FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 63 



knew there was any suh rosa woric going on the whole tribe would have 

 to be bought. 



Q. He would have to pay the Government officers, too? — A. Yes, 

 sir; not only on the island but the inspector of customs at San Fran- 

 cisco and the freight clerks on the road which transports the skins, and 

 the Ireight dei)artment and the steamship line, and the men that dis- 

 pose of them in Loudon. 



Q. J su[)pose you know that the company has a contract with Russia 

 to obtain seal skins on the Russian islands? — A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Do you know what limit there is there with regard to taking fur 

 seal ? — A. 1 do not know just what the limit is, but I think it is some- 

 where about 40,0U0 or 50,000. 



Q. Do you know that it provides that they shall not take less than 

 1,000 skins and that there is no limit in the amount *? — A. No, sir; but 

 I understand they are obliged to pay a certain price. 



Q. I will show that later on by other witnesses. Assuming that to 

 be the case, if the company found the market would stand an excess of 

 over 100,000, which the}' are allowed to take in our waters, would they 

 not take them from the other islands where they could take as many as 

 they chose! — A. Yes; I think labor is more easily handled there. 



Q. Suppose that they wanted more skins ? — A. They would take 

 them from there. I know they have taken a larger quota from there. 



Q. 1 want you to describe to the committee, so far as you know, the 

 nature of the seal, in regard to their being easily frightened away ; what 

 their characteristics are in that respect. — A. When they first commence 

 to arrive, the old bulls are the first, the old breeding bulls particularly. 

 They arrive the latter part of April or the first of May. When they are 

 first coming to the beach they do not come right out of the water and 

 run up on the rocks to their general summer S[)ot. The old males will 

 come swimming in the water, and raise his head out of the water and 

 growl, call, and if he receives no answer he will generally at low water go 

 in antl lie near to the edge of the water. When the water rises he goes 

 off. He is very (;autious about going ashore. When he does he smells 

 the rocks and examines them very carefully. 



Q. He is recounoiteriug"? — A. Yes, sir; he is very particular where 

 he goes. As soon in the spring as the first old male is seen or heard, 

 the Government officer issues orders that the natives shall not go near 

 the rookeries. They have had, in the winter, the privilege of shooting 

 anywhere on the island, but as soon as the seals are arriving an order 

 goes out that they must not go near the rookeries, for the very reason 

 that this seal, the advance guard, if he is lying in the edge of the water 

 asleep and you walk at a distance ot a quarter of a mile on the shore, and 

 if the wind is blowing from you to the beach, he is in the water in a 

 flash. After that male has crawled back away from the water a short 

 distance and a second one comes along and he calls in the water, the 

 one on the shore will answer and the second will go ashore much faster 

 when one or two are hallooing on the rocks. Of course if they go near 

 those that have obtained places on the shore there is a fight. 



Q. What is the reason that the use of fire-arms is prohibited during 

 the sealing season ! — x\. For the reason that in the spring of the year 

 the shooting of agun and the smell of powder and the men running along 

 on the rocks will deter the males from hauling up. If once on the shore, 

 and they arrive in numbers all the way from fifteen or twenty to twenty- 

 five, they would be harder to disturb for this reason. They have fought 

 for their own territory and intend to hold it; and then if the seal was 

 driven from back of the rookery and starts to rush to water, the one be- 



