12 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



personal knowledge, but 1 liave beard from reliable witnesses that they 

 are counted in the same way on unloading at San Francisco in the 

 presence of the officers. 



Q. They are shipped from there to tlie custom-house in San Fran- 

 cisco ? — A. Yes, sir ; and there again counted b}^ the officers. 



Q. So they are counted again at San Francisco and the tax paid so 

 much per skin"? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Have you any means of making an estimate of the probable num- 

 ber of fur-seals that visit these islands and rookeries ? — A. I saw an 

 approximate estimate made by Mr. Elliott. 1 do not know that I ever 

 indulged in any figures as to that. I simply expressed my impression 

 here [examining report] ; no, I see 1 did not indulge in any guessing. 



Q. You say that Professor Elliott has made some estimate of that f — 

 A. Yes, sir ; I say I did not make any estimate. I do not think any 

 estimate would be within a million or two. 1 think he puts them at 

 five millions, but it may be three or seven millions, as they are count- 

 less. It is a sight never to be forgotten by one who saw it, and it re- 

 curs sometimes in my dreams — that vast extent of beach covered by 

 these animals. 



Q. Have you any knowledge of the fisheries of the Bering Sea — cod, 

 halibut, salmon •? — A. Yes, sir; I have seen some halibut caught by 

 natives, but not as an article of trade, simply as an article of food. 

 They subsist mostly on cod and halibut and every description of fish 

 which they can find. They dry and preserve it for winter. 



Q. Did you form any opinion of the number of Government agents 

 that are necessary there under the present system to overlook tlie in- 

 terests of the Government and protect it ? Under the present law there 

 is one general agent and three assistants, I believe. Is it necessary to 

 have so many ? — A. I do not know. Under ordinary circumstances I 

 do not know that there is necessity for so many; two would do, but 

 taking into consideration the possibility of sickness, deatli, and that 

 sort of thing, I think one would not be sufficient, because there might 

 be an emergency. It was considered necessary to have them on account 

 of the impossibility of keeping any one agent for any length of time 

 there without injury to his health ; he would want to go down and re- 

 cuperate. 



Q. Is there an agent of the Government there all the year round? — 

 A. Yes, sir; the year round. 



Q. What is the necessity, then, for the Government agent remaining 

 there after the season is passed °? — A. I do not think there is any ; 1 do 

 not see any necessity for it. 



Q. As I understand it the taking of seal skins commences in June 

 and winds up in September. Tlie seals leave the rookeries, as a general 

 rule, in October, and there are no seals from the last of November to 

 about the last of May or the 1st of June ; is that correct f — A. I think 

 that is about correct. Some single old bulls staj"^ longer; not the family 

 bulls, they go with the females. At the commencement of spring they 

 begin to appear in the Bering Sea, coming from the Pacific, through 

 the straits of the Aleutian Islands, chiefly through the Dunimas Pass. 

 Full-grown males (called bulls) are the earliest visitors at the islands 

 of St. George and St. Paul ; they approach the islands in the last days 

 of April, and await the arrival of the females, which takes place con- 

 siderably later. The seals invariably select for their resting-ground 

 (rookeries) such beaches as are strewn over with large bowlders, afford- 

 ing a safe hold against the sweep of the surf; flat sandy beaches are 

 carefullj^ avoided by tbeni, probably on account of the danger to which 



