot-guns entirely, Indian hunters use spears. Bullets weighing from 300 
to 400 grains are used with rifles, and ordinary buck-shot with guns. Both rifles 
and shot-guns are breech-loading, and of the best make. Seals are approached by 
the hunters in boats, to 10 or 15 yards, lying generally asleep on the water. Fre- 
quently seals are taken alive when asleep, especially by the Indians, who, in their 
canoes, get within from a spear’s length (14 or 15 feet) to 30 feet before they throw. 
Indians rarely lose a seal they strike, and if one escapes it is always but slightly 
wounded. Of seals killed by white hunters, probably not over 10 per cent. are killed 
with rifle, which is generally used for only a long range. 
Sealers divide the seals for hunting purposes into two classes, ‘‘sleepers” and 
‘‘feeders;” or ‘travellers sleepers” are almost always shot at from 10 to 15 yards 
range, and are seldom lost. ‘‘ Feeders” are shot at just as their heads emerge from 
the water. From this fact the range is always from a few feet to 100 yards, though 
few are fired at that distance. Hunters use a “ gaff,” a pole about 10 or 12 feet long, 
with one to three hooks upon it, with which they catch the seal and bring it into the 
boat. If the seal sinks, the “ gaff” is run down, and the seal hooked up. The brit- 
ish sealing-vessels employ more Indian than white hunters. My experience with 
white hunters is not so extensive as with Indians, but from what I have seen while 
engaged in sealing I can say that not over six in every 100 seals killed by white 
hunters are lost or escape. 
Experienced hunters seldom lose a seal; the losses are chiefly made by inexperi- 
enced hunters, only a few of whom are employed, for the reason that as hunters are 
paid so much a skin, inferior men cannot make good wages. I have noticed 
356 no diminution in the number of seals during the twenty years I have been in 
the business, but if any change at all, an increase. Of the seals taken along 
the coast about one-half are females, and of the females not more than one-half 
are with young. In Behring’s Sea not one in 100 of those taken by the hunters are 
females with young; because as soon as the females carrying their young get into 
the sea they go to breeding islands or rookeries, and in a few days their young are 
born. The cows remain with their young until they are quite able to take care of 
themselves. I do not think that out of the seals taken by Indian and white hunters 
more than 30 per cent. are females actually breeding or capable of breeding. 
