Fr 
: 
APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 951 
lost only twe seals out of seventy-seven—that is, I shot seventy-nine, and secured 
seventy-seven. 
14. Q. In hunting seals, what is the direction in which they usually travel?—A. 
In the spring months they are leisurely travelling towards the north, when they 
change their position. 
15. Q. In hunting seals, have you ever met with pups in the water?—A. Not gen- 
erally; but during the season of 1890, while off Middleton Island, the hunters 
reported seeing two seal pups, probably a week old, but they appeared to be only 
just born. 
16. Q. What is your opinion of the proportion of males to females killed during 
the hunting season? Are there any months in the year when there are more females 
than males killed?—A. It depends upon circumstances. My experience is that 
groups of bachelor bulls will travel together, and sometimes groups of females, 
including barren cows, will travel together, and again groups of yearling pups 
apparently travel together. That is my experience, and the experience of a number 
of others. The catch of any schooner coming into contact with groups of bulls, or 
of femaies, would be no criterion of the catch of other schooners as regards the num- 
ber of females. In the year 1890, while in Behring’s Sea, one day we took seventy- 
five seals, and the next day we took eighty, and in the whole of that number I 
observed only one female, and the hunters particularly informed me that they did 
not see any female seals at all; that they were all vigorons young bulls. 
17. Q. Would anything lead you to think, Captain Kelley, that there is a likeli- 
hood of more females than males being killed between here and Shumagin Islands? 
That is, from January to June?—A. I can safely say that my personal experience 
has been on the side of the males, largely—both on the coast and in the Behring’s 
Sea the number of seals caught is made up largely of males. 
18. Q. Are there any months of the year during which there are more females 
eaught than males?—A. I should say that, as far as my own observation has gone, 
there is no difference; but in every month, during my voyages, I have had more 
males than females. 
19. Q. Do you know of any Canadian vessels who have raided the seal islands 
during any year in which you have been engaged in the sealing industry ?—A. I 
have every reason to believe that none of the Canadian fleet have ever raided, or 
attempted to raid, or made any preparations to raid, any seal islands in. the 
169 Behring’s Sea. If any such thing had happened, I should most certainly have 
heard of it, and I believe it to be true that the American schooners ‘‘George R. 
White” and “Daniel Webster” did raid these islands, as also the ‘‘Mollie Adams.” 
That they did raid the seal islands is a fact well known to all Canadian sealers. I 
also heard that the German schooner ‘‘Adele” raided the Pribylott Islands, which 
action met with the strong disapprobation of every Canadian sealer. 
(Signed) C. J. KELLEY. 
Sworn to at Victoria, British Columbia, this 22nd day of January, 1892. 
(Signed) A. R. MILNE, Collector of Customs. 
Before A. I. Milne, Collector of Customs, Victoria, B. C., January 23, 1892. 
Captain William Petit, present master and part owner of the steamer “‘ Mischief,” 
haying been sworn: 
1. Q. (Mr. Milne.)—Captain Petit, how many years have you been engaged in 
sealing?—A. Six years, Sir. 
2. Q. Continuously ?—A. Yes, Sir. 
3. Q. What vessels did you command?—A. In 1886 I commanded the ‘‘W. P. Say- 
ward,” in 1887 the steamer ‘‘Grace,” in 1888 the schooner Sapphire,” and in 1889, 
1890, and 1891 the ‘“‘ Mary Taylor.” 
4. Q. Have your catches during these six years been reasonably successful in 
comparison with other vessels?—A. About an average. 
5. Q. You have sealed south of Cape Flattery, have you not, and followed the seals 
along the coast of British Columbia and into Behring’s Sea?—A. Yes. 
5*. Q. During last year, to your observation, were the seals apparently as plenti- 
ful from the coast to Shumagin Islands as they were in previous years?—A. I found 
them more plentiful last year than I have any other year since 186, that is, Cape 
Jlattery, north. 
6. Q. How did you find them in Behring’s Sea?—A. I found them there in Beh- 
ring’s Sea as plentiful as in former years. 
7. Q. Are the seals now more {frightened or more timorous than they have been on 
account of more vessels, or from any other cause?—A. I have seen no material dif- 
ference. 
