APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 497 
by an allusion to a danger greater than all the assanlts of man in the deep sea, a 
danger ever existing, which naturally tends to keep the seals inshore, or, when 
outside, to scatter. 
Reference is made to the killer-whales and sharks. (H.R. Ex. Doc. No. 83, 44th 
Congress, Ist Session, p. 177, and pp. 80, 87 of Appendix to the same document; also 
p. 359 of Evidence before Congressional Committee, 1888) : 
“That these animals are preyed upon extensively by killer-whales (Orca gladiator) 
in especial, and by sharks and probably other submarine foes now unknown, is at 
once evident; for were they not held in check by some such cause they would, as 
they exist to-day on St. Paul, quickly multiply, by arithmetical progression, to so 
great an extent that the island, nay, Behring’s Sea itself, could not contain them. 
The present annual killing of 100,000 out of a yearly total of over 1,000,000 males 
does not in an appreciable degree diminish the seal life, or interfere in the slighest 
with its regular, sure perpetuation on the breeding-grounds every year. We may, 
therefore, properly look upon this aggregate of four and five millions of fur-seals as 
we see them every season on these Pribylov Islands as the maximum limit of increase 
assigned to them by natural laws. The great equilibrium which Nature holds in 
life upon this earth must be sustained at St. Paul as well as elsewhere.” (Klliott’s 
Report, pp. 62, 64.) 
“When before the Committee of Ways and Means on the 17th March, 1876, on the 
investigation before alluded to, Mr. Elliott made a similar statement, giving in 
somewhat greater detail the reasons for his conclusions. His evidence will be found 
annexed to the Report of the Committee.” (Report No. 623, H. R., 44th Congress, Ist 
Session. ) 
Respecting the practice of sealing as known in Canada, it may be said: 
Canadian sealers start ont upon their sealing voyages some time in the beginning 
of the year. The vessels go down to a point off San Francisco, and from thence 
work north. The seals taken by them off the coast are of both sexes, many in pup, 
some young bulls; very few old lulls run in the Pacifie Ocean. 
The catch of each vessel will average between 500 and 700 seals a-year between the 
1st of January and the end of May. 
When an untrained crew is taken, many shots may be fired without hitting the 
seals at all, since the novice expects he can hit when at a considerable distance, the 
seals in such cases escaping entirely, but with Indian hunters and expert whites a 
seal is nearly always captured when hit. An expert never shoots until after he has 
arrived at close quarters, and generally when the seal is asleep. 
In Behring’s Sea the catch is made up largely of young bachelors. 
Sealing captains contend that no male becomes fit for the rookeries until 6 years of age, 
This contention is supported by the authorities to whom reference has already been 
made. , 
It is further contended that should a temporary diminution of seal life become 
apparent upon the islands of the Pribylov group it would not follow that the herds 
were (lecreasing. Professor Elliott, in his Report of 1874 upon Alaska, so frequently 
referred to in this paper, argues, on pp. 265 and 266, that in such a case a corre- 
sponding augmentation may occur in Copper or Behring Island, since ‘‘ these animals 
are not particularly attached to the respective places of their birth:” 
“Thus it appears to me necessary that definite knowledge concerning the Com- 
mander [Islands and the Kuriles should he possessed; without it, I should not hesitate 
to say that any Report made by an Agent of the Departinent as to a visible dimi- 
nution of the seal life on the Pribylovs, due in his opinion to the effect of killing, as it 
is conducted, was without good foundation; that this diminution would have been 
noticed just the same in all likelihood had there been no taking of seals at all on 
the islands, and that the missing seals are more than probably on the Russian 
grounds.” 
Note on the Question of the Protection of the Fur-Seal in the North Pacific. 
[By Mr. George Dawson, D.S., F. G.S., F.R.5.C., F.R.M.S., Assistant Director of the Geological 
Survey of Canada.] 
The mode of protection which is apparently advocated by the United States Gov- 
ernment in the case of the fur-seal, viz., that of leasing the privilege of killing the 
animal on the breeding-grounds and prohibiting its capture elsewhere, is a new 
departure in the matter of such protection. If, indeed, the whole sweep of the 
Pacitic Ocean north of the Equator was dominated and effectively controlled by the 
United States, something might be said in favour of some such mode of protection 
from a commercial point of view, but in the aciual circumstances the results would 
be so entirely in favour of the United States, and so completely opposed to the 
interests and natural rights of citizens of all other countries, that it is preposterous 
to suppose that such a mode of protection of these animals can be maintained. 
B S, PT V——32 
